Cost-effectiveness of homœopathic treatment in a dental practice^{[ * ]}

Abstract

Dentists who accept social security patients in Germany today are bound by a large number of rules and regulations which impose severe limits on their free choice of treatment, cost-effectiveness being a prime consideration.

The treatment of acute conditions predominates in a modern compulsory insurance practice. The author analysed his own case records and the statistics provided by the KZV (association of dental practitioners for patients with compulsory insurance) for the period from 1983 to 1990 to establish the effect of introducing consistent use of homœopathic treatment from the end of 1984 on the frequency with which certain standard treatments were required. The results were compared with the average figures of other dentists and a computation made of potential economic advantages at a national level.

Key Words

Social security - Follow-up treatment - Oral surgery - Arnica - Average frequency of treatment - Reduction in costs - Proof of efficacy

^* Originally published in Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung 1992; 237: 115–22. Published in English with the kind permission of the author and of the publishers. English by A.R. Meuss, FIL, MTA.