Health Care Reform legislation passed last year got it right by ensuring that preventive services now be covered at 100%. 

Prior to this legislation being passed, it was up to patients to pay a co-pay or out of pocket to get their annual physical, blood pressure checks, mammography or colonoscopy.  By preventive services now being covered at 100%, companies can play a much larger role in ensuring that their employees receive these services to help identify any potential illnesses that can manifest into something much more severe and costly in the future. Patients with high risk factors for screened diseases can make sure they don’t acquire the illness, and if they do doctors can treat it early on.

However, there is a Missing Link in regards to health prevention.  Numerous studies have been done to show that future severe illnesses can be spotted during dental and vision screenings as well.  But, not all companies offer dental and vision coverage – and those that do often offer this coverage on a voluntary basis only.  An Optician will not only conduct an eye exam to provide an accurate assessment of a patient’s ability to see and health of eyes – but the eye screening can result in early identification of other eye problems such as diabetes or high blood pressure.   A Dentist is not only looking out for a patient’s teeth and gums, but also looking for oral cancers and other health conditions that may announce themselves in the mouth.  There have been a number of studies published in major medical journals which have looked at the connection between gum disease, heart disease and stroke.  One theory is that bacteria in the mouth can get into the bloodstream and travel to plaque deposits in the arteries. That can cause the deposits to become swollen and unstable, and more likely to rupture and cause a heart attack or stroke.

Therefore, it is critical that dental and vision screenings are not the missing link to health prevention and conducted for every employee.

Oftentimes, because health insurance costs have increased, dental and vision coverage are either cut or reduced to voluntary programs where it is up to the employee to elect coverage.  By companies allowing this coverage to be eliminated or reduced, employees may not be getting the critical preventive screenings from a Dentist and Optician.