What You Need to Know about Dental Insurance

If you’ve ever had a dental emergency, you know that this is a very important medical condition to treat but one that is also quite expensive. If you do not have dental insurance, the out-of-pocket expenses for dental treatment are quite hefty. Most everyone has heard of insurance at some point and you probably have insurance such as that for your home or vehicle. The purpose of these types of insurance is to protect you in the event of an unforeseen accident such as a fire or car wreck.

But insurance for dental care works a little differently. While it does exist to help people who face dental emergencies such as a broken tooth or damage caused by an accident of some type, the truth is that most people will not undergo any serious incidents like these in their lifetime. The types of treatment and care that they need is on a much smaller scale but still very important nonetheless in maintaining a healthy mouth and preventing more serious problems from occurring (such as cavities and gum disease). For this reason, insurance is created to help people afford the costs that are associated with regular maintenance and care of your teeth and gums.

Acquiring Individual Dental Insurance

If you have made the decision that you need individual dental insurance, how can you go about getting it? Before you choose any insurance program, it is important to know about the different options that are available to you and what they mean. Price is not the only factor to consider here, although it is an important one that most people consider high on the priority list when choosing coverage. In addition to just the costs, you also need to know what is included on that price, what types of limitations are placed on your coverage and what dentists you are allowed to go to and more.

If your main insurance provider does not cover all of the expenses for your dental treatments, you may want to consider supplemental dental insurance to help recoup some of the out-of-pocket expenses that are involved in dental treatment.

There are many different types of insurance for you to choose from such as cheap dental insurance, individual dental insurance, family plans, group plans, business dental insurance and more. The main types of dental insurance plans fall under one of these two main categories:

• Traditional insurance plans
• Managed care dental insurance plans

If you need family dental insurance or if you are looking for affordable dental insurance for yourself, you need to know what options are available to you. Traditional insurance plans are like pay for service plans and managed care dental insurance plans are your HMOs, PPOs, etc. Which type you have will depend on many different factors.

How is it Different from Other Insurance?

A common misconception that people have about their dental health insurance is that it will be like other types of insurance that they have but the truth is, there are some differences. The main difference is that dental insurance aims to help you receive regular treatment and preventative treatment for your dental health as opposed to solely treating emergencies or accidents that occur. Some of the most serious dental problems occur when a minor problem goes undetected and then grows into a larger, more serious problem. So dental insurance attempts to prevent this as much as possible by ensuring people get the regular checkups they need.

This works out best for everyone because if the insurance company can encourage you to make regular preventative visits, it will reduce the amount of expensive and serious procedures you need later in life, this reducing the costs of services they will need to help you pay for. By helping you make your regular checkups, they avoid the high costs of more serious complications later.

What Will Your Dental Coverage Pay For?

One common question people have when considering a certain type of coverage provider is how much it will pay for and if there are certain procedures that will not be covered. The truth is that the answers to this vary greatly according to your policy and the type of coverage you have.

A good, quality insurance provider will pay for both preventative treatment and repairs as mentioned above. They will pay for you to have regular visits to the dentist and cleanings every 6 months to ensure your teeth and gums are healthy. This will help you reduce the number of serious problems you will have later in life and the amount of dental procedures you will need to have.

If you already have a dental problem or a dental emergency occurs while you are insured, the policy should cover these problems as well. In some cases, the policy may not cover 100% of the costs but it will at least help offset the expenses so you can afford the treatment you need.

Some of the things that a good policy will cover are:

• Dental exams twice a year
• Cleanings twice a year
• Bite-wing x-rays once a year
• Full mouth x-rays about once every three years
• Topical fluoride treatments for children
• Sealants for children

Some additional basic dental services that may be covered or partially covered by your insurance plan are:

• Fillings
• Root canals
• Tooth extractions
• Gum treatments
• Etc

In addition to these, sometimes the need for major dental treatments arises. Most dental plans cover around 70-80% of the costs of these. These types of treatments may include:

• Dental crowns
• Bridgework
• Partial dentures
• Complete dentures
• Etc

Exactly how much your dental plan will pay for each of these services depends on the type of policy you have and what is outlined when you sign the contract or agreement so be sure you are clear on this before committing yourself to a policy. Ask any and all questions up front and make sure this is the type of policy that will meet your needs.

You should now feel more informed about dental insurance and what it means to you. You may even be ready to choose a plan for yourself or your family if you do not have one already. Remember that while coverage may seem costly, it’s much more affordable than not having any insurance at all.