My employer doesn’t provide dental insurance, and I’m wondering if I need to find one on my own. Is it like regular health costs, where you get charged exorbitant fees if you don’t have insurance? Or is it a feasible plan to just pay for what you need to get done?
There’s tons of options.
The bigger the deductible you are willing to absorb, the smaller the premiums. Of course, this is true on most kinds of health insurance.
I have a policy through work that costs a few more dollars per month, but pays out better.
Example: I get two free cleanings per year. Any over that, and I get a 30% discount.
The cheaper option would only pay a flat rate per service and I would have to pay the difference.
Example: a cleaning normally costs me $80. On the cheaper plan, they’ll pay $22 and I have to pay the rest no matter how many cleanings I get.
I have my teeth cleaned 4 times per year, so that equals:
Cheap plan = $232
My plan = $120
The difference in the plans is about $20 per month.
Next year, I’ll have to have 3 gum grafts. They’ll run about $500-600 each. Under my plan, it’ll cost me about $50-75 each. The savings will more than pay for the premiums.
Also beware of waiting periods for services. Some won’t pay for certain things (like fillings or crowns) until you’ve been insured for a year (or more).
I posted a thread about 6 months ago about some dental issues I’m having (“The cavity creeps have made me their bitch” if you’re interested). Shorthand is that to repair my teeth at that time with insurance would have set me back about $700. Without insurance the tab would be several thousand. And that’s not taking into account the benefits of twice-yearly oral exams and cleanings at no charge (and the free toothbrushes!).
I lost my insurance shortly after that thread along with my job so I didn’t have the work done. I’ll be getting insurance back in about a week and will get an exam and cleaning done along with at least some of the more critical work I need.
So yeah, IMHO a decent dental plan is essential. I know absolutely nothing about getting dental coverage independent of an employer. One of our Dopers, Weirddave, sells insurance to IIRC the self-employed and I don’t know if he deals in dental, but if he wanders through this thread he may be able to offer you some direction on where to look.
Another option you might want to look into is Care Credit.
I’d go with insurance if I were you, but if you absolutely cannot get it and you HAVE to have some work done, Care Credit’s not a bad way to do it. Just make sure your dentist takes it before you book an appointment.
If you can’t get any for whatever reason, I know that at least some dentists will work out payments with you. I got a crown a couple of months ago and will be paying it off for some time to come. As long as they get regular payments, all is well.
I meant to add that in the case of really hugely expensive work this is probably not a good deal; I’d look for some sort of insurance if I needed thousands of dollars of work, but for the one crown I can manage. Otherwise my teeth are in good shape. knocking furiously on wood
Thanks for the answers. I guess I need to work out something.
What about those “dental discount” plans, are those a good option? As far as I can tell, I’d be paying for each procedure, but the rate would be somwhere between the discounted rate the insurance company would pay and what the official “full” charge would be - is that correct?
The thing is I recently noticed a slight ache which I’d like to get checked out, and I’m guessing insurance would not cover that if I joined now (pre-existing condition).
Be careful about those. Make absolutely sure the provider accepts them. Also make sure the amount you “save” is outweighed by the premiums you have to pay.
Like I posted earlier, some plans having a waiting period, some don’t. I had most of my work (root planing, 2 fillings, and 4 wisdom teeth pulled) done before I got the dental insurance at work and there was no waiting period or penalty for pre-existing conditions.
Some dental discount plans are good, some are “Hey, if you go to our dentist, who, BTW, is 100 miles away, you’ll get 10% off your bill”. Well whoop de do.
The one my company offers is pretty damn good, it’s what we have. Matthew got a tooth pulled last year, the charge for the exam, x-rays and extraction was $148, we paid $50. I had an absess, $87 for full oral exam and 2 bite wing x-rays, I paid $17. My root canal cost me $300 instead of the $950 my dentist regularly charges. So, discount plans can work very well, you just need to ask pertinent questions before geting into them. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions.
My employer canceled company paid dental insurance several years ago. I have been paying out of pocket since. My family has pretty good teeth, so the savings on work beyond cleaning isn’t germain, but the cost of the insurance is close to a wash compared to the cost of cleanings and x-rays for all four of us, two of whom are toddlers.
In short, it’s not essential, but, in my case, a problem could hit us hard. Kind of a gamble really.
The problem with dental insurance, especially non-employer sponsored, is that people can seek it out only when they see a big expense coming. The insurance companies are running a business, not a charity, so the premiums and coinsurance are high. They’re not going to run a business where you can sign up just when your kids need braces, for example, without getting you to bear most of the cost with premiums and coinsurance.
Remember that the primary purpose of insurance is risk management to protect your financial solvency. You should expect to have some expenses for dental care over your lifetime, and insurance will even out whether you take a few really big hits. Over the long term, if you don’t have an employer sponsored plan (which may be a better deal due to subsidies, group rates and tax advantages) you are probably better off just paying for a little more preventive care out of pocket.
If there’s a dental college in your area, contact them. They’ll often offer cleanings and fillings at a reduced price. My understanding is that the students do the work, but under the supervision of an experienced instructor.
If that’s not an option, I’d say it really depends on your teeth. My husband and I use the same brands of toothpaste, floss and mouthwash. We follow essentially identical dental routines. His teeth are strong and straight and cavity-free, whereas I seem to have inherited my mom’s “gooey” teeth. He could get away without dental insurance. If I didn’t have it, I would have paid about $2000 out of pocket for dental treatment this year.
I think dental discount plans are a good deal too they have benefits over insurance
- Monthly premiums are 1/3 of insurance (not a huge deal, maybe a saving of $20/month)
- there is no upper limit on how much care you can get, dental insurance tends to have upper financial limits of $750-$2,000 a year or so (maybe 1-2 root canals)
- Pre-existing conditions are covered under discount plans and not under insurance
- there is no waiting period until the insurance starts to work, insurance has a 6-18 month waiting period dental discount plans work immediately.
On the bad side if you need alot of work done dental insurance tends to only have a $50 deductible and a 10% copay whie the discount plan has you pay in full. However you pay about 1/2 what you’d pay w/o it. I needed a root canal & crown a few years ago that would’ve cost $1500 but I got it for $800 on a discount plan.
www.ehealthinsurance.com has both dental insurance (around $20/month) and dental discount plans. www.dentalplans.com/ is a good site for dental plans.
http://unified.cidental.com/indiv_state_for_sample_benefits.htm
On another note, if you see your dentist every 6 months s/he should catch cavities before they become root canals. So barring some major injury that requires dental reconstructive surgery your dental costs should be low if all you need are a filling or two a year.
As far as your ache, I would get it checked out ASAP. On a discount plan a filling is about $60, a root canal with crown is $800.
Here is a list of fees for service you’d be charged (assuming you live in alabama) under the careington dental plan, since it has a full list of benefits.