Time and Cost Factors to Provide Regular, Periodic Dental Care for Children in a Fluoridated and Nonfluoridated Area

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Abstract
A 6 year study is in progress in Newburgh and Kingston, N. Y., to determine the time and cost factors in a program of regular, periodic dental care for school children in a fluoridated and a nonfluoridated area. New groups of 5- and 6-year-old children will be admitted to treatment annually during the first 3 years of the study while those previously treated will return each year for the correction of new defects. Data have been presented for the first 2 years of the study. These demonstrate that in the nonfluoridated area (Kingston) the cost for providing initial dental care was more than twice as high, and for incremental care, just about twice as high as in the fluoridated area (Newburgh). In both cities, the cost for incremental dental care was only about one-third that of initial care. These preliminary results suggest that such a program may prove to be both effective and feasible, and will be considerably less expensive in communities with the benefit of water fluoridation.