The Dentist, Insurance, and How Your Choices Affect Your Cost

The ADA recommends that you see a dentist once every six months when there are no mitigating oral health problems. While this isn't going to be particularly expensive, costs can mount in a hurry if you need something besides a cleaning and an inspection. Even filling a cavity can cost more than you might want to drop at any one time. Under these circumstances, insurance can provide a nice safety net. But how do you choose which plan to go with? Here are some helpful tips you can use to make that decision with confidence.

Freedom of Choice
Nearly every insurance plan you come across is going to have some degree of restriction when it comes to which dentist you can choose. If you have a practitioner you really like, make sure that they are on the plan before you go ahead with a commitment. If you don't have any particular preferences, then you can ignore this part and simply use the list as an easy way to make a choice.

Freedom of Choice, Part 2
Avoid insurance plans that have too much restriction when it comes to the kind of treatment you can seek. Some plans are very hands off when it comes to sticking their nose into the actual treatment. Others are not. These are the ones you'll want to avoid if you can. It may be cheaper to go with an insurance plan that has restrictions on your treatment choices, but you don't want your oral health to be restricted by matters of cost.

Coverage
Don't just look at the bottom line when comparing insurance plans. If your primary interest is just having a plan that covers cleanings and X-rays, you may not need to pay for much more than a bottom line plan. However, if you want full coverage, you can expect to pay a little more. If you want a lower deductible, you can expect to pay a little more. The point is that comparing two plans by the bottom line price can miss important details. You could be comparing apples to oranges.

Is It Worth It?
If you have a very clean history of oral health, dental insurance may not be worth it. Several years of paying exorbitant premiums just so you can get free cleanings may not make a lot of sense. This is the situation many self-employed individuals find themselves in. A typical trip to the dentist, after all, doesn't cost that much. But insurance is just that—a way to protect yourself against the unexpected. Going without is risky, but it's up to you to decide whether that risk is worth it.