Question: When Comparing Individual Dental Insurance plans, Which is Best?

Reply: When you buy dental insurance you do not only buy based on cost of the plan. Higher cost does not make a plan better or worse then the next plan.

What you need to know first is your own dental needs and want you want in a plan so that you buy a plan that best fit your own personal needs.

Example: Buying a PPO dental insurance may not be the best option if you have larger dental care needs as most dental PPO plans have waiting periods. However, if staying with your dentist is also a factor you would want to confirm what plans your dental provider accepts when shopping out dental insurance

Question: I have some really old denture over ten years. They are ill fitting and my dentist I take them too told me I really should get new dentures. As much as I would like to get fitted for new dentures I really can not afford them. Are there any dental insurance plans that can help me with the cost of dentures?

Reply: Yes many dental insurance plans will cover for dentures. Since you had your current dentures for such a long time you should have less problems finding a plan that will accept you and over denture coverage’s.

However two things to keep in mind. One call the insurance company or member service line to make sure you would have the coverage’s some plan will find that as preexistence and not cover it. Second is be be mindful of dental insurance plans with waiting periods. Some plan may cover you but within the plan it self have a year or more of a waiting period before they will cover out the cost of dentures. For that reason you may want to review HMO dental insurance over PPO’s as HMO insurance plans generally do not have waiting periods

Question: Where can I get low cost dental plan for Wisdom teeth extraction? My general dentist told me I should at least pull the top two since they show signs of coming in wrong. I talked to my dental insurance company and they will not cover a bony extraction.

Reply: You may want to look into a I dental discount plan. A dental discount plan would start right away with no waiting periods. As long as there is a Oral surgeon in the network you can get at least a 20 percent discount off the cost of the wisdom teeth extractions.

Question: I have very bad breath. My doctor ruled out any medical reason for my breath to stink so bad and I was told just to brush better.

I do brush sometimes up to four times a day. I floss every morning before school. I always have mints in my mouth just so it is not to bad. Yet time and time again I am told by my boyfriend or a friend that my breath stinks. I could really use some advise.

Reply: You have the same problem that many people do when it comes to having bad breath. If your doctor ruled out any health issues for your bad breath then it may just be a diet issue.

You do not need to be eating onions to have bad breath just foods that may not be agreeing with you. Eggs,cheese, coffee and even milk, can be a problem for many people. That could be your breakfast and bad morning breath issues.

Trying to change some of your eating habits and see if that makes any difference. If you eat foods and they upset your tummy, gasses will want to come out one way or another.

If not that then try checking with your dentist even though you are brushing and flossing it is still a good idea to check and make sure you do not have any cavities or gum issues since they are some of the reasons why you may have bad breath.

Another thing is try brushing your tongue if you are not already. You tongue can hold onto germs and bacteria that can cause you to have bad breath.

Question: Do you have to have an oral surgeon to pull out teeth? I have dental insurance but it does not cover for me to go to any specialist. However I have two really bad teeth that I just want pulled out. I already had root canals in these teeth and they did not take. Can I just have a general dentist pull them so that I will be covered under my dental plan?

Reply: Many general dentist do pull teeth whether your teeth can be pulled by a general dentist would depend on the dentist. Which means you would need to see your general dentist to have him or her advise if it something they can do or not.

You may also want to shop out insurance as there are still many HMO insurance plans that will provide benefits to plan specialist.

Question: How do I know if I have gingivitis? I do brush twice a day and floss most days but lately my gums have been red and sore. They also bleed a little when I am brushing my teeth. I am not sure why this has been starting in but my friend told me it could be that I have gingivitis.

Reply: It’s possible that you may have the start of some gum issues. However, only a dentist can confirm with you if you have gingivitis issues. I suggest that you visit your dentist for a dental check up and see what they would have to say about the issue.

Time comes and goes before another year over give some time to reflex on your goals. Many people during a new year want to lose weight or get in better shape. Eat better or take better care of their health. Many more people are trying to start up a new budget in order to save money in the coming year. All of these are good goals to have. However, also give a thought to your dental and oral health care. Like did you know, that eating right is not only good for your body but good for your teeth as well.

Most people know that good dental health does start at home but that is only the start. Seeing a dentist regularly is still very important in your dental health and cost does not have to be an issue. By taking care of your oral health you are in turn taking care of your over all healthcare. So when planning your new budget put aside some money for your oral health care needs. Buy a low cost dental insurance plan. There many low cost dental insurance plans which are affordable in even the tightest budgets, and by having dental insurance in most cases you will be cutting your dental care bills by 50% or more depending on the service. render.

The money you put into your dental health will also save you money in your over all health care. More and more studies are showing that poor dental health can cause and effect other over all health care issues. So think of dental health care as a way to lower your risks of larger more costly medical care needs.

Many people over the age of 55 are now regretting that they may not have taken the best care of their teeth when they were younger. Research shows that six out of ten people age 55 and over in the UK regret not taken better care of their teeth. Around one in five people in the UK wear full or partial dentures and an estimated 2.5 million people have no natural teeth. Despite oral health improving significantly in recent decades many people born in the 1960s and earlier lived in an era when oral health education was not widely available and their oral health has suffered.

A study by scientists from the Yale University School of Medicine found changes in mouth bacteria preceded the development of the inflammatory lung condition in hospital patients. The team followed 37 subjects over a month. They found patients on ventilators who developed pneumonia had experienced a significant shift in the ‘bacterial composition’ in their mouths beforehand. Lead author Dr Samit Joshi told ELS Global Medical News, that their findings may improve the way we prevent pneumonia in the future by maintaining the bacteria which live within our mouths.

The British Dental Health Foundation is looking to educate the public on good oral health after scientists discovered severe gum disease could be linked to an increased risk of head and neck cancer cases caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The study1 found patients with HPV-positive tumours had significantly higher bone loss, a key factor in the development of severe gum disease, compared with patients with HPV-negative tumours.

Latest figures suggest more than 6,000 people in the UK suffer from oral cancer2, while almost 2,000 lives are lost to the disease. HPV is a growing cause of the disease, with experts suggesting it may rival tobacco use as the main cause of oral cancer within 10 years. Other risk factors for developing the disease include tobacco use, drinking to excess and poor diet.  The significance of the research is compounded by the fact more teeth are lost through periodontal (gum) disease than through tooth decay

When you are choosing a new dentist it is a good idea to have some basic criteria that are important to you. Below is to help get you started

* Location: Is location important to you? For many people they like to have a dental office that is close to their home, work or school. Having a local dental provider makes it easier to keep appointments.

* Accommodations and or Features:  What core features are you looking for in a dentist? For instance, you many need a dentist who specializes in treating children or who has a handicap-accessible office if you have a disability. Is a dentist who can provide language services or translations a consideration?

* Plan Provider:  Does your dental insurance plan require you to visit a network dentist? If you are in an open network plan, are the savings that a network dentist can provide important to you? If so, finding a contracted network dentist will be a top consideration.

* Hours Of Operations:  Business hours can be very important if you have a 5-9 m-f type of job you may need to find a dentist that is open on the weekends or have latter after normal working hours.

An observational study featured in the online journal BMJ Open reveals that persistent dental plaque can potentially raise the risk of dying early from cancer. Researchers decided to establish whether dental plaque may influence the risk of early death from cancer due to infection and inflammation, as both factors are believed to play a role in up to one in five different types of cancer. At the end of the study in 2009, the team registered 58 deaths of which about a third (35.6%) were women and 35 of these deaths were due to cancer. The average age of the deceased was 61 year for women and 60 years for the men. The women’s life expectancy would have been about 13 years longer, whilst that of the men would have been 8.5 years longer, which places them into the ‘premature deaths’ category. ? Whilst the women predominantly died from breast cancer, the men’s deaths were caused by a various different cancers. ??

The researchers observed that the deceased had a higher dental plaque index, compared with the survivors. Their values ranged from 0.84 to 0.91, which suggests the gums of their teeth were covered with plaque, whilst that of the survivors was consistently lower, i.e. 0.66 to 0.67, suggesting a partial cover with dental plaque. After accounting for all risk factors the team discovered that the risk of dying from cancer was almost two-fold with age, and that male gender had a 90% increased risk.

You might be new to your dental insurance plan and want to select an in-network dentist of the plan, or maybe you have been enrolled for some time but you have decided that it is time to change dentists. For many people, choosing a new dentist comes down to simply polling friends and neighbors for a recommendation.

However, when you choose a new dentist, you are making an important decision for you and your family. You are entrusting a key part of your overall wellness to someone with whom you have had no prior experience. Some careful observations and a little homework can pay off with a successful patient-dentist relationship that will last for many years. Take your time in choosing your dental provider ask questions check out the office and see if it a change you will want to make.