As a parent you know that your child/children need to maintain good dental and oral health. Yet increasing dental care services make it harder and harder to afford their needed dental care check ups and cleaning’s let alone any other larger dental care needs.   

That is why having dental insurance for your family is an important part in keeping your dental family dental care cost low.  Your budget and dental care needs for your family will help you choose which type of dental insurance plan would work best.   

Our website offer a broad range of dental insurance plans from PPO’s, Indemnity and HMO dental insurance plans. We also offer dental discount plans for a lower cost alternative.  Review our plan options for your state and if you have any questions please call our member service line at 310-534-3444 as they will be happy to help you with any of our dental plan options.

Question:  My daughter could really use braces.  And even though both my husband and I work we just can not afford the extra cost for her to have braces.  We have dental insurance with my husband job but it does not pay out anything for the cost of braces, since my daughter has TMJ.  

TMJ being the problem and why they will not pay for braces.   I do not want my daughter to have to deal with it.  I also hear the problem will only get harder to correct as she gets older.     

Answer: TMJ is a hard issue to address, because many dental insurance plans will not cover for braces, if they are needed for TMJ. Dental discount plan do not have an issue with TMJ so you could get the savings offer on them.

Need Full Dentures, Looking for an Affordable dental plan: 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?

Answer: 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 provide coverages for new dentures.  However two things to keep in mind. One read the plan terms and conditions for dentures to make sure you will receive the benefits you are looking for. Second is to be mindful of dental insurance plans with waiting periods. Some plan may cover you for dentures, but within the plan it self have waiting periods that are a year or more before they offer benefits for dentures.

Question: I have a really bad toothache and I can not take it for much longer.  Most dental insurance  have waiting periods for dental procedures and I can not continue to wait things out.  I need something now not six or twelve months from now.  

Answer: This web site offers some dental discount plans that make work for you. With our dental discount plans they start the next business day from signing up for it on line though our website. They do not have any waiting periods so you start saving on your dental care cost immediately.  You may also want to review any of our HMO dental insurance options as well. With our HMO dental insurance plan they to do not have any waiting periods but depending on when you buy them will be the plan effective date. Such as buy it on or before the 20th of the month the plan starts the first of the next month. But the plan effective date very so read each plan.

Question: I have a dental PPO plan though Anthem Blue Cross from my employer.  Even though I have had it for a few years this was the first time I really used it for anything more then my free cleaning.    About a month ago I had some dental work that was rather costly.  Now I get an additional billing from my dentist stated that the insurance did not pay out much for the full porcelain crown that I got.  However my dental plan says they will pay out half the cost for crowns.    Calling up the dental insurance company right away I was told that they do not cover out that ADA code but will cover up to the UCR rate for covered crowns on non covered crowns.  It really seemed like double talk to me.  A crown is a crown!  What do they mean ADA code?  Please help me understand.   

Answer: ADA codes are the service code for each individual dental service. This code number does not change and it let everyone from the dental office, insurance company and claims department know what dental service you had done. Although wording can very the code dose not.  There are many ADA codes for crowns here is a sample

2740 Crown porcelain ceramic substrate 
2783 Crown ¾ porcelain ceramic 
2750 Crown-porcelain fused to high noble metal  
2751 Crown-porcelain fused to predominantly base metal  
2791 Crown-full cast predominantly base and 
2810 Crown-3/4 cast metallic

There are more but I listed a few to show you that a crown is not just a crown. Under many PPO plans they may only provide benefits for a lower cost crown so when you get a higher cost crown they paid out only up to the UCR for the crown that they cover. This offers you some saving but now as much as if you would have chosen a covered crown.  One way to avoid having billing surprises such as these is to have your dental office submit claims as a quote only, to your insurance company prior to dental services being render.  That way you will know your cost ahead of time and then can decide if that is something you wish to continue with based on your budget. 

Question: I have four sliver filling that where put in when I was a kid.  Now that I am older and working I like to change them out for new white filling can that be done?  

Answer: If you are asking can a dentist change out old silver filling to Resin-Based Composite (tooth color filling), in most cases yes. However if you are wanting to know if dental insurance will provide benefits for this type of dental service, often times they will not. Many dental insurance plans will not cover this type of dental service, since it is viewed as a cosmetic service.

Yet most dental insurance plans will provide benefits, when there is a new cavity in the tooth that has the old silver filling requiring the filling to be removed in order to fix the cavity. In this case, you do not have to replace the filling with a silver filling but can at that point replace it with a resin base composite filling.  

Question: So I have a dental PPO plan I get though my job.  What I do not understand is how my dental insurance states my coverages are one thing but when a claim is filed the numbers do not add up.  For an example, not that long ago I had a large filling and a crown put on.  The filling coverages where to be at 80% paid.  Which it was so that was fine  

However the crown I got cost $1000.00 and my plan said that it paid out 50% for the cost of a crown.  Straight forward math right I should only have to pay $500.00 which was my co-payment of 50%.   I then get the billing from the dental office stating the insurance company only paid out only $450.00 so my cost is $550.00 now it is only $50.00 more but this happens quite a lot. What should I do about this?  

Answer:  In general PPO plans pay out by percentage in your case 80% for basic services such as fillings and 50% for major services such as crowns.  But it dose not just stop there.  Normally they will state that the percentage paid out is up to UCR (Usual, Customary, and Reasonable) There for if the dentist you are going to is above the UCR rate for the company you will have an additional charge.    

Also some PPO plans will have two sets of coverage one for network dentist and another for out side network dentist. Out side network dentist normally will have less benefits then inside network providers.   As to why you are paying more, I could not say which is the case for you. That will be something I would advise you call your plan’s member services for. They can go over your benefits and directly answer what is effecting your cost on claims.    

However here is a tip you may want to keep in mind. Prior to having any dental services started, have your dental office submit to your insurance company as a quote only. That way you will know your true cost for any needed dental care without having to worry about additional cost. 

Question: I am 52 years old and been fighting for years to keep my teeth. After years of having major dental services dealing with dental pain all the time and not to count the expense I am tired of it all. I am thinking of pulling the teeth I have left and getting complete dentures.  The dentist I going to now does not want to pull my teeth saying they do not need to be pulled and I should continue having dental care for them. Sure once there pulled and I get dentures there will be no more dental bills. I looking for a dental insurance plan that will let me have dentures if that is what I want and not say it is elective and not cover them. Please advise. 

Answer: I suggest reviewing our dental discount plans. It sounds like you would want the flexibility that a dental discount plans gives you. With a dental discount plan what you have done is up to your and the dentist within the plan. The company does not state what you can or can not have done. You get discounted savings for all your dental needs at the time the services are render. If you want dentures you pay only the discounted cost for them as listed on the fee schedule. The thing is that you would need to find a dentist in the plan that is willing to pull out teeth that may not have to be pulled. So make phone calls and make sure you have a dentist in the plan will to work with you and your needs.

Your family oral health care is very important to maintain as your oral health has direct links to your overall health wellness. Therefore a few ways to maintain you and your family oral health is by having good at home oral health care habits and seeing your dentist regularly.   Studies also show that families that have dental insurance in place are more likely to see their family dentist regularly. In addition dental insurance helps keep your family dental care cost lower and more affordable. 

It is important to understand that your dental health start at home. Make sure you are brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing daily.  Use mouthwash that kills germs and fights against gum disease.  Seeing your dentist regularly  is an important part of maintaining good oral health, by doing your part at home you help to avoid having larger dental care needs that only your dentist can address.

A recent scientific breakthrough revealed a potential causal link between renal function and periodontal inflammation. A group of dental professionals at the University of Birmingham conducted a study with patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease to find more information. Due to their advanced tools and research methods, they were able to confirm that an imbalance of oxygen-producing free radicals due to periodontal disease can end up interfering with the body’s renal function. The Journal of Clinical Periodontology published the results of their research under the title, “Oxidative stress links periodontal inflammation and renal function.” Source: Todaysrdh

The best advise when shopping for dental insurance is to read each plan terms and conditions carefully.  It is in the terms and conditions that will let you know what is limited and or not covered under the  plan.  Fulling reading each plan is key to understanding how the plan works and if it will best fit your dental care needs.   

Also remember our member services is here to help you if you have any questions about the different dental insurance and plan types provided on our website.  It is better to call us at 310-534-3444 if you have questions then to buy a plan that may not workout best for your dental health needs. 

Are crowns really cheaper with dental insurance?

Average Cost for Crowns in California 

• Porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns can cost around $500-$1,500 or more per tooth.
• Metal crowns of gold alloy or of base metal alloys can cost $600-$2,500 or more per tooth
• All-porcelain crowns require a higher level of skill and take more time to install than metal or porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, and can cost $800-$3,000 or more per tooth.
  With Insurance
• Generally dental PPO insurance plans will pay out 50% of the cost of major services (after any waiting periods the plan may have)  
• With HMO dental insurance plans they are fee based which means they will have a schedule of Services braking down the cost for each covered item so cost will very but in many cases crowns would still much cheaper then not having dental insurance 
• It is important to note that not all dental insurance plans will cover for All-porcelain crowns so make sure you read the plans terms and conditions.

A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota decided to organize a clinical trial last year to determine whether an experimental solution could help clinicians remove calculus deposits more quickly when using in conjunction with hand-held instruments. The article, titled “Efficacy of a Prototype Solution to Facilitate the Removal of Supragingival Dental Calculus: A Proof of Concept Study,” was published by the American Dental Hygienists’ Association in the Journal of Dental Hygiene.

Question: A close friend of mine really needs dental health care.  She does not have dental insurance and only works about 20 hours work weeks.  She said she has tried getting payment plans from different dental offices, for dental services she will need but was turned down each time for poor credit. 

Answer: I would suggest she review either our dental HMO insurance plans though California dental or Delta Dentla or our dental discount plans though Aetna. Both of these plan type are low in cost and will help to make her dental care more affordable.  However depending on how much dental care services she needs, she made still have to budget in her dental care and do a little at a time as she can afford it. 

Question: I am in very bad shape and need major gum grafting care.   I am low income but I do have dental insurance for basic dental care.  So my current dental insurance will not cover the gum surgery I need. Are there any teaching hospitals for dental care I can go that will provide the services for free?   

Answer: Dental school will normally still charge for their services provided. However at a much lower cost.  They also sometimes base their cost on what you can afford to pay.  You will need to call the local school that are near you to find out what their cost factors would be. 

Dental discount plans are a good low cost alternative to dental insurance. Like insurance it has it pros and cons. 

Pros:

• Most dental discount plans starts the first of next month or within the next business day from ordering it on line.  
• Most dental discount plans do not have any waiting periods, max limitations, or deductibles   
• You are not assigned to a dental provider office though you do need to go to plan providers.  

Cons:  

• You have to go to plan providers. There is no outside dental discounts. 
• You pay for all dental services but at a reduced or discount price. 
• Dental discount plans are not insurance they are discount plans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 34 million Americans have diabetes. Scientists in the dental community are very focused on understanding how the disease may impact a patient’s oral health or the effectiveness of treatment plans.

Recently, a team of researchers located in Germany conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether type 2 diabetes had an adverse effect on dental implants. An article based on their findings titled, “Impact of hyperglycemia on the rate of implant failure and peri-implant parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” was published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.

Question: I do not think that my sister has good oral and dental health care.  Her teeth look really yellow to me and when I ask if she seen a dentist she says she can not afford to see one.  She is a single mom, I would like to help her out because I do not think she has the money too get the dental care she needs. Is there a cheap dental plan out there?  

Answer: I would suggest reviewing our lower cost dental HMO insurance plans and or our dental discount plans options.  They are lower cost plans that will help to greatly reduce the cost of her dental care compare to not having dental insurance.  Seeing a dentist regularly is important as you know, and cost can be a factor therefore these plans may be a good option for her to be able to better afford the needed dental care.

Question:  I have a family of six and we are without dental insurance. With the cost for dental services and the way they keep going up I really could use some help. I can not afford to get dental insurance plans right now but notice that I can afford to get a dental discount plan. I know they may not be the best but for basic care will they help me save money?

Answer: Dental discount plans are a good low cost alternative to dental insurance for a family they run around $15.00 a month and they do what they say they will. In short help you save money on your dental care needs.  A dental discount plan provide discounted saving for all dental services render by their dental providers.  Just make sure there is a dental provider under the plan that you are reviewing that you and your family can go to.