My son hasn’t had dental insurance since he was a kid. When he recently had some major problems (requiring root canal) I googled “dental clinics” in Chicago and a ton of facilities came up that will work on a sliding scale or at a discount. Might want to try that.
I work for a major health insurance company and we have affordable individual health plans which can include dental coverage if you want. I am also aware that many of the major carriers are now selling individual plans to which you can add a dental plan.
(I hope that providing the link doesn’t violate any rules. I’m not a sales person for that company, I’m in the IT department.)
Discount plans are, IME, not worth the trouble.
If I were in your position I’d go the individual health insurance with dental route. I checked on it for a friend of mine who was between jobs and they don’t really care if you’re unemployed as long as you pay the premium.
Wow, with a $5000 deductible the premium is still almost $150/month. I also can’t find any details about their dental plan (how much things cost, what the annual limit is, etc).