Premium Dental Plans – Why Should You Consider Them?
A lot of people dread the thought of going to the dentist and having their mouths checked. Though the pain of root extraction is agonizing, the cost of each service scares the patients even more.
So if you are thinking of finally investing in full coverage dental insurance, that’s a wise and, not to mention, practical decision. But before getting a dental plan, know your dental needs first. Visit your dentist and take an exam, which includes a set of diagnostic x-rays. Let your dentist assess your overall dental health and determine the complex procedures that you will actually require.
This evaluation will give you a firm direction on what level of dental insurance coverage you should get. In this way, you can simplify your options and rightfully protect your dental health and wallet.
Types of Dental Plans
After the assessment, your dentist will recommend various premium dental plans that could be beneficial for your situation and budget. Here’s a simple rundown of some of the types of dental plans most companies offer:
1) Freedom-of-choice Plan – this has the highest level of flexibility. It means that services from any dentist are possible and reimbursement is not dependent on the type of treatment availed.
2) Managed-care Plan – this requires patients to choose from a set of pre-approved list of doctors who offer discounted services in the provider’s network.
3) Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) – this typically allows dentists and patients to determine the treatment required and just cover a certain percentage of the treatment cost.
4) Dental Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) – it requires prepayment from the person who avails this insurance. In return, the patient gets services from a network of dental care providers. This typically caps the dentist payments at a fixed amount regardless of the procedure’s complexity.
What is a Dental Plan?
Before proceeding any further, it’s best to know what a dental plan is and how it is different from dental insurance.
Dental plan is an agreement between you and the dental provider. It’s the affordable version of insurance, which also involves less paperwork. It also offers the same benefits like enjoying discounts on dental costs, easy process approval, and selecting a dental professional on a network’s list.
But as stated earlier, if you dread lengthy paperwork and fewer complications, getting premium dental plans are your best bet.
Dental Plan Coverage
The beauty of having a dental plan lies on its expediency. If you need to have a dental check-up or have a tooth repaired, presenting your health card to accredited clinics and dentists is all you need. Check out the list of usual services you can take advantage of from this coverage.
1) Routine and preventive care – this includes periodic check-up, cleaning, x-rays, and filling. Other services, like fluoride and sealant applications (to prevent cavities), selected methods of oral surgery, gum care (or called as periodontics), and root canal, can also be availed.
2) Emergency care – you can take advantage of this service when you suddenly need to have a tooth extraction, repair a broken or cracked tooth, or have a mouth and gum treatment.
3) Complex care – this involves orthodontia, dentures, and bridges. Just note that these types of procedures are not fully covered by regular dental plans.
Advantages of a Dental Plan
Having a healthy dental condition may be the best benefit you can get when you have a decent dental insurance or plan. But if you want to keep things simple and just need to maintain your good oral hygiene, buying a full coverage dental insurance may be too much.
For cases like these, premium dental plans are enough to keep you in control even when emergency situations happen. Other dental plan benefits include:
1) The application process is much easier
Most dental plans don’t have a pre-qualifying procedure that can disqualify you from the coverage. All you need to do is to sign-up the form and pay for the membership or plan fee. Just continuously pay the monthly/ yearly fee so you can be assured that you’re secured throughout.
2) Less agreement over dental costs
Getting claims from dental insurance, may appear messy, especially when you need to send tons of forms, complaints, letters, and documents. And it can get ugly when your insurance doesn’t want to honor and reimburse your expenses to the extent you want or you thought is valid for your situation. But with premium dental plans, you already know how much you will save on possible dental procedures.
3) Saving a considerable amount of money
Dental procedures covered by a dental plan are reasonably discounted because dental plan companies convince their professional members to reduce their costs in exchange for referrals. In this way, many dentists can broaden their scope of customers, and as for the patients, they can save more money. It’s a win-win situation.