Dental Plans and Resources.
Dental insurance can help lower the cost for dental care that you would have to pay on your own if you didn’t have the plan. This is how most dental plans work:
- You pay a premium: Most often a monthly amount paid to the insurance carrier. If you get dental coverage through an employer, it may be deducted from your pay. If you have two dental plans, the first plan pays first.
- There may be a waiting period: You may have to wait upto 12 months before you receive the full dental benefit, however preventative is usually included day one at no cost.
- Do you have a primary dentist? Check with your dentist about the preferred carrier, and sometimes dentists have their own program for regular dental care.
- In-network or out-of-network: Depending on the plan you get, you may or may not be required to see dentists in the plan network.
- Frequency and limitations are important: These terms of dental coverage tell you what you’re covered for and not covered for and when full benefits begin.
- Your dental insurance may come with one or more deductibles: A deductible is the amount of money you must pay out-of-pocket for dental care before your plan starts to share those costs.
- Other costs associated with your plan: Once you meet your dental deductible, you and your plan start sharing a percentage of the costs for your dental care. This is called coinsurance. Your dental insurance may also have an annual maximum. This is the most your plan will pay for dental care in a plan year. After that, you will pay any additional costs for care. Some plans also require you pay a small fee at the time of a dental visit. This is called a copay.
- Preventive dental care is often no-cost: This means you get an oral exam every six months, along with certain types of routine x-rays. Children may have more routine care provided as part of their preventive care. This is no-cost to you as part of your dental insurance when you choose a plan with no cost preventive care.
- Dental insurance coverage is broken down into certain types of dental care, such as preventive, restorative, orthodontic, etc.: it’s important to plan ahead for the type of dental care you and your family might need. For example, if you expect to just need preventive dental care, maybe a basic dental plan that primarily covers preventive dental care is enough. If you expect to need things like crowns, root canals, bridges, implants, etc., then a dental plan that covers more specialized dental care and treatments may be better for you.
