Modelling the impact of increase in sugar prices on dental caries in India.

OBJECTIVES This study aims to assess the impact of raising the price of sugar and/or sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on caries incidence in the Indian population. METHODS A tooth-level decision-analytic model was developed to evaluate a change in caries increment after increasing the price of Sugar and SSBs. The transition of a tooth from a caries-free state to the state of tooth loss in both scenarios was modelled with the help of a Markov model for a time horizon of 63 years, ranging from 2021 to 2083 for the 12-year-old population cohort of India. A conceptual framework was designed to implicate the possible effects of an increase in sugar prices on the reduction of caries incidence. Health effects were estimated in terms of the number of carious lesions and tooth-loss in both the scenarios and modelled as a product of the dose-response relationship between sugar intake and caries incidence. The model was thus used to establish the number of caries lesions prevented, and tooth-loss avoided. Uncertainties in the parameters were assessed using probabilistic sensitivity analysis. The Monte Carlo method was used for simulating the results 1000 times. RESULTS A 20% rise in the price of sugar is expected to result in the prevention of an average of 1.32 teeth in a lifetime of an individual and prevent 27.96 million tooth-loss incidents among the population cohort of India that will eventually lead to a saving of INR (₹) 3116.32 billion (US$ 42.69 billion) on account of dental caries treatment. Similarly, increasing-price of SSBs by 20% will lead to a 0.86% reduction in carious teeth incidence in an individual's lifetime. CONCLUSION Increasing the cost of sugar and/or SSBs will reduce the daily intake of sugar, which will reduce caries incidence and subsequent progression, thereby preventing caries-attributed tooth-loss and saving treatment costs.

[1]  T. Doran,et al.  Effect of sugar-sweetened beverages on oral health: a systematic review and meta-analysis. , 2020, European Journal of Public Health.

[2]  E. Bernabé,et al.  Early Introduction of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Caries Trajectories from Age 12 to 48 Months , 2020, Journal of dental research.

[3]  J. Heinrich,et al.  Association of sugar-sweetened drinks with caries in 10- and 15-year-olds , 2020, BMC Oral Health.

[4]  F. Ferretti,et al.  Sugar-sweetened beverage affordability and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a cross section of countries , 2019, Globalization and Health.

[5]  M. Rovers,et al.  The caries-related cost and effects of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. , 2019, Public health.

[6]  O. Kharbanda,et al.  Report from a symposium on accelerating policy-driven action against excessive sugar consumption for the prevention of early childhood caries and noncommunicable diseases , 2018, Indian journal of public health.

[7]  J. Ansah,et al.  Sugar-sweetened Beverage Tax and Potential Impact on Dental Caries in Thai Adults: An Evaluation Using the Group Model Building Approach , 2018, Systems Research and Behavioral Science.

[8]  R. Bedi The Sugar Tax: A Leadership Issue for the Dental Profession and An Opportunity to Demonstrate that Oral Health is Part of General Health , 2018, Contemporary clinical dentistry.

[9]  J. Drope,et al.  Global Trends in the Affordability of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, 1990–2016 , 2017, Preventing chronic disease.

[10]  B. Dye,et al.  Oral health status of children in Los Angeles County and in the United States, 1999–2004 , 2017, Community dentistry and oral epidemiology.

[11]  T. Vos,et al.  Global, Regional, and National Prevalence, Incidence, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years for Oral Conditions for 195 Countries, 1990–2015: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors , 2017, Journal of dental research.

[12]  C. Scully,et al.  Global burden of oral diseases: emerging concepts, management and interplay with systemic health. , 2016, Oral diseases.

[13]  F. Schwendicke,et al.  Effects of Taxing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Caries and Treatment Costs , 2016, Journal of dental research.

[14]  E. Bernabé,et al.  The Shape of the Dose-Response Relationship between Sugars and Caries in Adults , 2016, Journal of dental research.

[15]  R. Dasgupta,et al.  Sugar, Salt, Fat, and Chronic Disease Epidemic in India: Is There Need for Policy Interventions? , 2015, Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine.

[16]  Y. Le Bodo,et al.  Is Sugar the new Tobacco? Insights from Laboratory Studies, Consumer Surveys and Public Health , 2015, Current Obesity Reports.

[17]  Anoop Misra,et al.  Sugar Intake, Obesity, and Diabetes in India , 2014, Nutrients.

[18]  W. James,et al.  A reappraisal of the quantitative relationship between sugar intake and dental caries: the need for new criteria for developing goals for sugar intake , 2014, BMC Public Health.

[19]  E. Bernabé,et al.  Sugar-sweetened beverages and dental caries in adults: a 4-year prospective study. , 2014, Journal of dentistry.

[20]  P. Moynihan,et al.  Effect on Caries of Restricting Sugars Intake , 2014, Journal of dental research.

[21]  B. Popkin,et al.  Averting Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in India through Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxation: An Economic-Epidemiologic Modeling Study , 2014, PLoS medicine.

[22]  F. Chaloupka,et al.  Assessing the potential effectiveness of food and beverage taxes and subsidies for improving public health: a systematic review of prices, demand and body weight outcomes , 2013, Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity.

[23]  J. Mann,et al.  Dietary sugars and body weight: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies , 2012, BMJ.

[24]  Anjani Kumar,et al.  Estimation of Demand Elasticity for Food Commodities in India , 2011 .

[25]  H. McNulty,et al.  Is Sugar Consumption Detrimental to Health? A Review of the Evidence 1995—2006 , 2009, Critical reviews in food science and nutrition.

[26]  F. García-Godoy,et al.  The global increase in dental caries. A pending public health crisis. , 2009, American journal of dentistry.

[27]  L. Tenuta,et al.  Effect of Frequency of Sucrose Exposure on Dental Biofilm Composition and Enamel Demineralization in the Presence of Fluoride , 2006, Caries Research.

[28]  H V Worthington,et al.  Recall intervals for oral health in primary care patients. , 2005, The Cochrane database of systematic reviews.

[29]  Paula J Moynihan,et al.  The role of diet and nutrition in the etiology and prevention of oral diseases. , 2005, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[30]  O. Fejerskov,et al.  Changing Paradigms in Concepts on Dental Caries: Consequences for Oral Health Care , 2004, Caries Research.

[31]  B. Amaechi,et al.  Enamel Demineralization in situ with Various Frequencies of Carbohydrate Consumption with and without Fluoride Toothpaste , 2001, Journal of dental research.

[32]  K. Guire,et al.  The Effects of Sugars Intake and Frequency of Ingestion on Dental Caries Increment in a Three-year Longitudinal Study , 1988, Journal of dental research.

[33]  D. Appleton,et al.  Relationship between dietary habits and caries increment assessed over two years in 405 English adolescent school children. , 1984, Archives of oral biology.

[34]  E. Newbrun Sucrose, the arch criminal of dental caries. , 1969, ASDC journal of dentistry for children.