"The Economic Value of Teeth"

I liked the title of this one: The Economic Value of Teeth (Sherry Glied and Matthew Neidell, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 13879, March 2008).  Here's the abstract:

Problem statement:

Healthy teeth are a vital and visible component of general well-being, but there is little systematic evidence to demonstrate their economic value.

Methodology:

In this paper, we examine one element of that value, the effect of oral health on labor market outcomes, by exploiting variation in access to fluoridated water during childhood. The politics surrounding the adoption of water fluoridation by local water districts suggests exposure to fluoride during childhood is exogenous to other factors affecting earnings.

Findings:

We find that women who resided in communities with fluoridated water during childhood earn approximately 4% more than women who did not, but we find no effect of fluoridation for men. Furthermore, the effect is almost exclusively concentrated amongst women from families of low socioeconomic status. We find little evidence to support occupational sorting, statistical discrimination, and productivity as potential channels of these effects, suggesting consumer and employer discrimination are the likely driving factors whereby oral health affects earnings.

Comments

[Best Teeth Whitening]

Wow that is a facinating article. Who would have thought that there was a corilation between teeth and earning potential.

[tom]

this is not a well-controlled study, because income can be correlated to communities with fluoridated water sources. better to try a study by putting a subgroup on tooth trays and another on placebo, then test for income in a few years. :)

[Cosmetic Dentistry Sheffield]

Great post, I enjoyed this read, look forward to future posts!

Regards

[cheap r4 firmware]

Without having read the study, it seems like if anything they are giving a lowball estimate since their shock is macro and for most jobs teeth are positional rather than absolute. To the extent that fluoridation leads to across-the-board increases in teeth quality for the local labor market, it conceals this positional aspect.

[Account Deleted]

Tom may be right. The correlation between healthy teeth and income has a wide gap that cannot be determined by a few factors. But I believe that healthy teeth can really get you somewhere. You can use your smile to impress employers and establish rapport between your colleagues. That's why I make sure that I regularly have my teeth checked by Chicago cosmetic dentists. I trust that whatever procedure they suggest, it will benefit me.

[Jerri Larimore]

Healthy teeth will always be valuable to every person. The healthier teeth you have, the more you'll enjoy life. It may not directly affect one's value, but remember that a bright smile will always be pleasing. Probably water fluoridation really helps, which of course is a subject of debate.