Dental Insurance

Why you need dental insurance

Dental insurance is one of the most common forms of specialist medical insurance. Many people - even those with good general health insurance policies - have decided that they also need specialist dental care.

Why would they think that? In fact, the reasons are legion.

Dentists aren't doctors

Firstly, dental care is largely separate from everything else in medicine. This is true in several ways - both in terms of your own body, and in terms of the way that the medical system works.

Physiologically speaking, the health of your mouth can be very different from the health of your body. Sure, there are overlaps - illnesses that affect your bones will generally affect your teeth too, and conditions such as diabetes will have a major impact on your dental health. But there is a high degree of separation between dental health and overall health.

Then, there's the way the medical profession arranges itself. We call dentists 'dentists' (rather than, say, 'tooth doctors' or 'oral specialists') for a reason. Dentisty has been a separate profession for centuries.

So, dentists are dentists, doctors are doctors, and there is little reason to lump them together in the same insurance package.

Dental health isn't well covered by general health insurance

But there is another reason, one that is often much more important. Dental care is something that tends to fall of the edge of corporate insurance plans. It tends to be seen (unfairly) as expensive, non-essential, and open to people making frivolous claims). So, people will find that dental care isn't properly included in their corporate package, and - if they're smart - they'll turn to an individual or family dental care package. Arranging your own dental care lets you choose what level of cover you need. 'Cosmetic' procedures - braces, realignment of teeth, and so on - might seem unimportant to a corporate bureaucrat, but many individuals find them essential for overall wellbeing.

Trends in dental insurance

Dental insurance may not get the same media attention as other forms of medical insurance. You might take that as a sign that it's working reasonably well, as a system.

Forms of dental insurance

Like any insurance, dental insurance policies vary. You should not try to compare prices directly, without also asking what is included in each package.

'Cosmetic' procedures are one of the biggest issues you'll have to think about. Some cheaper packages will exclude cosmetic procedures from their cover, and then define cosmetic in an extraordinarily broad fashion.

You'll also want to pay attention to which dentists you will have access to. Some policies allow you to choose your dentist and then pass on the bill to the insurer, but this is quite rare in dental insurance. Much more common is a system where you must be treated by a dentist who works for (or at least in association with) the insurer. So you will want to find a policy which will give you a skilled dentist.

Pitfalls to watch out for

Many of us have had the experience of buying an insurance policy - dental or otherwise - and ten finding it wanting when the time came to take advantage of it. Knowing what can go wrong at the time you buy a plan can help you avoid problems later on.

Deductibles are probably the biggest thing to watch for. Anybody who has shopped for insurance in the past will probably be familiar with the idea of a deductible - but here's a summary for anybody who has been lucky enough to escape that experience. Dental insurers will rarely cover the entire cost of any procedure. You will have to pay either a fraction of the cost or a minimum amount. Dental insurers argue that this discourages people from undergoing unnecessary procedures - but of course, it also saves the insurer a lot of money.

So, if you're buying dental insurance you will want to find a policy with a low deductible. This is a particularly central issue with dental insurance (compared to other kinds of health insurance) because dental care typically involves relatively frequent, small procedures. If you aren't careful, you could find yourself paying the bulk of the cost of getting a filling, as a 'deductible'.

Ask whether the dental insurance policy pays for your regular dental checkups, and if so how thorough these checkups are. You want to be able to believe that any dental problems will be found.

Also, it is often good to find a policy that will give you good advice on dental health and oral hygeine, rather than waiting for dental problems to build up.

Long waiting periods are another typical issue. Dentists prioritise their work in many different ways, and some insurers will accept long waiting times in exchange for lower fees.

In general, you want to have the coverage as clearly defined as possible. Before you sign an agreement, you should be able to say exactly what is covered.