Systematic review on cost-effectiveness analysis of school-based oral health promotion program

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the variance of the cost-effectiveness ratio of the school-based oral health promotion and prevention program for elementary school children. METHODS: This review protocol was registered in the international database of Prospectively Registered Systematic Reviews in Health and Social Care (PROSPERO) (No: CRD 42022326734). The search for articles conducted in March-April 2022 focuses on any kind of school-based Promotive and Preventive Program for elementary school children that have control groups, and the outcome was Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER). Grey literatures are not eligible. This review used five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google Scholar). Two independent reviewers referred to the PICO for inclusion and exclusion criteria and carried out the systematic review process. JBI ACTUARI Guidance for Critical Appraisal of Economic Evaluation Assessment Tools was used to assess the quality of the study. RESULTS: Of the total 1,473 articles found, there were 5 articles that matched the article search criteria and were included in a systematic review. It was known that the labor cost has a large proportion of the total program cost, and cost-saving programs were found in the two milk fluoridation programs (18.59 USD and 1.7 USD/averted DMF-S), fluoride mouth rinsing program (10.86 USD), and a comprehensive program with glass ionomer cement (461,766.37 USD/averted DALYs). CONCLUSION: The fluoride programs and the comprehensive program with glass ionomer cement have the lowest cost-effectiveness ratio.