Trips to the dentist can be a traumatic experience for many of us.
Although dentistry has moved on leaps and bounds in the last decade, it still conjures up images of a Victorian dentist armed with a big drill and no anesthetic for plenty of people. Brits are often known for having bad teeth, and it looks like we really are living up to this stereotype.
In fact, for some people this fear is so strong, they abstain from visiting the dentist completely. Some of their phobias are so bad “they haven’t seen a dentist for years. It’s common for us to hear from someone in their twenties or thirties who hasn’t been to the dentist since childhood”.
Conditions Associated with Dental Health
The fact you get fillings as a result of not brushing your teeth should not be news to anyone, but there are far more health problems linked to poor oral hygiene than you may think. A toothache left untreated could end up having some serious implications. Here are just some of the illnesses and ailments which are directly linked to bad oral health:
- Heart Disease – numerous dentists have argued that gum disease is often a precursor to heart disease.
- Stroke Risk – as above, plaque enters the bloodstream due to gum disease and can clog arteries in the brain, leading to stroke.
- Dementia – people with dementia forget about oral health, which leads to further deterioration of health in other areas.
- Respiratory Problems – bacteria and plaque can inflame breathing airways. And let’s not forget about bad breath.
- Diabetes – Oral infections such as gingivitis and gum disease can spread much more easily among diabetics.
- Erectile Dysfunction – men with chronic periodontal disease (CPD) have damaged endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels (where it matters).
- Premature Birth – tooth and gum disease has also been linked to early childbirth, due to an increase in the production of prostaglandin, a hormone which can induce labor.
- Female Fertility – a woman with gum disease take an average of 2 months longer to fall pregnant than those without.
- Pancreatic Cancer – significant associations between the antibodies of oral bacteria and pancreatic cancer were discovered in a study by the journal Gut.
- Kidney Disease – medical research has also documented a link between periodontal disease and kidney disease, suggesting there is a connection between the two.
This list is not intended to frighten you, but to illustrate just how serious the impact of untreated tooth problems can be. A toothache alone will affect productivity, cause headaches and can affect someone’s behavior at work. As an employer, it can end up affecting your company’s productivity as a whole, and as Nigel Carter from the BDHF says, it is “an important factor in a healthy workforce”.
Dental insurance can be built into a company’s benefits scheme, and can greatly improve retention, decrease absenteeism from a toothache and keep people smiling for long. Companies such as Elect Employee Benefits offer group dental insurance as part of their complete employee benefits solution
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