Financial consequences of reducing treatment availability in a publicly-funded orthodontic service. A decision analysis problem.

When a third party is responsible for funding a component of the health service, cost/benefit assessments become important. Such assessments become urgent when the budget is reduced. In this paper decision analysis has been applied to evaluate potential savings by reducing the proportion of children offered free orthodontic treatment through the National Health Service in Denmark. Data for the development of the decision tree was acquired using the Delphi technique. The results suggest that a reduction in the proportion of children offered early treatment might ultimately lead to an increased consumption of resources. Further investigation of the issue is needed before definitive recommendations can be made.