(222) Health Economics in Deep Dental Infections

Introduction: Deep dental infections (DDI) in the head-neck area are severe medical conditions with a potentially fatal outcome that is often very resource-demanding. The primary objective of the study was to estimate the societal cost-of-illness (COI) of DDI patients of working age in the VGR county in Western Sweden and to specify the distribution of those costs.

Methods: The population (male and female >18 years) includes all patients registered in the VGR county health care consumption database VEGA with at least one record of a deep dental infection related in 2019. The regional administrative healthcare database VEGA covers all healthcare contacts (primary, specialized outpatient and inpatient) in the VGR county. Data was linked with the regional database on prescription drugs, Digitalis, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, and socioeconomic data from Statistics Sweden.
From these data, cost per patient (CCP) was calculated. The CPP contains expenses related to, e.g., premises, care equipment, health care personnel, materials, sampling, examinations, drug use while admitted to the hospital, administration, etc.

Results: The study presents data on CCP stratified by age, sex, socioeconomic status as direct and indirect costs.

Conclusions: This health economic study of deep dental infections in the head and neck area based on data from hospitalized patients in one entire county in Sweden 2019 show that cost per patient are substantial in addition to the patient suffering caused by this potentially leathal disease.