Why dental insurance is a win-win for small businesses and their employees
Dental insurance can help make employees happier and healthier. And, because this affordable benefit can have a surprisingly strong return on investment, it’s also an advantage for small businesses.
It’s good for employees’ well-being and wallets.
Good oral health is vital to wellness because it’s connected to good overall health. In fact, oral diseases may worsen health conditions outside the mouth.1 What’s more, signs of at least 120 diseases, including heart disease and diabetes, can be detected in the mouth.2,3 People with dental benefits are 73% more likely to visit the dentist at least once a year compared to those without benefits.4 Those regular dental visits can help their dentist catch issues early before they become serious concerns.
Dental insurance helps save your employees money because:
- Plans generally cover 100% of preventive care, such as routine dental exams, X-rays and cleanings.
- Preventive care keeps costs down by identifying oral health problems before they become expensive to fix.
- In-network dentists often agree to charge lower fees.
- Dental insurance provides pre-tax savings when offered through payroll deduction.
Small businesses can get a positive return on their affordable investment.
If you’re wondering if you can afford to provide this valuable benefit, consider that there are dental plans that cost less than $1 per day per employee.5 There are flexible coverage choices to fit most budgets, with plans that range from basic to comprehensive. Your options also include voluntary (with employees paying all or part of the premium) and employer-paid plans. In addition, you may receive a tax credit if you pay 50% or more of the costs and have 25 or fewer employees.6
Dental insurance can pay off for employers because:
- When employees enjoy good oral health, they are more likely to be productive and miss less time at work due to oral health issues.7 Workers miss more than 92 million hours of work annually due to unplanned dental visits.8
- Offering dental insurance will also make your workplace more attractive to prospective and current employees. Better health, dental and vision insurance are factors for 88% of workers when considering a job offer.9 Job satisfaction is also higher at businesses that provide dental insurance.10
By providing dental insurance from Delta Dental to your employees, you will stand out from competitors that don’t offer dental benefits and be better able to compete with large companies that have more resources.
Get additional resources from Delta Dental
Looking for more information? Delta Dental can help keep your and your employees’ smiles healthy with these articles:
- Get the Most Out of Your Benefits With an In-network Dentist
- Employee Dental Insurance Coverage
- What’s the value of dental insurance?
Sources:
1Advancing Oral Health in America - The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine
2U.S. Surgeon General Report on Oral Health 2000 – Chapter 3 – Diseases and Disorders
3Application of the international classification of diseases to dentistry and stomatology: ICD-DA. World Health Organization 1995
4Sixty-nine percent of adult consumers with dental benefits reported they see the dentist at least once a year versus 40 percent of those without dental benefits, as reported in the Delta Dental 2018 Adult Oral Health Survey
5https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/dental-insurance/
6https://www.smallbizdaily.com/small-business-dental-plan/
7https://www.deltadental.com/us/en/group/corporation.html
8https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5772383/
9https://hbr.org/2017/02/the-most-desirable-employee-benefits