Dental Insurance

Dental insurance may be less effective than dental plans, but it is usually offered free.

Don't wait until you already have problems with your teeth to get dental insurance! Instead, you should get dental insurance as soon as you can. One reason for this involves the things that can go wrong with your teeth - and the other reason is that usually this insurance will also cover the costs of bi-yearly check ups to make sure that your teeth are still strong and healthy.


Dental insurance is slightly different than most dental plans since you will have to get it through your employer. Dental insurance is not usually offered to individuals, and is instead offered to major companies. If you are offered this insurance through your employer, then you should take it since it will be either free or very cheap, and is definitely worth it if you can get it.

That being said, there are some disadvantages to dental insurance, one of which being that it is not generally available to regular people unless they can get it through their employers. The other disadvantages are that generally this insurance will not cover all types of dental work, and it also usually has a spending limit per year. Therefore, if you do not already have dental insurance through your job, then you should look for a different type of dental plan.

Most people who cannot afford dental insurance get involved with dental plans, some of which are quite cheap. These plans also tend to cover part of your dental costs, instead of all of them. Therefore, these plans are less like insurance and more as though you are just getting a discount on your dental work.

Finally, another thing to consider is that if you have dental insurance from your employer and you're looking for something to cover everything else, a discount dental plan may help. Some people find that it is best to have both plans just in case.

In any case, dental insurance is a great deal if you can get it for free through your employer, thought it is not a very good purchase to make on your own. Also, before buying any dental insurance, make sure that you find out how much and what is covered by the plan.

Author: Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.cashbazar.com. Visit his website for the latest on personal finance, debt elimination, budgeting, credit cards and real estate.

Family Dental Insurance 101

Purchasing a family dental insurance plan provides you and your family two important benefits:

• Better oral health for the entire family as most plans pay 100% of the preventive service fees such as cleaning every six months. This encourages the family to visit the dentist for regular check ups and cleaning treatments. Prevention is half the battle!


• Generate more savings because the dental insurance company pays a certain percentage of dental services for minor and major procedures.

Here are six questions to guide you in the selection of the right dental insurance plan for you and your family.


1. Does the plan allow you to pick your own dentist? Some dental insurance carriers give you bigger discounted rates provided you use their network of dentists. If your favorite dentist is not part of the network, the dental insurance plan may not cover the treatment. You should consider paying extra for a plan, which allows you and your family to go to your preferred dentist.

2. Are there restrictions when it comes to choosing the best treatment options? Some insurance plans put a cap on the number of treatments or limit the amount paid for a condition. If you or your family has a history of poor dental health care, then you should choose a plan that has few restrictions on this aspect.

3. What is does the plan cover? An ideal dental insurance plan allows for one cleaning treatment every six months, with X-ray and fluoride treatments that come at little or no cost for each member. For the major procedures, some dental plans require you to pay 50 percent of the entire bill. If your family has a history of good dental health care, then you may want to negotiate for lesser coverage when it comes to the major procedures.

4. Which family members are covered by the family insurance plan? Most dental insurance carriers cover the spouse and dependent children, from birth through 18. Some exceptions are given for children up to the ages of 22 if the child is a full time student, and dependent on the principal for support.

5. Is there built in flexibility in scheduling dental appointments? Some inexpensive dental insurance plans limit when you can come in for dental treatment. Check to ensure that these scheduled appointments do not inconvenience you or your family.

6. How much savings does this plan generate? Whether you and your spouse decide to purchase a family dental insurance plan, or avail of your employers' sponsored plan - you will still be able to generate savings, for you are not paying for the entire procedure.

- baLooT Inc. 2007

How To Get Affordable Individual Dental Insurance Plans

Insurance is a method by which an individual tries to reduce the financial risk of unexpected events. Individual dental insurance is a type of insurance wherein an individual buys an individual dental insurance plan from an insurance company...


... by paying a monthly or annual premium. If during the insurance coverage period, the individual incurs costs on dental treatment, then the insurance company reimburses that costs to the individual.

There are a variety of dental insurance plans available in the market. A search on the internet will give hundreds of results. It is easy to get confused with so many options. However there are basic principles of insurance which when applied can reduce the overall costs to the individual. Some of them are explained below.

Deductibles. When you take dental treatment while under the coverage of a dental insurance plan, you can claim the bill from the insurance company. The company will deduct the deductible and pay the rest to you. Deductible is predefined, so choose a dental insurance plan giving due thought to deductible. The higher the deductible, the lower the premium.

Co-insurance. Co-insurance is the percentage of the dental costs that you will pay and the rest is paid by the insurance company. The higher the co-insurance the lower is the premium.

Individual dental insurance plans are available to individuals only and not through employers, hence they tend to be expensive. If you are a frequent visitor to the dentist, then keep co-insurance and deductibles low, but if you are an occasional visitor, select a plan which has co-insurance and deductibles on the higher side and premium on the lower side.

Individual dental insurance plans are available to lawyers, artists, writers, software freelance programmers, small businessmen, self-employed etc.

Copyright - baLooT Inc. 2007

Family Dental Insurance – User’s Guide

Let us first understand the idea of dental insurance. Dental insurance is a type of insurance in which a person buys a dental insurance plan by paying a monthly or annual premium to a dental insurance company...


In turn the dental insurance company provides dental insurance coverage against dental costs. That is if there are any dental costs borne by the insured during the insurance period, the dental insurance company will reimburse the costs incurred by the insured.

Most of the health insurance provided today has dental insurance provided in it. So usually there is no need to buy a separate dental insurance. If your medical or health insurance does not provide dental insurance, you can obtain dental insurance in your health insurance by increasing your premium by a small amount. There are tax benefits also for going for this type of dental insurance plan. In the united states, the premium you pay for health insurance is straightaway deducted from the taxable income, thereby you end up paying lesser taxes.

Family dental insurance provides dental insurance to the entire family. It is better to go for this type of dental insurance compared to individual dental insurance. Since family dental insurance is much cheaper than individual dental insurance. In insurance as the number of people increase in the plan the premium per head reduces. This is because the risk gets distributed.

If your employer is providing dental insurance, then it is the best bet. You should go for this type of insurance if your employer is providing it as the major part of the premium is paid by the employer and the remaining part is paid by you. Studies have also indicated that people with dental plans, have the tendency to have better dental health as they go for preventive dental checkups. This is good as bad dental health may ruin your looks as well as increase your costs.

- baLooT Inc. 2007