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According to a recent article published by Dentistry.co.uk, almost three in ten workers (28%) in the United Kingdom have taken time off work due to a dental issue.

 

This figure equates to a total of 23 million sick days taken, with 7% of workers stating that they had taken over a week off due to ongoing dental pain and one in ten reporting that their toothache had had a negative effect on productivity and quality of work.


23 million sick days

 

Statistics from the article

Other findings from the survey, carried out by Denplan, include:

  • 12% of respondents had not been seen by an NHS dentist due to long waiting lists
  • 32% of respondents worry about the cost of dental care
  • 34% have had to cancel or postpone a dental appointment due to the cost
  • 11% of those who responded can no longer afford to seek dental treatment

 These findings were followed up by a statement from Catherine Rutland of Denplan:


“The preliminary findings reveal that dental care provision in the UK is far behind where it should be, resulting in millions of working days lost to tooth pain. People need certainty about how and where to access dental care in order to avoid the type of severe pain that is so debilitating that it requires time off work.


“Although many avoid the dentist due to concern around shock costs for unexpected treatments, they aren’t aware that there is affordable dental cover available that allows you to spread payment.


“We need to move to a model where NHS and private dentistry works together to ensure preventative care is prioritised. In doing so, people can catch problems earlier, avoiding invasive and expensive treatments down the line, and importantly, having to take time off due to dental health problems.

 

My two penneth

if it’s not the availability of NHS services that’s the issue, it’s the cost of the treatment or even the consultation. I find it worrying that even where treatment is available, some respondents in the above survey can’t even afford to follow through on procedures due to the cost.


There is also the issue of workers who take short periods of illness off but are not entitled to company sick pay or even statutory sick pay due to being off for less than a working week. 


It is very unfortunate that some people cannot afford even the basic cost of treatment, let alone the possibility of going private for the treatment completing sooner where local NHS waiting lists are too long. 


More needs to be done to increase available services in areas that are stretched, but they also need to be affordable enough to stop people feeling the need to go without, thus costing lost working days within the workforce.