The Estimated Cost of Treating Unmet Dental Restorative Needs of Mexican‐American Children from Southwestern US HHANES, 1982‐83

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Abstract
The dental restorative treatment needs of Mexican‐American children, aged 1‐17years, were assessed from the 1982‐83 Southwestern US Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES). This report analyzed those needs and applied a dollar cost to them, using 1982 median fees of US general practitioners. The total estimated cost required to meet those needs for the population estimate of 3,396,770 children was $236,856,772(95% CI:$198,575,174 to $275,138,370). The mean cost per child was $69.73 (SE: 5.75). Although a majority of the children had no unmet need, 15‐, 16‐, and 17‐year‐olds had extensive needs for crowns, endodontics, and prosthetic replacement of teeth, with accompanying high costs: mean total cost per examinee was $177 (SE: 28.97), $161 (SE: 32.20), and $237 (SE: 33.26), respectively. The treatment needs were compared with the previously published regional data from the 1979‐80 NIDR survey, which used the same dental restorative treatment needs (DRTN) index. The findings indicated a great need for dental treatment among Mexi‐can‐American children that appeared to exceed that of the general school‐aged population. Our analysis, in providing estimates of the cost of needed treatment, might be useful in planning dental treatment programs and in comparing surveys.