An alternative to dental insurance, dental savings plans save you anywhere from 10-60% on your dental bills.
Best of all, you’ll have no restrictions based on how often you can use your dental savings.
Additionally, existing oral health problems can receive treatment through dental savings.
As you can see, this is an ideal route for many dental patients.
How do dental savings plans work?
Dental savings plans are reasonably affordable, typically under $200 annually. Your dental savings plan membership will be activated and ready to use within around three business days, often even sooner.
All you have to do is show your dental savings membership card at your dental office to receive a discount. However, the discount will depend on your dental plan. You’ll typically have dental savings to thousands of dentists nationwide through your dental savings plan.
Dental savings plans versus dental insurance:
Weighing the pros and cons of each is important. A savings plan may be best for one while insurance may be ideal for another.
Dental savings plans
- Quickly activates and is ready to use typically within 24-72 hours
- No restrictions on pre-existing oral-related conditions
- Can be used for virtually any dental procedure
- Accepted by thousands of dental offices
- Much cheaper than dental insurance when looking at annual costs
- Can be used at qualifying dental offices endless amounts of times throughout the year
- No waiting periods
- You save money right then and there. No reimbursements necessary
Dental insurance
- Often has a 6 or 12 month waiting period before use
- Typically places restrictions on pre-existing oral-related conditions. Won’t cover the costs of a missing tooth if it was already missing before the dental insurance was activated
- Limited with the dental procedures it covers
- More limited in the number of dental offices it is accepted at
- Can be up to around five times the cost a year than dental savings plans
- Poses limits to how much coverage you receive annually for dental procedures
- Often places waiting periods on how often you can receive coverage
- You’ll often have to pay out of pocket for your dental procedure before your insurance pays the remainder of the cost. Often, you’ll have to wait to be reimbursed by your dental insurance for out-of-pocket costs you want to have covered.
Are dental savings plans or dental insurance plans better overall? Which would I benefit from the most?
It’s clear that dental savings plans and dental insurance have their fair share of differences. One may work better for some than for others. Those who face a lot of dental-related problems would surely benefit best from a dental savings plan.
However, one with generally good oral health would suffice with a dental insurance plan instead. While dental insurance is more expensive, savings range from about $1,000 to $1,500 a year. Dental savings plans only save 10-60% of dental costs per year.
For a dental savings plan to be most beneficial for a patient, it would be ideal for the percentage of savings to be at or above the savings of a dental insurance plan. You can search for and find a dental savings or insurance plan here. You can search based on dental offices it’s accepted at, types of procedures covered, or even by the amount of savings.