Is ECC costing health care systems unnecessary expenditures?
Absolutely, and very substantial amounts of unnecessary expenditures. While there has never been an entirely comprehensive economic impact study undertaken on ECC – we are planning one – its economic impact begins with the substantial additional expenditures that governments and other health care insurers must make to treat infant and child teeth that have been allowed to decay. From there, the costs only grow, as infants and children whose neurodevelopment has been interrupted or damaged by ECC fail to develop to their true potential, experience potentially a whole host of resulting life difficulties. The costs of a child’s needlessly damaged life may be more difficult to quantify but go far, far beyond those incurred in the dentist’s office or in the surgery.
