Question: I want to get a really affordable dental insurance plan that offers free X-rays, check-ups and cleaning’s. I have good teeth and all I really need is my regular dental check-ups and cleaning’s twice a year.   I do not want to pay for those dental services and I would like to get dental insurance that is low cost to were it make sense for me to get.

Answer: Most all dental insurance provide preventive dental care if not for free at a very low cost. As they want you to go to the dentist for preventive care in order for you to avoid having to need larger dental care services.

However for a lower cost insurance plan I would suggest reviewing any of our HMO dental insurance options. As these are plan run around $8-$20 a month for an individual and tend to provide the services you are looking for for free to little cost.

Question: My five year old has weak tooth enamel  and therefore can get cavities easier then normal.  I do not have current dental insurance but am in the process of looking for some for both my son and I.

Since I know my son has weak tooth enamel I want to get dental insurance that will cover him to have dental sealants done.   I think that is the only way to really protect his teeth from getting cavities so easily.

Answer: The quick answer is yes. Most dental insurance plans do offer benefits/coverage’s for dental sealants for children (normally up to age 13) However, each plan is different so you will still need to read each plans terms and conditions to verify this benefit.

Question: What are the real benefits in buying dental insurance?  All the plans I seen have waiting period and dollar maximum limits so why pay a monthly cost where in the end you may only be getting out of it a few hundred dollars.  And that is assuming you are using the  plan up to the maximum benefits each time.

Answer: Well you are correct to a point,  since you are only talking about one type of dental insurance plan. Seems to me you where reviewing PPO’s or Indemnity dental insurance plans. Those types of plans do tend to have the limitation you where talking about. Yet those types of plans also let you choose your own dentist even if they are not providers of the plan. This types of plans are designed for long term use and it not something one would buy per say for a short period of time.

Yet there are also HMO dental insurance plans which typically do not have any annul maximum limits or waiting periods.  You will need to choose a plan provider but these would be your lower cost plans.

The type of dental insurance someone would get depends on their own dental needs and what they want out of a plan. But even a plan that as the limitations you are talking still does save you money. couple hundred dollars a year sounds like valid savings, and yes you are correct it will only save you money if you use it but the same can be said about anything you may buy. If you are not going to use it it can be a waste of money

Dental insurance benefits vary depending on the type of dental insurance plan. When reviewing the dental insurance especially when selecting a dental insurance plan, keep in mind there are various policy coverage options dental plan deductibles, co-payments, limitations, restrictions and exclusions.  If  you have any questions are not sure about a plan then take the time to call the member service line our is 310-534-3444.  Remember they are there to help you make the best choice for your dental needs.

Question: I am currently looking for an affordable dental insurance that will cover some orthodontics for a 27 year old.   I am interested in having braces to straighten out my teeth.  My current PPO plan I get though my job does not offer any orthodontics services.

Reply: I would advise reviewing either our HMO dental insurance plans as most of they do provide benefits for adult braces (mostly metal or basic braces)  Or our dental discount plans that provide a 20% saving of the cost of any type of braces you may want. Both plans you will need to go to plan providers so make sure you have a provider you can go to under the plan

Question: I need to have two dental implants and would like to have my teeth whiten.  Although I do have dental insurance I was told they do not cover for cosmetic which they are saying the implants are since I do not want the cheaper choice of a bridge.  Also they do not cover for any teeth whiten treatments.  My dentist told me it can be hard to find dental insurance that will cover the very dental services I am wanting.  I am really upset and I am hoping someone will have some suggestions for me.

Answer: Your dentist is correct that many dental insurance plans do not provide dental benefits for implants (mostly because of cost of implants are just too high) and other cosmetic dental services such as whitening.

There are dental discount plans that will save you around 15-20 percent off the cost of these types of services. However, you need to go to dentist that are within the dental discount plans network of providers. Dentist that will normally do these type of dental services are not easy to find within a dental discount plan but it still worth looking into.

You may also want to call your current dental insurance company up to see if they have a cosmetic rider that they can offer you that will cover these types of dental care services. That too is worth checking into if it can be offered.

Question: Where I can get either affordable dental plan or affordable dental services.  I do not have much money each month, and to have dental I need done, will cost me more then I ever have at one time.  However I am getting to the point where my tooth is starting to hurt me and I do not know how much longer I can put up with it.

Reply: You have a few options. First one I will suggest will be getting a low cost dental insurance plan.  HMO’s dental insurance plans are normally low in cost ranging around $8.00 – $20.00 a month for an individual.  I say a dental HMO because these plans are not only low in cost (making them more budget friendly) but they typically do not have any plan waiting periods for dental services which is what you will want since you already have at lease basic to major dental care needs.

If there are not any HMO plans in your state we will also have dental discount plan options available in most states. Like and HMO they do do not have any waiting periods and are lower in cost.  However, they are not insurance they are discount plans designed to help reduce your dental care cost and hopefully make dental care more affordable to you .

As far as where you can go for just lower cost dental care services. You may want to see if you have any dental schools and or clinics near you. As these are place you can normally go that will provide dental care at a lower cost to individual that are low income.

I do not understand dental insurance.  I do not currently have any dental insurance but I know I need to have few teeth pull and I am willing to get a bridge put in.  I do not need to have implant since I could not afford them anyway.

So my friend told me to get dental insurance before I start pulling out my teeth.  She said they should cover me to get a bridge.  The thing is all the plans I seen say nothing about bridges and how much they would cost.  Does dental insurance cover for bridges or not?

Reply: Although most dental plans do cover for dental bridges, if you are looking at dental HMO the cost for a bridge is normally not listed on the fee schedule as a “bridge” because there is too many different ADA codes that go into the making a bridge. Therefore to know your cost for a bridge you would need to know the ADA codes.  This can be hard if you have not already seen a dentist to know this information. I would advise going to a dentist that can give you a free consult if possible.

There are PPO’s plans where bridges and partials will just fall under their major services where with many PPO plans major dental care is covered at around 40-60 percent depending on the plan. However with these types of plans they will also have waiting periods which for major dental services can be up to a year or more.

Question: Where can I find a good dentist? I have no luck with dentist or dental offices.  I have dental insurance where I can see whatever dentist I want too.  However I either find that I do not care for the dentist.  Or when I do like the dentist the dental office staffing is so bad that I still do not like going to them.

What does one have to do to find a dentist without a bad attitude or with a good front office staffing?  This is becoming a big issue for me.  How do I pick a good dentist office with staffing that know how to process out claims?

Reply: Finding a good dentist/staffing starts with you doing your research. Ask yourself a few questions:

1) Are you too picky? Take a look at your yourself and and see if maybe it is not the dentist and or staffing but you.  This can be hard to do but if you are honest with yourself sometimes we can see that maybe we are just being to picky about things.

2) If you feel you are not be unreasonable: Then start with making phone calls to the different dental offices. Get a feel for the staffing by making that first call. Ask them all the general questions you may have such as hours they are open, how far booked up they are, How they process out claims and so forth. These are general questions anyone working as the staffing should be able to address in a friend manor.

3) Once you weeded it down to a few options then do a office visit. Now I do not mean make an appointment only to go and check out the places. How do you feel about being there. Are the staffing friend to the people that are also there. Is the place clean. Dose it seem like a more adult friendly place or is it mostly kids. Many adults would prefer to go to a dentist that dose not cater to kids so it is a more quite setting. You may even want to politely ask some of the people in the waiting room what they think of the dentist.

4) The inter net is a powerful tool:  Use the internet to seek out review of a dental office.  You can find reviews just by using Google, Angie List, Yelp and so on.  Ask the dental office if they have their own website that you can visit that will give you more detail information about their practice.

5) You may also want to ask your friends and family members. Finding out where they go and if they are happy with their dentist. So of the best referrals are from people you already know and trust.

6) You may also want to call your insurance company if they have a provider data base they may also be able to help you with your searcher for a provider.

In the end the more you know about a dentist/dental office the better and hopefully you will be able to find the dentist you can be happy with.

I am not asking for free dental work just more affordable dental work.  I live off a fixed income. But, just to go to the dental for your normal check-up, cleaning and X-ray is costing me over $175.00. I am in serious trouble if I should need any further dental care beyond the basic twice a year check up and cleaning.

Reply: Well my best suggestion to you is to get an affordable dental insurance plan such as an HMO. With a dental HMO plan in most cases you get preventive dental services for free. That put an end to you having to pay over $175.00 you are currently paying.  Also for services such as filling they are really low in cost.  Dental cost dose go up with more major dental care needs such as crowns and root canals but with insurance those services are still more affordable then without any insurance.

We see a few dental HMO plans depending on the state that you live in. I advise just entering you zip code in the quote box provided on our website so that you are able to review our dental insurance plan options that are available to you. If you should have any questions about our plans please call our member services at 310-534-3444 as we would be happy to help.

While reviewing PPO’s or Indemnity insurance plans, you may run across the term “UCR or UCR Fees” These letters stand for the words “Usual, Customary and Reasonable.” Insurance companies use “UCR fee schedules” as a way of controlling their expenses.

The wording found in many of these types of dental policies is one where the insurer will pay a set percentage of the cost of a procedure such as: 80% of the cost of a filling up to  the insurance company’s UCR fees.

Question: I am up to get my dental insurance though my job in another month.  I was told by a work friend that it is a PPO plan that we get.  She says  that it kinda suck because you have to pay the dentist in full for the dental services then wait for your money back from the insurance company. Is this true. Is that how a PPO covers you?

Reply: Well yes and no. That is the claims process of that dental office she is going to. What you want to do is ask the dental office how they would file out the claim and ideally you would go to a dental office that will submit the claim and bill you for any adjusted differences

Question: I was looking at the Delta Dental HMO plan in Texas. I was wanting to know how it works.  Besides picking a dentist in the net work which I know is a requirement. What other things should I know about getting an HMO dental plan?

Do I have to pay in full and wait for a refund?  I would like to know since that was how my last plan I had though work was like. I really did not like having to pay the dentist in  full and then wait a month for my money back.  It was good coverages but I did not always have the money at the time I needed dental work.

Reply: No, that is the great thing about dental HMO’s you are only paying the dentist the agree coverages amount for your dental services. Therefore there is no claims forms for you to fill out. And you are not left waiting for any refunds from the insurance company.