Let’s face it: Getting dental treatments can be costly. Even the most primary dental treatments like teeth cleaning can burn your pocket. Therefore, investing in a comprehensive dental insurance plan is one of the wisest decisions to access the best dental care facilities without substantial financial trouble.

How Dental Insurance Plans Work

Health insurances are intended to protect people from huge healthcare bills and expenses. Dental insurance offers coverage to help insured parties pay for all or part of their dental treatments, from routine teeth cleanings to more advanced procedures like dental implants.

Types of Dental Insurance Plans

The common types of insurance plans and their features are as follows:

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)

• With HMO, patients should choose from a network of healthcare facilitators. They should pay the bill if they consult doctors outside the network.
• HMO’s monthly premium is lower than other plans.

Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)

• PPO provides an extensive network of health care facilities.  However, the patients need to pay a higher amount when visiting out-of-network healthcare providers.
• PPO’s monthly premium is higher than HMO.

Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO)

• EPO offers moderate freedom for patients to choose their health care providers.
• When visiting doctors outside the network, it will not be covered if it is not an emergency.
• The premium of EPO is lower than PPO.

The Basics of Dental Insurance

Most dental insurance plans follow a 100-80-50 coverage structure. They usually pay 100% of preventive care – dental exams, teeth cleanings, and X-rays if you visit dentists inside the network. They pay 80% of the cost incurred for basic procedures like fillings, extractions, and root canals. For advanced treatments such as implants, bridges, crowns, and gum disease treatment, insurance plans cover only 50% of the total cost. However, they usually do not cover treatments like cosmetic dentistry and orthodontics as they are not considered medically essential treatments.

Tips to Best Utilize the Dental Insurance

• Choose the Right Plan.

Consider the needs of each family member. Choose the right plan based on your dental requirements.

• Stay in the Network 

Staying in the dental plan’s network will help the patient save a huge amount of money, with both HMO and PPO.

• Look For the Discounted Plan

Look for the dentists who provide special discounts for dental procedures.

• Schedule the Timings Appropriately.

Schedule your dental treatments smartly to reap the most of your dental coverage. If you need a few dental fillings and crown placement and do all of them at once, you may exceed your maximum benefits and spend money out of pocket. If it is not an emergency, find out when your annual benefits renew; usually, it is January 1. You can get a couple of fillings and a crown in November and the balance treatments after the annual benefits renewal to get the maximum insurance benefits.

Westwood Dental Family and Cosmetic Dentistry accept most of the insurance plans. Contact us at (801) 716-7006 to verify the acceptance of your insurance plan.