Implications of Diabetes on Dental Costs in an Insured Population

• Activity Number: 421
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Health Policy Statistics Section
• Author(s): Monica Chaudhari*+ and William E. Barlow and Robert J. Reid and Ronald Inge
• Companies: Axio Research and Cancer Research and Biostatistics and Group Health Research Institute and Washington Dental Service
• Keywords: Diabetes ; Dental Care ; Propensity scores ; Cost ; Dental Procedures

Abstract

Background: With mounting economic burdens of diabetes and its complications, its implications on dental cost are not well studied. Objective: To evaluate associations between diabetes and costs of dental-care from a 5-year prospective observation of the insured with and without diagnosed diabetes. Methods: This was a cohort analysis using linked data from Washington Dental Service and Group Health Cooperative on enrollees continuously and dually insured from 2002-2006. Adults with and without diabetes were matched on baseline characteristics using propensity scores and then compared on 5 years of follow-up dental costs. Conclusions: Despite the lack of difference in total cost for dental-care, the distribution of costs across procedure-classes was significantly different for patients with diabetes with higher emphasis on tooth replacing procedures (p< 0.001) than tooth-retaining procedures (p< 0.001). In an administrative services-only arrangement with indemnity and PPO plans, the improved utilization of preventive dental-care could accrue cost savings to patients and employers through reduction in downstream costs related to intensive procedures.