XP: Dental Insurance

[emjacobs]

Since you ladies are awesome, and more active, blah blah blah

Yay my initial post was eaten by ProBoards, is it a sign?

So I have always been on my parents dental plan up until I graduated college, which their plans were through their employers. I haven't been back to the dentist in several years* , I had a very bad experience with a root canal and I have an anxiety attack whenever I think about the dentist. This post is already making my stomach hurt.

I'm starting to realize that I really do need to go to the dentist, I'm noticing some lingering pain past normal tooth sensitivity, and I think that I have a cavity under my crown so I'm sure that there are bigger problems going on and I'm burying them subconsciously.

So, I need dental insurance, and I probably need something that will allow for a lot of work because someone hasn't been to the dentist in several years and doesn't have thousands and thousands to spend on her teeth. I'm also under the impression that teeth are expensive as hell so if you can show me otherwise I would love you. I also need something that will cover sedation because there is no way that I can be awake through this.

So...tell me about dental insurance, the good, the bad, the ugly, etc. I know we have someone on here that works in dental so hopefully you will chime in.


**I totally realize that this is flameworthy, and go ahead and flame if you want. After my experience with my root canal I just can't get over the horrible feeling whenever I think about the dentist and it scares the ever living shit out of me.

[Jalapeñomel]

For my dental insurance, I had a waiting period of 90 days for any work besides a cleaning.

And really I felt that my dental insurance sucked and didn't pay for hardly any thing. I paid for a lot OOP with CareCredit.

Good luck. I hate dental issues.

[Deleted]

I've always heard that most dental insurance sucks. I know mine is considered pretty good, and there's still a lot of out of pocket expenses if you need anything done beyond a checkup and cleaning every 6 months.

[pinkflats]

I pay $0 OOP for preventitive (cleaning) and diagnostic stuff; 20% OOP for oral surgery, periodontic, and endodontic; 20% OOP for complex restorative dentistry (whatever that is); and 50% OOP for orthodontic. Dental shit is expensive.

[emjacobs]

Apr 29, 2013 16:53:10 GMT -5 pinkflats said:

I pay $0 OOP for preventitive (cleaning) and diagnostic stuff; 20% OOP for oral surgery, periodontic, and endodontic; 20% OOP for complex restorative dentistry (whatever that is); and 50% OOP for orthodontic. Dental shit is expensive.

Who is your insurance provider? I'm pretty sure I would only need endodontic work (god help me if I need more), but damn why can't teeth be easy? Coat these bad boys in titanium or something. 

[mala]

No flames here! I also went several years between dental visits. When I finally went back I had to have one tooth pulled, two root canals, and a crown. And a ton of fillings. I think now every tooth has had some work done on it. It sucks. All told it cost a few thousand dollars over 6 months. I know that's not what you want to hear, though. When it was all said and done, though, I could not believe how much better I felt; no more pain, no more being super careful about chewing, and I was so much more confident in my smile. I will never let it get that bad again.

The best advice I can give you is to find a good dentist. You need to find one who is not going to make you feel guilty or berate you for your situation. I was so anxious when I first went in, but I had a great dentist who made me feel comfortable. Don't just pick someone randomly, ask your friends for recommendations. As far as sedation goes, a lot of dentists will do it these days. I took the gas when I had the tooth pulled and I absolutely bated the way it made me feel, so I elected to just do novicane for the rest of the work. (They offered full sedation but the thought freaks me out so I passed on it.)

Good luck! Remember, you're not the only one who has gone through this!

[pinkflats]

Apr 29, 2013 16:55:10 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

Apr 29, 2013 16:53:10 GMT -5 pinkflats said:

Who is your insurance provider? I'm pretty sure I would only need endodontic work (god help me if I need more), but damn why can't teeth be easy? Coat these bad boys in titanium or something. 

BlueCross BlueShield. I'm sure prices vary by state, but hopefully you can find something that works for you!

[Deleted]

If you don't have dental through an employer, you are probably screwed. I haven't had dental insurance in years. I've shopped around, and individual policies are so crappy that it's really not worth it. By not worth it, I mean that they pay like 10% or less for dental work. And dental work is freaking expensive. I need two crowns really soon at $1,500 each. A year and a half ago I spent $3k on two crowns, and about a year before that another $3k on two crowns. I have a bunch of fillings from childhood that are getting old and now need replaced with crowns. It makes me feel sick that I'll have spent $9k on dental work over the past few years.

My first $3k of work went on a credit card. You may need to look into a credit card or Care financing for medical procedures.

[moolarkey]

Also, do you live near a university with a dental school? You can get treatment there cheaper.

I have a huge fear of dentists too, I've had way to much dental work in my life and have been putting off going. I like my dentist but from the time I was about 7 or 8 I have been a frequent flier at the dentist.

[lolly]

Apr 29, 2013 17:23:00 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

Also, do you live near a university with a dental school? You can get treatment there cheaper.

My sister did this when she was in grad school and I would not recommend it to anyone afraid of the dentist! She had a simple filling and it took over 2 hours.

We have dental through H's job and it just covers basics of preventative care. He had to get a lot of work done and we paid about $10K out of pocket.  Find a good dentist and they may work with you on payments and doing treatments over time.

[Deleted]

I swear, all dental insurance is shit. The school has had two different ones in three years, and they've both been crap, and they take $50 out of my check for it. I'm considering dropping it, but then I get nervous. We had BCBS first, and on my cleaning, in network, the insurance paid $60 and I paid $180 OOP. Now we have Delta Dental, and the insurance paid $75 and I paid $180 again.

[janegold]

So I was just recently in your shoes: hadn't been to the dentist in ages and just got new dental insurance. I think my dental plan (through Delta Dental) is considered a relatively good one, and it still kind of sucks if you need a lot of work done at once. Within my first two visits, I was told I needed: 3 childhood cavities filled, gum/bone surgery for a crown that was poorly-done a decade ago, and my wisdom teeth out. My plan has a maximum limit of something like $1500/year for procedures, not including cleanings and preventative care, which are free. So I ended up spending like $2k out of pocket.

I probably could have spaced things out a bit and waited til the next calendar year to get some issues taken care of, but I wanted it over with. If your plan does have a cap, and if there are things that can wait, that would be a good way to save $$. Also, if you have an FSA/HSA, that's a good way to get a "discount" on the remainder that is not covered by your plan.

[Deleted]

Are you employed, or are you looking to purchase your own individual plan? Unfortunately, if you are not going through an employer, you're pretty much guaranteed to plan on paying a lot of money, both for the coverage and for the amount that the insurance won't cover. Sedation is expensive, and is often not covered even under the best insurances unless used during multiple extractions. I would recommend looking into a clinic rather than a private practice, because their prices will be lower. If you feel comfortable PMing me your general location, I might have some recommendations. I would probably not recommend a dental school, due to your anxiety. Also, CareCredit is a great resource, but you have to be careful with it because while they do offer 6-12 months interest free, if you do not pay off the full amount in that time they add the back interest into your balance.

As far as companies go:
As a dental provider I do not recommend Aetna or HealthComp.
I would recommend looking into ODS or Delta Dental. Blue Cross Blue Shield isn't too bad, either.

[Deleted]

Dental insurance is sometimes expensive. If there's a dental school or dental hygiene school in your area they usually offer free or sliding scale cleanings, fillings etc.

[mala]

Oh, and our ins is united Concordia. I think it's actually decent. Full coverage for cleanings. There's a $1500 cap per ins year but they covered most of the work up to that.

[mcc]

Lurker jumping in. I just signed up for a Cigna dental discounts plan as an addition to my health insurance. It was only $135 a year but it covers half of most procedures (like the crown I got today), 2x yearly cleanings and a bunch of other jazz. This might be an option for you. Since it's not insurance, it's cheaper and saves me about 40-50% on procedures.

[emjacobs]

I have enough of a problem with going to the dentist I went to my entire childhood that I adore and has been great to me (he wasn't the one that messed up), there's no way I'd be able to go to a dental school and be someone's experiment.

I do not have dental through my employer and it isn't offered. I do have an hsa that I can use to help offset some costs.

Delta isn't offered in my state but ill look into bcbs, my health insurance is through anthem.

I will take out a home equity loan before getting another credit card, my home is paid for and id rather not get involved with ccs anymore.

Back story: I had a root canal done on my next to last top molar, that went fine temporary crown was put on. Came back and got the permanent crown placed and he accidentally cemented the crown to the tooth next to it as well. He decided it would be best to let it dry and then used floss to try to saw it out. In the process he sawed about 1/4" into my cheek because the tooth was in the back. The dental assistant had to stop him and suggest a different process. I was in extreme pain for two weeks and couldn't open my mouth to eat anything other than soup.