Why Dental Insurance?

The cost of Dental care in America is one of the fastest rising medical costs concerning our healthcare. Dental Insurance is like any other insurance. You pay a premium each month and the insurance company helps to keep the cost of services low and minimize your out of pocket costs. Most dental plans will cover routine care such as cleanings, extractions, exams and fillings with no waiting periods, the waiting periods associated with different policies can vary on things such as root canals, crowns, bridges and dentures from 6 months to 1 year. As you can see by the waiting periods, it is really important to put a plan in place before you actually need it.

The cost of routine care is not that expensive with a dental policy, usually the dental plans will cover anywhere from 50% to 80% of the cost depending on the plan you have chosen. So for example you schedule a routine cleaning and exam, the average cost is around $100 for the exam and cleaning, if your policy covered 60% your part would be about $40.00 for the exam and cleaning. For an exam and cleaning that is really a reasonable price to obtain a healthy smile, gums and teeth. Some plans have a deductible, understanding your policy is a must discuss this with your broker or agent.

Routine care is essential to having healthy teeth and gums while keeping our dental expenses at a reasonable cost. By receiving regular cleanings we can prevent the more expensive procedures such as root canals and crowns. As for many, we don't realize we need a dentist until we have debilitating or excruciating pain, and then we usually have a more expensive treatment awaiting us as we try to set an appointment to see the dentist and possibly have to wait for an opening.

First rule of thumb: Always be prepared for the unexpected. Consider a dental insurance policy and make routine dental care part of your healthcare.

When shopping for dental insurance these are the things you will want to consider:

How much will my premiums cost? What is my deductible? What percentage of coverage do I have? What are my waiting periods? Does my policy just cover routine care or major dental procedures (you will want both) Do I have an HMO, PPO or indemnity policy? (Which means network doctors or not)

After carefully shopping around, if you can answer all the questions above you should have a good idea of understanding your dental policy and being able to make an educated decision.