I want to get dental insurance… I need some serious dental work done and it’s sooo expensive. Since my divorce finalized I no longer have health or dental insurance… does anyone have any advice about getting dental coverage? I am using the university health clinic for medical stuff.
One suggestion, Opal, would be to check out a Dental School in the area. Atlanta should have one, maybe associated with a university teaching hospital.
They probably have some sort of screening procedure to get accepted but you shouldn’t have to pay anything (or a minimum amount) after that.
The students will be supervised to ensure that their work is correctly done so it isn’t as if they are just throwing you in with newly qualified students.
Bob
Actual dental insurance is a real problem for people that don’t qualify through an employer and need lots of work done. Dental carriers are more upfront with the fact that they are in it to make money and paying for someone else’s dental work on short-term relationship is not a good way to do that. My family had AFLAC for a while. It sucked pretty bad but I didn’t mentally compare it to nothing at all. It did save money but the limits were low per person for serious work.
It does cost, even with a dental school. The problem is, I need root canals and crowns and stuff. I’m not comfortable having students do that. Fillings? Sure. No problem. But I need at least two root canals, and at least one crown 
Probably more.
Some Temp agencies will let their “employees” buy insurance through them at the Group rate.
I know of two retail companies (See’s and Borders) which give benefits to PT employees.
Unless a job offers it, remember that it IS insurance and the company is out to make money. Would a car insurance company be eager to sign up someone with a wrecked car if they had to pay for damages? I would price the dental school.
While I’m sure there can be complications that comes up, are root canals really hard to do? It seems like something even a shade tree mechanic with no dental experience should be able to do. Drill through the solid material till you get to the gooie core, remove that, install a seal, then fill the hold.
With that said I really have no idea of what I’m talking about.
Depending on the total amount of work needed, you may wind up dollars ahead with a cool vacation bonus by seeking services abroad. Do some googling on medical tourism. You might be surprised.
I remember a guy on the daily show gave himself like 4 root canals and make himself teeth out of rocks in his driveway! He was the pride of his family he was.
England is known for their dental work!
Ivylad is doing this right now, and he’s having a hell of a lot more work done than a root canal. He’s had a root canal, two teeth pulled, and they’re working on a bridge for his teeth.
You need to contact the state university and ask them about satellite dental programs. They will interview you and set up a sliding pay schedule based on your income. Students do not do the work. We’re talking about graduates looking for a bit more experience before hanging up their shingle. It’s like going to a hospital and being seen by an intern. A doctor is there to check the work.
No, you’re not going to get the work done for free. But we’ve saved thousands of dollars doing it this way.
Oh I wouldn’t be surprised. I had a lot of surgery done in Brazil for this reason (and some dental work while I was there as well)
I’m also worried about the time commitment with a dental school. My boyfriend is in podiatry school, and they have an arrangement with the nearby dental school so that they get their work done there even cheaper… but he says that because of the teaching environment, and the supervision/checking on every step of the work, that it takes forever. He was in there once for almost three hours for something he says a regular dentist would have done in 30 minutes.
I’ve had some really bad dental experiences in the past and I’m just very nervous about who works on my mouth. I had a dentist extract a tooth once, but leave one of the roots behind, which then became abscessed. The doctor refused to even look at it, claiming I was making up the pain. I had to go to a different dentist and get an emergency 7am appointment, which I cried all the way through because I was in so much pain. In the end it had to be fixed by an oral surgeon under general anesthesia (me, that is, not the surgeon). That’s just one example of shoddy, painful dental work I’ve had in the past… so I’m fairly gun-shy at this point.
Surely you can’t get insurance cover for pre-existing issues?
Not nessesarily so for Dental.
And yes, root canals can be messed up, I have one.
Even if they won’t cover the problems I already have, I have ongoing dental issues due to severe calcium loss during my pregnancy. I will always need lots of dental work, and I would much rather have insurance coverage for it.
If you’re really really against using a dental school and you are dead set on insurance then…
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Get quotes, for someone w/o insurance, from 3 or 4 local dentists that you trust on everything you think you might need in a year or two - from cleanings to root canals to whatever. Tell them right off that you do not have insurance because there will be a different price for you. Also inquire about billing plans.
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Find an insurance broker that can help find a plan for you. There are a lot of companies now that offer single-person insurance.
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Compare the amount you’d have to spend on insurance + out of pocket expenses for the work you need done with the quotes you got from the dentists you called.
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Figure out which is cheaper - just paying for the dentists or paying insurance premiums + out of pocket.
Possibly of interest: something some hospitals have started doing here is they’ll quote you for the operation, and then they’ll quote you for an insurance policy in case of unforseen circumstances - like they discover something which needs treatment.
It’s more that I’m extremely wary of the dental school thing (except for simple stuff like fillings).
If your divorce finalized recently and you were covered by your ex-husband’s plan at that time, you may be able to continue that coverage under the provisions of COBRA. It applies for dental as well as medical insurance. There is a time limit, so inquire about this quickly. Also, it depends on whether the employer provides COBRA, not all are required to.