Where is the Best Place to Find Dental Insurance? Taking care of your teeth is one of the most important parts of your overall health and wellness. Dental appointments should be part of your normal routine and attended regularly, not just when you have a problem that needs to be addressed. Whether you're looking for a hygiene checkup or cosmetic concerns like tooth whitening, visiting your dentist regularly can keep you happy, healthy, and smiling with all those pearly whites.
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Avia Dental is a platform that offers discounts for customers on their dental visits without the need for traditional insurance. Open since 1994, this discount service provides coverage for families and individuals. Promising the ‘lowest dental fee schedules" in the US, Avia Dental stands out as a great way to save your smile without hurting your wallet. As a bonus, there is no wait to start using your Avia Dental savings. As soon as you pay, you can jump right in and start seeing your preferred dental care provider. However, Avia Dental is only available in 29 states in the US.
Pick from three plans
To start searching the available plans and prices at Avia Dental, you'll want to click on the dropdown menu and hit "Affordable Dental Plans." From here, you'll be able to see the details for the three plan tiers at Avia Dental. You can choose from Individual, Individual +1, or Family plans. The individual plans include 40,000 dentists, up to 50% off your regular dentist visits, and no risk of being denied coverage. However, the policy doesn't state whether more complex visits are covered or what the discount might be.
Huge but confusing database of providers
The database on Avia Dental isn't for different insurance plans, but rather a list of dentists that take Avia Dental coverage. In our test area, Avia Dental showed over 20 different dentists and orthodontists that accept the Avia Dental discount card. However, the list shows multiple doctors at each location, which can be confusing if you see "Greenberg Dental" 7 times in the scrolling list of dental care providers with the same street address. You can also search for a specific dentist or orthodontist to see if your current care provider is covered by Avia Dental. (Also, for what it's worth, that particular dentistry franchise has a very poor reputation in the test area, so we're not sure we'd be thrilled if the dentists in this network were all comparable to that one.)
Prices from $9.25 to $15 per month
Avia Dental is extremely affordable on a month-to-month basis. The costs start as low as $9.25 per month for a single individual. If you choose the Individual +1 plan, the cost is $13.25 per month, and the Family plan is $15 per month. However, each of these plans has an "initial payment" which is steeper than some other discount coverage sites. For the Individual plan, the fee is $29.25, the Individual +1 is $33.25, and the Family plan is $35 to get started. This processing fee is non-refundable if you decide to cancel your coverage.
Full refund within 30 days
Avia Dental promises that if you cancel your membership within the first 30 days, you will be reimbursed for all charges after you've sent your discount card back to them. If you pay any special fees (different from the processing fee listed on the plans page for residents of Tennessee and Vermont), you will also be refunded for that.
Includes free vision and prescriptions
On top of dental coverage, Avia Dental includes discounts for your vision appointments as well as for prescriptions. These are lumped in with your plan, so you don't have to pay anything extra to enjoy discounts for a range of medical needs. The prescription plan offers you access to discounts of up to 20% on your prescription medications, and the vision benefits offer standardized discounts and prices for things like an eye exam ($5 off) or a new plastic lens ($50 flat rate).
Not a lot of buzz for Avia Dental
While Avia Dental is well-rated overall, the amount of feedback for this dental discount provider is pretty spotty. On third-party review sites, the average score is around 4.2 stars, but there are only a handful of ratings. Avia Dental does hold an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau, but without a higher quantity of customer reviews, it's hard to say how trustworthy this discount provider is. Given that newer companies have more feedback than this one, we'd like to see Avia Dental improve its online presence a bit more.
Needs more reviews to compete
The prices are incredibly low at Avia Dental, which makes it worth checking out just on that basis. However, with fewer details on the actual discounts than competitors and a limited number of user reviews online, Avia Dental doesn't quite make it to our top picks. Still, it's definitely worth checking out for the low costs and included vision and prescription coverage.
Continued from above...
Taking care of your teeth is one of the most important parts of your overall health and wellness. Dental appointments should be part of your normal routine and attended regularly, not just when you have a problem that needs to be addressed. Whether you're looking for a hygiene checkup or cosmetic concerns like tooth whitening, visiting your dentist regularly can keep you happy, healthy, and smiling with all those pearly whites.
However, as with many medical and preventative care appointments, the cost of dental work can get pretty high. A recent study shows that the national average cost for a standard visit (dental exam, cleaning, and x-rays) is around $203 per visit. If you're not one of the lucky folks who get dental with their job benefits, grabbing your own dental insurance is a sure way to make sure you save money and keep your teeth healthy at the same time.
If you need other procedures like fillings, crowns, or root canals, your total cost at the dentist could be thousands of dollars (crowns can cost up to $1,800 per tooth). While you can't do much about the cost of the dentists themselves, there are some resources to help you find affordable dental insurance to keep costs down.
A recent study compared different monthly costs (including preventative visits) and found that those with insurance paid $800 less per year than those without. Plus, if you get insurance, many of the basics are free of charge, making it less likely that you will need more complicated or expensive trips to the dentist in the future.
Now, when you decide to grab dental insurance, you'll want to keep a few things in mind. Like health insurance, your dental insurance company will have a network of accepted providers. If you have a dentist you really love, you'll want to make sure you grab insurance that is taken by your current dentist. In-network insurance policies will usually cover 100% of preventative dental care, up to 80% of basic procedures (fillings, root canals, and extractions), and up to 50% of major procedures like crowns, implants, and treatment for gum disease. Keep in mind many plans do not include orthodontics (such as braces), but most insurers or brokers offer at least one plan that does include specialist care.
In general, you can find a few types of dental plans. First is the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). This is the common "network" approach where dentists join a PPO network and set up their fee schedule with the insurance provider. You can go out of network with PPO plans, but you may have higher out-of-pocket fees. The other main option is the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans which have a more restricted network requirement. For HMO (sometimes called DHMO in dental insurance), you are not able to go out of network and still use your insurance benefits.
If you're ready to support your dental health and enjoy the security of covered preventative care, but don't know which dental insurance service to choose, we've put together some factors to help you decide:
To help you find the best dental insurance for your sparkling smile, Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked the top providers and brokers out there today. Whether you prefer total coverage for dental and orthodontics or a simpler option that focuses on preventative care, there's a dental insurance plan out there waiting for you. This way, you can enjoy your pearly whites and save some money in the process!
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Why Has Dental Insurance Become So Popular?
A person's smile often is the first thing others notice about them. A beautiful set of pearly whites can make or break that first impression.
Keeping our teeth, gums and mouth healthy goes a long way in improving our appearance. As we age, our teeth develop numerous issues which should be monitored and treated by a dental professional. But let's face it - dental procedures can be expensive. Even a routine exam and cleaning can cost over $100 in most areas. Costs can be even higher for those without dental insurance.
Recent figures indicate that 42 percent of all Americans go without dental insurance, which in turn results in a lack of regular visits to the dentist.
However, studies in recent years have linked improper dental care and health to everything from heart disease to diabetes and even cancer. A healthy mouth is the first step toward a healthy body.
Some people are lucky and have dental insurance included as part of their regular health insurance package through an employer. For those people, espousing the benefits of proper dental hygiene and care are unnecessary. They have the benefits in place and are happy to use them.
For those who are not lucky enough to have dental insurance through an employer, the benefits of purchasing your own plan through an insurance broker or directly from a dental insurance company are numerous.
Dental insurance plans have seen an increase in popularity in recent years due to the general populations' growing knowledge about the important of proper dental hygiene. This includes a twice-annual exam and cleaning by a dental professional. A recent spate of television ads promoting dental insurance plans has helped to spur that growth, accounting for roughly a 7 percent increase in the number of people who sought out and purchased dental insurance plans.
Another reason dental insurance plans have become so popular is that they are easier to navigate than a traditional health insurance plan. Because there are only so many dental procedures a person can undergo, plans are very clear as to what they cover and how much coverage is included.
Dental insurance plans also tend to be more affordable than traditional healthcare coverage plans, and the cost remains stable from year to year, whereas healthcare insurance costs are less predictable and often skyrocket from year to year.
Employers also are taking notice of the rise in popularity in dental insurance plans and are considering them as part of a comprehensive healthcare package to help attract the best employees. Next to annual salary, benefits are the next most important factor for many individuals when considering employment. Companies which offer healthcare and dental plans are more likely to not only attract the best people for the job, but retain them from one year to the next.
If you are among the people who are not lucky enough to have dental insurance through your employee benefits package, but would like to secure your own coverage, be sure to review the best plans for your area before making a decision.
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