Dental Insurance: How Much Do You Know About It?

Dental InsurancePeople like to purchase insurance for things we think are valuable, like homes, cars, business  and health. But we usually ignore the importance of one thing that we use everyday. Yes, we mean your teeth!

We know that our teeth will affect what we eat and how we feel. Most of us pay attention to dental care only when our teeth severely ache. However, do you know heart diseases or strokes sometimes are associated with dental problems? In fact, regular dental care not only helps keep the mouth health, but also prevents you against linked health problems.

Today in the U.S., the costs for dental treatments can range from $300 annually for regular dental checkups, to $25,000 or even more for cosmetic dentistry. Then, given the current increasing expenses on dental care, dental insurance seems to be a wise investment.

Why Dental Insurance

Actually, the large amount of out-of-pocket expenses for dental care has kept many Americans from receiving regular and necessary dental treatment. The concept behind dental insurance is to help offset the high dental bills. You just need to pay a monthly amount as premium which will thereafter act as a security for the medical cost on your dental care or treatment.

Dental insurance is becoming growingly popular among people for a variety of reasons, and here are two major factors that contribute to the popularity:

  1. Pay for Costly Dental Care: Your regular dental care can be a simple cleaning, checkup or x-rays, or involve expensive oral surgery and orthodontics. Generally, dental insurance helps cover all or at least a large percentage of the fees related to your dental care, and consequently makes dental care highly affordable for individuals and families.
  2. Maintain A Healthy Mouth: It has been proved that regular dental checkups and cleanings help maintain our oral health. Today’s most dental insurance offer 100% coverage for checkups every 6 months.

Basic Coverages of Dental Insurance

Currently, we can easily find various dental insurance plans in the U.S. The coverages differ from policy to policy, from provider to provider, as well as from person to person, which has made it quite challenging to get a coverage that meets your life and needs. Broadly speaking, basic coverage for dental insurance includes the following three categories:

  1. Preventive and Diagnostic Dental Care – Almost all dental plans and insurance policies include coverage for services that prevent dental problems. These basic dental services include cleanings, checkups, and other dental procedures that are meant to prevent tooth or gum diseases. This is also the most important kind of coverage for dental insurance, as it encourages more people to attend regular dental care against later problems.
  2. Basic Dental Care & Dental Procedures – For most long-term health plans and dental insurance, basic dental procedures are involved, including fillings, tooth extractions, fixing chipped teeth, and other basic procedures alike. Some dental
    plans even cover teeth whitening and root canals while some do not. Actually, in the real insurance market, what are referred to as basic dental care vary widely based on your insurance providers.
  3. Major Dental Care – Not all dental insurance plans cover major dental care, but some cover a portion of these costs at least. Major dental care may contain dental procedures like dental surgery, orthodontics, cosmetic dentistry, and other costly dental services. If you think you need major dental care in the future, it is better to choose an insurance company that pays for as large a portion of this type of care as possible.

Dental Insurance Plans

Besides determining the best coverage, going for the best suited dental insurance plan holds the same importance as well. With the rising costs of dental procedures, getting a dental insurance plan that covers wider work would be a wide choice. Here are three basic plans of dental insurance that help you and your family control the high costs of dental care.

  1. Dental Maintenance Organization (HMO) Plan – This is somewhat the least expensive dental insurance plan, giving cost-effective dental care via primary care dentists. The dental care you get from participating dental care providers will be covered. However, if you receive dental services from a dentist out of the network, you have to pay the bills out of your pocket. The dentists in the network are paid directly by the insurance company once a monthly.
  2. Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) Plan – With such a plan, you can visit any dentists in the network to receive dental care at lower fees. Participating professionals in a specific network provide discount rates as the insurance company give them more business opportunities. Deductibles also apply to some plans, maybe around $50 in certain cases.
  3. Dental Indemnity Plan – A dental indemnity plan gives patients the freedom to choose the dentists or dental care professionals of their choice. Therefore, you don’t have to select a dentist from the long list of network in order to qualify for the benefits. While most dental indemnity plans pay up to 100% for your preventative dental care, there is usually a limit on your covered dental spending in a plan year. If your dental bills have got beyond this limit, you have to be responsible for the exceeding amount.

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