Toothache costs UK economy £105m every year

The poll, commissioned as part of the campaign National Smile Month, discovered that around one in 20 working Brits have been forced to take time off work in the last year due to oral health problems.

The charity estimates that we have missed more than 1.2m days of work in the last year, with one day of absenteeism costing an average of £82.86 to the economy, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

May 15 was the start of National Smile Month, an initiative which aims to encourage good oral health. Its organiser, the Oral Health Foundation, is using the campaign to challenge workplaces across the UK to take more of a vested interest in their employees’ health while asking the UK’s workforce to think about their oral health habits both at work and at home.

Nigel Carter, CEO of the Oral Health Foundation, says, “Bad habits such as irregular brushing and sugary diets are contributing to around three in every ten UK adults suffering regular dental pain and tooth decay. It is therefore inevitable that significant numbers of people are taking sick days off work and damaging the productivity of the UK economy.