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It is getting more common today for employers to offer health related benefits to their employees, especially for dental care, as rising costs and less provision by the NHS makes maintaining good, healthy teeth difficult for some.

There are some good dental insurance plans available that employers can offer their employees which can help them maintain good oral health but does not cost too much. An employee who adopts a good, sound oral health plan will in the long run will suffer less and will have less need to take time off work to seek emergency treatment. There are indications from research that employees with unhealthy teeth do take off a significant amount of time off work to source much needed dental treatment.

Dental insurance providers can help employers design effective promotional material reminding their employees of the need to visit the dentist regularly. So many people ignore the need to have regular check-ups until it’s too late and problems with their teeth start to occur. It doesn’t take much for a dentist to have a look in a person’s mouth and offer some friendly but informative advice on the state of their teeth and how they should take care of them.

Just one visit to a dentist a year can help prolong oral health

Just one visit a year is enough to prolong a person’s teeth and reduce the need to have serious treatment like root canals, teeth extractions and dental implants. These sorts of treatment even though they are not painful may require several visits to the dentist until the treatment is complete. This means, from the employer’s point of view, that an employee with unhealthy teeth might at some point be asking to leave work early to meet dental appointments. This could have been avoided in the long term had someone reminded them of the need to attend a regular dental appointment.

Current research has revealed that poor oral health can lead to the onset of all sorts of debilitating diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes which are best avoided by the employee. Avoidance of these debilitating diseases can relieve the burden off the NHS, which is bursting at the seams trying to meet the needs of burgeoning health problems in Britain.

Employers can gain in productivity by providing health incentives

Just a little bit of education on the part of employers together with incentives to take up health insurance for dental health helps Britain keep its working population healthier. It also helps the employer by contributing to a reduction in heart attacks and strokes which have been linked to poor dental health and can lead to time off work by employees.

Health education by the employer doesn’t just have to rest with getting insured. Small initiatives like food provided in work canteens and vending machines should be reviewed so that those containing high levels of teeth eroding sugar could be omitted and healthier, less sugary items could be provided. There is no doubt with the ever increasing cost of health care, whether for teeth or other parts of the body, any little bit that can be done to make people live a healthier lifestyle benefits all.