Dental insurance can be difficult to navigate, and even people who have benefits may fully not understand how their plan works. The uninsured or underinsured may allow their lack of benefits to dictate their oral health care. Both have bad consequences for patients’ overall well-being. Dr. Olberding, your dentist in Lincoln, knows dental insurance isn’t exactly intuitive — and he is here to bust the most common misconceptions surrounding dental insurance plans.
Myth #1: It’s “Insurance”
Perhaps the biggest myth about dental insurance is the idea that it’s “insurance” at all. People normally purchase insurance to protect themselves from paying lots of money after an unlikely event — like a house fire or expensive cancer treatments. But the thing is, the need for dentistry is not a rare event. Regular preventive care is crucial for good oral health, and most people will need some amount of restorative dentistry throughout their lives. It’s more accurate to think of dental insurance as a “dental benefit.”
Myth #2: It Covers What You Need
A healthy mouth is built on regular preventive care. Unfortunately, most dental insurance plans do not cover prevention. Instead they are based on a treatment model of care rather than a wellness model, focusing on restorative and regular checkup benefits. Cleaning visits and restorative work like fillings and crowns are covered under most plans — but they often do not include important decay-stopping measures like fluoride treatments, dental sealants, and others. People who cannot afford to pay for these treatments out-of-pocket may do without.
Myth #3: It Guides Your Dental Care
Your dental insurance benefits should never affect the treatments that you receive — at least, it should never prevent you from getting the care that you need. Untreated dental disease and oral infections like periodontal (gum) disease and cavities are extremely unlikely to heal on their own. Patients who do not take immediate action to repair and treat the problem will face more serious problems (and increased costs) as time passes.
The Truth About Dental Insurance
If we’re being honest, we need to face the fact that dental insurance isn’t really something to help you improve your oral health — it’s just a product. The type of procedures covered, and the limitations on coverage, are bundled into different policies which meet the insurance company’s demands: profitability, a reasonable sticker price, and adequate procedure compensation for the dentist. The resulting product is then sold to employers or individuals.
Olberding Dental and Your Dental Insurance
If you have dental insurance, the team at Olberding Dental will be happy to assist you in obtaining the maximum benefits to which you are entitled. However, the agreement of your insurance company to pay for your dental care is a contract between your insurance carrier and you — and we’re not involved. Our recommendations are always customized for your individual need, and not based on what the insurance company covers. That would leave all of our patients at risk.
Please contact Olberding Dental to schedule an appointment or to discuss your dental care today.