Dental injuries can be extremely painful and damaging. While getting a filling is certainly not easy, an injury to the teeth or jaw could require treatment that is much worse: Reconstructive surgery, tooth extractions, dental implants, and root canals could be necessary if someone suffers major trauma to the mouth area.
One place where dental injuries may occur is in the workplace. Employees who sustain work-related dental injuries may be able to recover benefits through their company’s workers’ compensation insurance.
Causes of Workplace Dental Injuries
Anyone can sustain a dental injury on the job. Injuries such as chipping a tooth or breaking your jaw can happen in addition to other work-related injuries, or occur independently as the result of an accident.
Some workers are more vulnerable to work-related dental injuries than others, and often, they’re the same people who are more vulnerable to work accidents in general. For example, people who work in construction, manufacturing, or trucking are more likely to face the physical trauma that can result in a dental injury.
An on-the-job dental injury may be caused by:
- Car accidents
- Falls
- Falling objects
- Head trauma
Are Workplace Dental Injuries Covered by Workers’ Compensation?
An employee who suffers from a dental injury on the job, in most cases, is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. Although dental injuries seem separate from bodily harm (and are treated differently in the medical and insurance sense), they are not exempt from workers’ compensation coverage. If your job aggravated a pre-existing dental condition, it is possible that you could recover benefits in that case too.
A dental work injury claim should be treated like any workers’ compensation claim. The employee must be able to prove that their injury was work-related. This can be done by reporting your injury right away, seeing a dentist, and gathering all relevant documentation. As long as your injury was caused by your work, you should be eligible for workers’ compensation coverage.
Do you have a work injury claim? Contact the attorneys of Smolich and Smolich to discuss your case for free.
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