Some people are born with an amazing set of pearly whites. No matter how much care, or how little care, they put in… they just have a great smile! I have to say I was not so lucky. I had a lot of dental work done as a young child and into my teens, and am starting to get some work done now as an adult.

Last week I got two of my wisdom teeth taken out and in three weeks I am getting the other two taken out. I knew this was coming up so I made sure to sign up for dental coverage during open enrollment. I had actually elected to not have dental benefits for the two years prior. Now that I look back, I actually regret that decision because I was skipping on some necessary preventive care. Live and learn, right?

After reading through my benefits and going through the process of using my insurance, I thought it would be a good idea to go over the what’s and why’s of dental insurance. I realized health insurance gets a lot of “play” and dental insurance is like the red-headed step child, so here we go!

Dental Insurance Introduction

For those of my readers who shave (probably all of you!), you know how annoying it can be. Shaving nicks hurt. They hurt a lot more than they should. Know what else hurts? Toothaches! But there is a big difference between a shaving nick and a toothache. Whereas a shaving nick will disappear in a day or two, the toothache will not. Before it goes away it will make sure to inflict as much damage as possible to your wallet, laughing the whole way. If you have ever gone for dental care without insurance you know that dental care is prohibitively expensive. However, do not let this stop you from getting dental care because it is still a very important and necessary part of health care.

And in rolls dental insurance to save the day! When talking to people from previous generations, they will often tell you that dental insurance was not a normal part of the benefits plan. Nowadays, and really gaining steam in the past decade, dental insurance is establishing itself as a must-have benefit.

As of 2007, the National Association of Dental Plans shows that 57% of the population in the United States has dental benefit coverage. Of the 57% of the population that has dental coverage, some 97% get it through their employer or another group, most often as a policy separate from their health insurance plan.

How does that compare to health coverage? According to the United States Census Bureau, approximately 84% of Americans have health insurance; some 60% obtain it through an employer, while about 9% purchase it directly. So as you can see, a much larger portion of the population has health coverage (a full 17% more than dental coverage).

Even small companies are starting to offer dental coverage to their employees in order to be competitive and recruit and retain talent. Why? I will go over this in further detail in a later post, but the jist of the idea is that in order to decrease sick time, thus increase productivity, employees should get preventive procedures done (like teeth cleaning). Dental coverage costs only account for about 10% of total medical coverage, so it is pretty affordable, relatively, for companies to take part in dental coverage.

Like health insurance, various dental insurance plans exist. Each plan then has numerous variations in which you have to choose from. You should never rush your decision; you should take proper care and time to consider your options.

I will overview the most expensive plans and least expensive plans, but do not fear – I will go over all of the different types of plans in more detail next week! And there are a lot!

Most expensive plans:

Direct reimbursement plans

These plans are the most expensive of the bunch. A company who partakes in a direct reimbursement plan creates a pool of money and sets it aside for any dental coverage. When an employee gets work done, the procedure is paid for by using the pool of money.

The simplicity of this plan makes it the most effective. Forget co-payments, deductibles, etc. The reimbursement is made using a simple formula. The ADA strongly recommends this plan, as well! However, this type of plan may not be affordable for a smaller company.

Least expensive plans:

Managed care plans

Managed care plans are similar to a medical HMO. Managed care dental plans need to pay for the treatment through regular co-payments and choose from a pool of dentists to get treated. Because these plans partake in various cost-control measures, smaller businesses may find them more affordable.

The amount you pay for a co-payment varies according to procedure. Generally speaking, preventive procedures are performed sans co-pay and more advanced procedures will have higher co-pays.

Do You Have Dental Insurance?

The choice ultimately lies with the company and their financial managers in which plan they adopt. However, it is recommended that the decision makers, yourself and your family, take great care in choosing the plan variation.

Do you have dental insurance? Is it provided by your company? What made you choose to participate in the coverage or opt-out?