- Offer health insurance benefits that cover preventive dental services
- Educate employees on proper oral hygiene techniques, nutrition, and lifestyle choices
- Provide fluoride treatments to help reduce plaque buildup and tooth decay
- Offer access to healthy snacks like yogurt, cheese, leafy greens, and apples,, promoting better oral health.
Good oral health is essential for everyone, but it’s essential to promote in the workplace. Poor oral hygiene among employees can lead to poor overall health outcomes, reduced productivity, and higher healthcare costs. As an employer, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your employees have a healthy and safe work environment, including promoting good oral health. Here are some tips on how to do that.
Health Insurance Benefits
Offering health insurance benefits that cover preventive dentistry services is one of the best ways to encourage good oral health habits among your employees. This includes regular cleanings, x-rays, fillings, and even orthodontic care (if you offer generous coverage). It will also help reduce employee out-of-pocket expenses when they need to see a dentist for more expensive or specialized procedures.
Moreover, this kind of coverage will help your employees take more ownership of their oral health, allowing them to visit a dentist regularly and get the treatments they need promptly.
Educational Opportunities
It’s not enough to provide access to preventive dentistry services; you also need to educate your team about the importance of proper oral hygiene and how it affects their overall well-being. You can bring in a dental professional or host an informational seminar at least once per year that covers brushing and flossing techniques, nutrition, lifestyle choices (like smoking cessation), and signs/symptoms of common dental issues like gum disease.
Furthermore, you can also provide educational materials that employees can take home or have available in the breakroom.
Fluoride Treatments
Providing fluoride treatments at least twice a year is another way you can help promote better oral health at work. Fluoride treatments strengthen teeth and make them less vulnerable to decay by replenishing lost minerals in the enamel of teeth—a process known as remineralization—and they also reduce plaque buildup and staining caused by food and beverages.
You may want to consider providing complimentary fluoride treatments during your company’s annual wellness exams or other checkups throughout the year.
Access to Healthy Snacks
Finally, offering access to healthy snacks is another way to promote better oral health at work. Instead of unhealthy snacks like chips and candy, provide employees with tooth-friendly snacks that will help protect their teeth and gums. Some of these snacks are:
Yogurt
Yogurt contains probiotics which help maintain a balanced level of bacteria in the mouth, promoting better oral health. Additionally, yogurt is full of calcium, which helps strengthen the enamel and jaw bones. Try to buy yogurt with live or active cultures, as these have even more benefits than regular yogurt.
Cheese
Like yogurt, cheese contains calcium which strengthens the teeth and bones in the jaw. It also increases saliva production, which helps wash away food particles that could cause plaque buildup and cavities. Cheese also has an alkaline effect which helps neutralize acids in the mouth created by bacteria that leads to tooth decay.
Leafy Greens
Greens such as kale and spinach are packed with vitamins A, C, E, and K, all of which are important for maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Vitamin A helps keep tooth enamel strong, while vitamin C helps keep blood vessels in the gums healthy. Leafy greens also contain fluoride, which fights against cavities caused by bacterial acid erosion on the surface of the enamel.
Apples
Apples contain malic acid, which stimulates saliva production to help clean out plaque buildup between your teeth and on top of them. Apples also contain fiber which acts like a scrub brush between your teeth when you chew them, helping to remove any lodged food particles or plaque buildup. Plus, they’re sweet enough to satisfy cravings without adding any sugar!
Nuts
Nuts contain calcium, phosphorus, and zinc, all important minerals that help keep the teeth strong. They also have a crunchy texture which helps to scrub away plaque buildup on the surfaces of the teeth. Additionally, nuts are high in protein which helps reduce the sugar consumed throughout the day.
Final Thoughts
Promoting good oral health in the workplace is essential for employee safety and well-being. With these tips on promoting proper dental care in the office, you can help ensure that your team has access to preventive dentistry services, educational opportunities about proper hygiene practices, fluoride treatments for extra protection against tooth decay, and other problems associated with poor oral hygiene. In doing so, you will be taking an important step towards creating a healthier work environment for your employees!
