Metlife emphasizes the vital connection between dental services and holistic health of employees

Chief Dental Officer at Metlife explains how stress can affect dentist patients and employees, and the important role that dental advantages for improved health and productivity play.

By Stan Goff, Senior Managing Editor

Sure, an employee with your mouth pain wants dental insurance to relieve this pain. But have you ever thought about the role that a tooth insurer plays in the stress of a person and how this pain can be stressed in the mouth?

Dr. Peter Fuentes, DMD, Chief Dental Officer at Metlife, has spent a day to think about how stress affects dental patients and employees, and his team examines how stress can reduce labor productivity and lead to serious problems with oral health problems and more serious problems with oral health.

Dr. Fuentes, who practiced dentistry for 15 years and whose wife is a dentist, has seen more than his share of cases in which stress has caused a patient to suffer a headache, bruxism or even lost filling. For this reason, as a Chief Dental Officer at Metlife, he knows how important it is to be aware of how stress can harm patients and why it is important for employers to aware of the many advantages that are provided by happy patients with a healthy mouth.

“I spent 15 years on the other hand to treat patients and treat my wife today. So I always have a focus group of one to say what is going on there.” Dr. Fuentes said. “But patients are generally always really good at discussing things like acute pain, acute problems, broken tooths or the loss of the filling. That is what they come for. What is more difficult. Sometimes are chronic concerns that they are not for dental terms [including stress]. “”

Dr. Peter Fuentes, DMD, Chief Dental Officer Metlife

The most common complaint he heard from the patient was that they were constantly getting headache. These patients did not notice that headaches are a common symptom for baking and grinding their teeth.

“As a provider, I would always sit down and ask:” Hey, has your job more stressful lately? Is there something at home that caused more stress and when did the headache started? “he said.

Often these patients who shared stories about stress would have cracked fillings or recently worn teeth. Dr. Fuentes would notice all the license plates of the bale and explain to the patients that what happens is really a dental problem. This headache that you assumed were only headaches were grinded by stress and teeth.

“I think that in the industry, especially for providers, it is important to have these conversations and really sit down with patients and sometimes pull more out of them,” he added. “Talk about this kind of subacute concerns that you deal with every day, and baleing together is like the perfect one because you don't know when it starts when it happens and you don't even know that you do it.”

Dr. Fuentes adds that the Covid pandemic made a significant contribution to stress for many people. Clinicers are a little better prepared to determine the signs of how stress has a negative impact on oral health, which in turn can lead to serious general health problems.

“We often return to these acute concerns, like a broken tooth. This is unusual. It is often because they grind or maybe even see things like a patient who says:” Oh, I don't chew on this side of my mouth. “Something is going on, and then you look it out and see it because you frozen this page down,” he said.

“I think grinding is a great example. And often it is very likely to be stress -controlled, especially, you know, Post Covid. We have seen a lot more than ever. People were only concerned with uncertainty about their work or other things. Sometimes it is just afraid to go to a dentist.

Since stress can lead to many problems, not only poor dental health, but also for opportunities to better cover the employees and in turn to alleviate some of the stress -related problems with which tooth patients and employees are confronted today.

Metlife has an annual report entitled “Employee Benefit Trends” study. The results show how important dental insurance are for many employees.

Important findings from the study, which is specifically for dental insurance/benefits, are:

Metlife's 2025 employee service -performance trends Student finds, employers who offer dental services seeing positive effects on their employees:

75% of employees with dental insurance report are productive at work (9% more often than those without)

At the dental insurance provided by employers, an employee plans to stay with his employer more often in the next 12 months.

Dental insurance employees say 13% more often that they are committed to work

Research also shows that dental insurance helps with the financial well -being of the employees:

If employees are dentists, they feel financially healthy by 15% more often

57% of employees say with dental that they have control over their finances compared to 51% of those who have no dentist

Employees with dental insurance feel 1.2 -fold more often healthy, compared to those who do not have dentists

“One of the snack bars that we see year after year is that employees are more committed and feel more valued if they have advantages and especially dental advantages,” said Dr. Fuentes. “And a step further, employees who use these advantages usually remain busy. They feel appreciated. So we have a role in ensuring that we not only advantages, but also modern and valuable advantages, advantages that actually work and thus work as employees use them, use them, they use these advantages and they are satisfied with these advantages.

Years ago, many employees and employers may have regarded dental insurance as a luxury. However, this has changed and in a large way a way that helps many employees receive better oral health and improve general health. More from today's workers expect tooth cover and more people are aware of oral-systemic health connections. The increased awareness of serious health concerns that are bound to periodontitis means that more people take steps to ensure improved oral health.

“The next generation that is now entering the workforce is probably the first generation that has had tooth cover since birth.” Dr. Fuentes said. “They had [coverage] 25-30 years ago. They were born with all the advantages and to become 24, 25, 26 and to get into the workforce, it is not a luxury. It is a necessity. The big changes that employers will have on the whole is to determine that these are really important advantages so that their employer employees feel grateful and committed. “

The good news for patients and clinicians is that the importance of good oral health has made great progress in recent years and that everything has been associated with a higher awareness of the need for good mental health. Less stress can lead to happier people, which can lead to healthier mouths, of which we now know that they can have a major impact on general health.

“As a provider, we receive the news about newsletters and communication, but often from the employer,” said Dr. Fuentes. “To be able to have these collaborative messaging, especially during registration times, to say that you have these additional advantages that may be available. I really think that the industry is right there.

“We speak of added value that has more personalized care, dentistry should not be a unit size. It shouldn't just take every six months, and this medical piece goes into it. If you are diabetics, if you have underlying conditions, if you have radiation, you are probably a much higher risk, and should have the following somewhat different preventive needs.”

Metlife is aware of the advantages that preventive dental care offers in terms of health and finances for employers, employees and insurers.

For this reason, Metlife's Spotlite program tries to proactively shift the focus from reactive care. You can find more information on this topic here to read: Metlife's Spotlite program focuses on preventive dental care.

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