Workplace productivity is a vital component of a successful business, and contributes to a thriving economy. Greater productivity means workers complete more with less time or effort. Unfortunately, some factors can affect productivity, and urgent dental health needs are one of those factors.
Adults in the U.S. lose more than 243 million hours of productivity time due to oral health problems annually, according to findings from a recent report by the CareQuest Institute. The State of Oral Health Equity in America survey showed that lost productivity time due to untreated dental disease costs the U.S. an estimated $45 billion each year. (That’s billion… with a “b”).¹
The report, The Hour of Need: Productivity Time Lost Due to Urgent Oral Health Needs, also reveals that oral health problems and unplanned dental visits have more of an impact on daily activities (such as work and school) for people with lower incomes, no dental insurance, and less education.
In addition, the report found that adults missed 183 million hours of productivity time due to their own oral pain or unplanned dental visits, and 60 million hours due to oral pain or dental visits of children or other adults in their care. Missing productivity time was also significantly associated with identifying as female, Hispanic, or having to travel 45 minutes or more to see a dental provider.
The authors of the report recommend three solutions to mitigate the impact of oral health problems on work and school time: 1) increase the number of oral health professionals in rural areas; 2) integrate medical and dental care in colocated clinics; and 3) provide minimally invasive care to arrest dental caries in early stages.²
You can view the full visual report from CareQuest here.
¹ https://www.dentistrytoday.com/us-adults-miss-243-million-hours-of-work-or-school-annually-due-to-oral-health-problems/
² https://www.carequest.org/resource-library/hour-need-productivity-time-lost-due-urgent-oral-health-needs
