Offering Dental Coverage for Employees

What You Should Know About Offering a Dental Benefit Plan

Keeping in mind that an often overlooked reason for employee absences is dental issues, discomfort, and diseases, it is a smart, economic choice to offer employees dental coverage. Human resource professionals for all different companies will tell you that employee absence from work, regardless of the reason, means a loss of income for the company overall. In addition to offering current employees a better chance at good oral health, having a dental coverage plan can also help with recruiting and retaining new employees.

Comparing Dental Needs to Medical Needs

Offering a dental coverage package for employees can often be much less expensive than an organization may think. Through dental professionals’ work to promote fluoride, sealants, and other items that help promote preventive dental care, American’s overall oral health has generally improved. According to recent studies, the cost of dental care treatments has risen much less than the cost of medical treatments over the last few decades. In general, medical treatments and needs can be unpredictable, catastrophic, an insurance risk, and of course very expensive.

Dental treatments and needs, on the other hand, are often very predictable, non-catastrophic in nature, lower risk to insurance companies, and far less expensive, making it more plausible for companies to provide dental coverage than they thought possible. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the structure of a dental plan differs from that of a medical coverage plan. For example, dental disease is preventable in most cases, and the coverage generally provides for procedures that prevent dental disease--the sooner it is treated, the less expensive it will be.

Why Dental Coverage is Important for Overall Oral Health

Visiting the dentist on a regular basis for a checkup and cleaning is an important part of a good oral hygiene routine that keeps individuals’ teeth and gums healthy. Many people avoid going to the dentist, citing that paying for the services themselves is too expensive. Those individuals who have dental coverage, however, are much more likely to see the dentist regularly and continue to practice proper oral hygiene. Oral hygiene is not just important for the health of the teeth and gums-- having a clean and healthy mouth can also help keep individuals healthy and striving overall.

If you are interested in finding a reasonably priced employee discount dental plan for your staff, click here.

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