Can I save money with a dental insurance company?

Life can get expensive, and most of us find that we have to do some tight budgeting to get our dollars to stretch far enough to take care of our families.  Everybody is already paying for their mortgages, car payments, utilities etc.  All these expensive monthly bills make dental insurance company coverage seem optional to many.  Then when a family is not covered they are less likely to visit the dentist, even though visiting the dentist is directly related to our overall health.  It is widely known now that periodontal disease is directly linked to heart disease.  There are over one hundred and thirty million people without dental insurance coverage in our country.  Which brings us back to our original question; can I save money with a dental insurance company?

Judging if you need a dental insurance company to save money varies from person to person depending on their treatment needs and how much they are paying in their dental premiums.  A person’s dental insurance policy can be as different and unique as the person it covers.  A standard dental insurance company policy will usually cover 100 percent for preventative care.  Preventative Care includes your exams, cleanings, x-rays, and fluoride for children.  Often you will see 80 percent coverage for basic or Restorative services including fillings, root canals, and deep cleanings from your hygienist.  Lastly, most dental insurance policies only give 50 percent coverage for major services, like crowns, bridges, and dentures.  Your dental insurance company will also have a maximum amount that they will pay each year.  Often times that amount is as low as $1000 dollars.  This has been the same amount they have offered for many years, although dental treatment has grown in expense.  There are some higher annual limits in some policies, but they are often arranged by paying a higher premium. 

To be able to decipher if a dental insurance company can save you money, you first have to figure out what type of patient you are. 

• If you only come in for routine visits and have very little treatment needs, your premium can still be up to $600 per year.  Those services cost $245 per year at Dr. Thomas L. Anderson and Associates, so money is not being saved. 
• Other patients seem to have a new cavity every six months when they come in and paying all out of pocket would add up too quickly.  Making using a dental insurance company a good money saver. 
• My third category of patients is the people with vast dental problems.  These patients are often the ones suffering from dental anxiety, making it very difficult to make a dental appointment.  Often in these cases the problems have turned more painful and expensive, and can sometimes use the whole year’s dental benefits on fixing only one of many problems.  In some of these cases a dental insurance company would not help very much, and they might even add on unexpected waiting periods to your policy. 

So, before rushing out to get a new dental insurance company, make an appointment for a free consultation.  The friendly team at Dr. Thomas L. Anderson and Associates will help you figure out if a dental insurance company will save you some of your hard earned money!