一种评估无糖口香糖消费增加所带来经济效益的全球方法。

Rychlik Reinhard, Kreimendahl Fabian, Blaich Cornelia, Calache Hanny, Garcia-Godoy Franklin, Kay Elizabeth, Si Yan, Zilberman David, Zimmer Stefan

School of Medicine, University of Bochum, Burscheid, Germany.

Institute of Empirical Health Economics, Burscheid, Germany.

Am J Dent. 2017 Apr;30(2):77-83.

PURPOSE

To analyze the influence of increasing the average consumption of sugar-free gum (SFG) in 25 industrialized countries on dental expenditures due to caries by the national health care systems. It was assumed that large cost savings were possible, because the regular consumption of SFG significantly reduces the relative risk of caries and therefore, improves dental health, which reduces expenditures on dental treatments.

METHODS

A budget impact analysis (BIA) was performed to model the decrease in the relative risk of caries and the subsequent cost savings for dental care. Annual consumption of SFG, dental expenditures due to caries, chewing frequencies by age groups and the relative risk reduction for caries due to the consumption of SFG were identified and used as model parameters. Three different scenarios for the increase in the number of SFG were calculated. Besides overall results for all countries together, analyses were conducted for countries grouped by regions and the Human Development Index (HDI).

RESULTS

For the entity of all 25 analyzed countries together, possible annual cost savings range from US$805.77 M in the scenario with the lowest increase of SFG consumption up to US$18,248 billion in the scenario with the biggest increase of SFG consumption. Europe and the USA show potential cost savings of US$1,061 billion and US$2,071 billion per year, respectively, if all chewers increase their consumption of SFG by 1 piece per day. The analysis showed the potential cost savings in dental expenditures due to caries that can be achieved by only slightly increasing the consumption of SFG. The regular consumption of SFG cannot replace good dental hygiene like tooth brushing, but can have a significant impact on dental health, which can lead to increased cost savings for health care systems worldwide.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Based on the fact that a regular consumption of sugar-free chewing gum has the beneficial effect of reducing caries prevalence, an increased consumption may not only lead to improved dental health but significant cost savings in expenditures for dental treatment worldwide.

目的

分析25个工业化国家无糖口香糖（SFG）平均消费量增加对国家医疗保健系统因龋齿产生的牙科支出的影响。假定大幅节省成本是可行的，因为经常食用SFG可显著降低龋齿的相对风险，从而改善牙齿健康，进而减少牙科治疗支出。

方法

进行预算影响分析（BIA），以模拟龋齿相对风险的降低以及随后牙科护理的成本节约情况。确定了SFG的年消费量、因龋齿产生的牙科支出、各年龄组的咀嚼频率以及食用SFG导致的龋齿相对风险降低，并将其用作模型参数。计算了SFG数量增加的三种不同情景。除了所有国家的总体结果外，还按地区和人类发展指数（HDI）对国家进行分组分析。

结果

对于所有25个分析国家的总体情况，SFG消费量增幅最小的情景下，每年可能节省的成本为8.0577亿美元，而SFG消费量增幅最大的情景下，每年可能节省的成本高达182480亿美元。如果所有咀嚼者每天将SFG的消费量增加1片，欧洲和美国每年分别显示出1061亿美元和2071亿美元的潜在成本节约。分析表明，仅略微增加SFG的消费量就可实现因龋齿产生的牙科支出的潜在成本节约。经常食用SFG不能替代刷牙等良好的口腔卫生习惯，但可对牙齿健康产生重大影响，这可为全球医疗保健系统带来更多成本节约。