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.
Subpar
While Dental Save sounds like it might be a good place to find deals on your dental insurance, you may want to be cautious about this site. During our research, we found a variety of unsettling issues with the site design. First, the photos used for some of the pages are warped or extremely low resolution. Second, there are several typos on parts of the site like "Hows it Works" for their About page. Like other dental savings sites, this is a membership program that gives you access to discounts rather than being a true insurance website. While it has been in business for 44 years, it doesn't rank as one of the more trustworthy companies in our review.
1,000+ dentists covered
Rather than hosting a database of insurance providers, Dental Save offers a database of dentists and specialists that are within the networks supported by Dental Save (most of these are through Careington). In our area, Dental Save offers over 105 pages of individual dentists who accept Dental Save, which is well over 1,000 places to use your new coverage.
Three plans with extras included
Dental Save allows you to jump right into the details by clicking the "Start Saving" button. You can choose whether you want to pay monthly or yearly, and then sift through three different plan types: Individual, Dual, and Family. All plans include the same benefits:
Prices from $9.99 to $17.95 per month
The pricing depends on how many people you want to have on your plan. The Individual membership is $9.99 per month, the Dual membership costs $14.95 per month, and the Family membership is $17.95 per month. Each membership comes with a $20 activation fee as well.
30-day refund policy
Like many other dental savings plans and memberships, Dental Save offers a refund policy. If you decide that you don't like the service within 30 days of your activation, you'll receive a full refund minus a "processing fee" which appears to be different from the activation fee which will be refunded to you. Certain states in the US have special circumstances for the processing fee, like in Maryland where the fee is $5, but if you live in Tennessee, the processing fee won't be charged. There is no clarification on the fees for other states.
No buzz for Dental Save
We're unsure about the true reputation of Dental Save since the reviews on the website are clearly curated. They aren't independently-posted or verified and are added to the website in the form of quotes. The company also has a below-average "B-" rating from the Better Business Bureau. While Dental Save does have some popularity on Facebook, there are zero customer reviews outside social media platforms, which raises some questions about how many people are actually using this service for their dental savings.
Not enough feedback to be competitive
It might seem great to find an affordable dental savings plan that includes vision, prescriptions, and hearing all in one place, but due to the concerning errors and typos on the website and the near-total lack of customer reviews on trusted third-party review sites, Dental Save comes in as a below-average choice for securing a dental insurance alternative. If you're looking for a membership that offers savings, we recommend looking at one of our higher-rated services instead.
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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