What Makes a Dental Plan So Important?
A dental plan provides for your basic dental health requirements
Let us talk about your teeth now. The first line of defense to keep them healthy and lovely is to brush them daily. The next step would be a regular visit to the dentist. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You’ll never know that despite vigilant brushing, plaque may still be building up in some hidden areas between your teeth and only your good old Uncle Bob, the dentist, can find and scrape them off. However, a visit to a dentist could be a pain to your already tight budget. A dental plan is your, and anyone’s, best option.
With a lot of other expenses that you have to deal with, visiting the dentist becomes less of your priority until you experience that “better-kill-me-I-can’t-stand-this-pain-anymore!” killer toothache. Having a dental plan could make you afford to visit Uncle Bob regularly. Remember, proper dental hygiene is not exclusively aesthetic in nature, poor dental health could result to severe medical cases such as bacterial infections, and this infection could reach your brain.
The disadvantages of not having a dental plan at all
If you have no dental plan in place, not only would you be discouraged for a regular check-up but you would also have to pay a dentist’s expensive professional fee every time you visit. Some dentists charge more than others as there is no government regulation on professional fee rates. There is no fixed rate so dentists could charge anyway they want without having to answer to the government. Some clinics would even require payment up front upon setting an appointment. How’s that for more reason of not seeing the dentist? With skyrocketing cost of basic items nowadays, most people with tight budget are forced to see the dentist only when they’re literally dying of pain.
There is one option for those who wish to seek dental care without dental plans or insurance—dental free clinics. However, you would need to research your local health office for schedules, and you would need to fill-out some forms for pre-qualification procedures. Even though you are broke (honestly!) at the moment, but if your records would show that you are above the poverty requirements to qualify for free clinics, you would be declined.
A dental plan is way cheaper than your regular dental insurance
As most dental insurance policies could be expensive, some employers do not even bother to include this as part of their employees’ benefits. Unless you do something about it, (perhaps ask?) or get into the more affordable and sensible discount dental plans, you would be seeing less of Uncle Bob, the dentist, until it’s too late. Again, if you don’t regularly see your dentist for fortification, in the end, you would be forced to see him for extraction.
Dental insurance premiums could go as much as $40 to $80 a month. Compare this to the discount dental plan price range of $10 for an individual to $20 for an entire family. Affordable and reasonable enough to make you flash your pearly whites and to ensure that you or your whole family could keep those pearly whites white and healthy.
Discount dental plans work differently from dental insurance plans. You still have to pay every time you visit your dentist but at a much lower rate. With a good discount dental plan, you receive up to 60% discount from actual regular fees for visits or for receiving dental procedures. Take a procedure for a root canal for example: normally, you may be charged anywhere between $380 and $450. Let us say your dentist would charge you $420 for such procedure. By doing some math 60% of $420 is $252; $420 less $252 is $168. With a dental plan, you pay only $168! How’s that for affordability?
Discount dental plans benefit both dentists and patients. These plans have dentists who are members that follow agreed discount rates from which to base their professional charges to patients with dental plans. Discount dental plans are also good for new dental professionals who are still in the beginning stages of gaining a regular set of patients.