What is the Best Discount Dental Plan?

Published Dec 21 2009

A dental plan is a great way to reduce the cost of dental work which a person would have to pay out of pocket. If you have looked up discount dental plans recently, undoubtedly you came across a myriad of different options. There are not only multiple companies offering a discount dental plan, there are often a number of different plans offered by each company. All of the plans have different strengths and weaknesses, as well as different costs. You need to take a look at the specific strengths as wells as the individuals specific needs to determine which plan will be more beneficial in your case.

The first question to consider when looking at each different dental plan is: What is covered? Most dental plans will post a sample price list with about 10 procedures for you to look at. An important question to ask, however, is how many procedures are going to be reduced on the full price list? Some plans will offer the full price list to look at up front, while other plans will not offer the full schedule until you are a member of the plan. If the sample price list looks good, chances are good that the entire plan is going to be good, but the sample price lists are not always 100% accurate.

Another consideration to keep in mind when selecting a dental plan is the region in which you live. There are different strengths of plans in different regions around America. Some plans are good in the South, others specialize in the Northeast, while others are strongest in the Western part of the U.S. There are also plans which can be used anywhere in the United States, regardless of where you purchase the plan. When looking at a sample fee schedule, be sure that the sample fees are correct for your region. If you live in Oregon, but the sample prices listed are for Texas, there could be some extreme differences in price when you get to the dentist office.

Yet another consideration to look at with a dental plan is the coverage for work done by a specialist. The savings at the specialist office will never be as strong as the savings at the general dentist; but the dental plan should still post the specialists savings ahead of time. Typically, the savings for a specialist will be 15%-25% off the typical rates. If a plan does not mention anything about specialists this can be a red flag about the plan. Double check to make sure that there is a savings for work done by a specialist.

Many dental plans also include some extra benefits like savings on vision, prescription, and chiropractic work. Although this is normally not the major selling point of a plan, additional features are nice to have and can be very useful.

A final deciding point when choosing a dental plan is the availability of dentists in your area. Each dental plan will have a specific list of dentists who participate with that plan. If there is a specific dentist which you would prefer to use, you will need to do a bit more research to find a plan that the dentist office accepts. If you are open to new dentists, you will still want to check to make sure there are participating dentists in your area on the plan which you choose. Some plans only have dentists in certain regions around the U.S. Make sure you are getting a plan that has participating dentists in your immediate area.

When selecting a low cost dental plan, there are lots of companies and lots of options available. It may take some time and some telephone calls to browse through all the different plans in your area, but the savings at the dental office will surely make it worth the search. The easiest place to start a search is at your favorite browser like Yahoo or Google. Simple type in the kind of plan you would like to find and start browsing for the best plan for you. Happy Hunting!

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Dental Plan