Dental Plans 101 – Types of Dental Health Plans

Everyone needs dental care. Unfortunately, not everyone is aware that there is a variety of ways to get quality oral care at a cost that won’t completely deplete anyone’s savings. Before settling for a costly dental insurance, know that there are options you can take advantage of and these options can not only save you money, it can also provide quality dental health plans to you and your family.

If you are seeking for alternative ways to purchase great yet low cost oral plans other than availing traditional dental insurance, consider the following non-dental insurance options:

Dental Discount Plans

A discount dental plan is one of the best ways to pay your dentist for any oral procedures at extremely low cost. Note that dental discount plan is not a dental insurance plan. Rather, this low cost dental health plan allows members to avail discounted dental health care on various treatments and services.

Unlike traditional dental insurance where specific coverage are indicated and significant treatments are left out, discount dental plans offer a wide variety of discounts on various oral procedures at a fraction of the cost.

To give an example, say you visited your local dentist and the off street fee for each visit and cleaning costs about $100. If you avail of a discount dental plan, you can automatically slash off 20% from your dental expenses. Instead of paying $100 for each visit, you will only pay about $80, getting a 20% discount on procedures and services. That’s a lot of savings especially since dental treatments and services nowadays are dizzyingly expensive.

This type of dental health plan normally requires members to pay an enrollment fee and a monthly fee to the dental discount plan provider. However, the fees you will pay on this type of plan is far less than what you will have to pay for a dental insurance. Additionally, purchasing an average dental insurance plan means that your dentist choices will be limited to the dentist in your area that accept your insurance provider’s services. Dental health plans such as discount dental plan, on the other hand, gives you a wide variety of dentists to choose from.

Dental Reimbursement Plans

This type of dental plan is a type of agreement between an employer and an employee. Dental reimbursement plan allows the employee to pay for the dental care expenses, collect receipts and then ask for reimbursements from the employer on a specified limit, usually ranging from $500-$1000 per year.

The great thing about this type of plan is that neither party has to worry about paying monthly premiums to an insurance company or has to deal with limited choices in dentists.

If certain individuals find this arrangement appealing, all they need to do is to ask their employer about setting up a dental reimbursement plan.

Whichever dental plan you choose, it’s best to look at the facts first and determine your own needs and budget before you purchase any type of health plans. Most importantly, know that regular check-ups and exercising preventive measures can help you save tons of money on expensive dental procedures in the future.

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