According to the “Doctor’s handbook” an operation is only exceptionally indicated; so without an exact number I estimate that in Denmark at least 90% of the cases of ingrown nails are treated by a foot therapist The “Doctor’s handbook” estimates that every year between 0.2% and 0.4% of the population will suffer from an ingrown toenail. I use the average of those two numbers: 0.3% The average cost for the health care system for treatment at a foot therapist is 174.23 €. However, because of the 50% user payment, the cost is actually only half of that. The average price for an operation in the 20 private hospitals that I’ve checked was per May 10th 2011: 983.91 € (pre-examination and operation). As in the previous point, the cost will be a bit lower considering that some of the patients have an extra health insurance. (As of August 2013, only 16 of the original 20 hospitals were left. The average price had increased to 1030 €) However, I let the numbers for both treatments stand. The price difference for the two treatments is (983.91 € - 174.23 €) = 809.68 € According to this study, surgery causes an average of 14.2 workdays for medical sick leave, whereas treatment with a brace causes none. To compensate for the extra visits at the foot therapist I’ve none the less deducted 1 workday. The difference in the need for medical sick leave is therefore 13.2 days On average, Danes work 37 hours a week and approximately 1.600 hours in a year The average annual income in 2009 in Denmark was: 36.782,84 € (274,400 Danish kroner) - Source: Statistics Denmark I estimate that an employee has an impact on national GDP / company turnover that equals 2 x the salary In my calculations I assume that if we had no bracing technique, all patients would have to go through an operation, and that's probably not the case. Out of the Danish population, approximately 2.5 million are at work. However I calculate the potential loss of income from the whole population. I do that because the average patient is between 16 and 63 years of age - almost the same as the "employment-age". And besides, anything other would place no value on the education of our children or on the welfare of the elderly. So I'm going to let the numbers stand. However, if you're inclined otherwise, please reduce the result by a third. It's still a huge number!