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Delta Dental Plans Case Study
True Cost of a Cavity
When a little hole becomes a $2000 money pit
Sure cavities can be a bit painful and an inconvenience, but a new study shows that, over a person's lifetime, a
single, initial cavity has serious economic consequences as well.
That's the conclusion of a new report from the Data and Analysis Center (DAC), the nation's largest claims-based
dental health data warehouse, which finds that the average cost to maintain a restored cavity in the molar
of a 10-year old reaches $2,187 by the time he or she is 79. If a patient has several cavities, the cost explodes
accordingly.
"There are currently no permanent restorative materials available to treat cavities, so the lifetime cost
of maintaining teeth that have been treated for decay far outpaces any out-of-pocket costs you might spend
to prevent decay in the first place," said Max Anderson, DDS, a national oral health advisor for Delta Dental
Plans Association.
For patients with dental benefits, there is often no out-of-pocket cost for preventive services such as regular
examinations. Even if a patient has a co-payment for preventive services, the data clearly show an investment
in prevention is a bargain compared with the ongoing cost of restoration.
Following an analysis of more than 77 million claims submitted within the Delta Dental system, the DAC data
indicated that over a lifetime it costs $1,788 to maintain a restoration (filling) in an anterior tooth and $2,108 to
maintain one in a premolar based on 2003 dollars. On average, patients who develop cavities in their molars
between ages seven and 12 require more than $1,000 in services by age 40 to maintain each restoration. By
age 79, these patients require an average of $2,187 per initial cavity.
That's because fillings wear out over time and have to be replaced. In some cases, failed fillings have to
be replaced with crowns, which are more expensive. The lifetime cost of a cavity also increases when a
tooth requires endodontic, or root canal treatment or extraction and replacement with a prosthetic tooth.
"The conclusion is, over a lifetime, just one cavity is expensive — two or more drive expenses well above the
lifetime cost of preventive care," said Dr. Anderson. "When a patient works with his or her dentist, cavities
are almost entirely preventable."
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network, Inc.
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