Keep that smile alive – Buy dental insurance at the right time

Feb 9
10:19

2012

Juanita Martinez

Juanita Martinez

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

Dental insurance provides you with monetary compensation when it comes to costs related to dental treatment. In this article you will come to know about where to get dental insurance and what it covers.

mediaimage

Most people buy health insurance very often as this is considered a necessity. However,Keep that smile alive – Buy dental insurance at the right time Articles the same stance is not taken when it comes to dental insurance. Most of the major dental emergencies, such as losing a tooth or more in an accident are usually covered within your health insurance policy. Dental insurance usually cover other dental problems such as if you need to do a filling or a crown and so on. One of the main reasons why dental insurance is not so popular is that most of the problems to do with your teeth are not very difficult or expensive to fix. Dental bills won’t ever mount up so high that it will send you to bankruptcy. All said and done, dental care at times can be quite expensive even if not extremely high, and it is a good idea to purchase a dental insurance.

How can you get dental insurance?

You can either get a dental insurance from your employer or you can directly buy a policy from dental insurance company. This insurance will cover some of the costs that are related to your dental care. You should consider who you want to be your dentist and how much you will be able to pay as premium which is your monthly interest coverage and how much of coverage you want. Many a times if you have health insurance then you can purchase a dental coverage through the same insurance company at a reduced fee. The services covered are routine dental care that involves regular checkups and services such as cleaning which are not very expensive. There are also restorative dental procedures such as implants and dental crowns which can be quite expensive. There are quite a number of employers who make available to you regular health insurance as a benefit and dental insurance along with this. However, since the cost of healthcare is increasing these days, many employers have done away with dental coverage as a part of health insurance.

What does dental insurance cover?

There are a number of things that dental insurance cover. These include cleaning on a regular basis, X-rays and checkups. Most of the times if your plan is employer sponsored, then you may get these services for free under your policy. Just this benefit alone is enough to save you about $200 to $400 every year, depending upon how much money your dentist charge. Along with the above basics, a dental insurance will cover fillings, crowns, root canals and so on. However you won’t find dental insurance covering services like orthodontics, whitening or veneer all of which come under cosmetic surgery. You should know that there is a certain amount of time that you have to wait before your dental insurance starts covering anything above the basics. This scheme has been devised to guard insurers from people who might sign up for a dental insurance just when they are having a dental problem so that they don’t need to pay the monthly premiums. If such activities continue, the insurance companies will run out of business. The waiting period differs from insurer to insurer but it usually is about a year for costly procedures and 3 months for basic services such as fillings. 

It does not make sense for everyone to buy a dental insurance. You should decide whether or not to buy depending upon the amount of coverage that you can gather, the monthly premiums that you have to pay, the annual maximums and the total amount of dental treatment that you typically need every year. If you see that you don’t need any major dental work apart from fillings or cleaning, then it is not beneficial for you to spend on dental insurance.