Unlocking Your Dental Insurance’s Full Potential

Maybe this is the first time you’ve ever owned dental insurance, or maybe it’s been in your pocket for a while, but you never understood how to use it. Either way, that’s understandable. Insurance is confusing and can often seem to be clouded in confusing jargon. These tips will help clear things up so you can unlock your dental insurance’s full potential!

Understanding Dental Insurance

As with other types of insurance, the inner workings of your dental insurance will depend on your individual plan. Still, knowing how your insurance provider is thinking will make reading the fine print a lot easier.

Insurance companies, like you, are trying to save money. Preventative care measures help keep clients at low risk for developing major health concerns, which keeps insurers at low risk for having to fund complicated treatments.  “So,” your provider thinks, “if we focus on preventative treatments, we can encourage clients to maintain their health.” This is why your dental insurance might seem to place a lot of emphasis on routine checkups.

Choose the Right Insurance Plan for You and Don’t Settle

Even if you have access to dental insurance through an employer, you’ll probably have at least a couple of plan options to choose from. Many people – especially young people – choose plans with the lowest monthly payments.

However, if you know you or a loved one have less-than-ideal teeth, settling for a low-cost option won’t do you any good. It’s better to pay a higher monthly fee so that when you need higher-cost treatments, your insurance will cover a higher percentage of your bill. In other words, you get what you pay for. A higher monthly fee could actually save you money in the long run.

Maximize Your Yearly Treatments

Remember how dental insurers really like preventative care? They like it so much that they’re often willing to pay up to100% of your routine checkup bill. This includes cleanings, oral exams, and X-rays. Though there is a limit for how many visits they’ll vouch for: typically two per year.

Fortunately, two dental checkups a year is the recommended minimum! Your benefits don’t roll over to the next calendar year, so make sure you go to these routine appointments. Otherwise, you’ll start wondering why you’re even paying for dental insurance!

Dental insurance is definitely confusing, but worth understanding so that you can maximize its value for you. It has the potential to save you money, but also benefit your oral health. After all, it’s much easier to stomach a cleaning appointment if you know it won’t cost you a single cent.

So, if you’ve been avoiding the dentist because of finances, call their office and ask them what insurance they accept. If yours is on their list, you can relax knowing that your insurance will be softening the financial blow.

About the Practice

Our team at Randolph Dental Care wants to help you maximize your dental insurance benefits! Drs. Glen and Zachary Goldstein love helping patients achieve dazzling smiles, and don’t want money to prevent you from visiting our office. Call 973-895-7995 to ask us about your insurance’s potential, or visit our website for more information.