Ensuring Care for Your Pearly Whites

Dental care is often not part of any health care plan. It is not unusual for people to have to purchase a dental insurance coverage separate from their health care plan. These dental insurance coverages are designed to protect those who are insured from the financial burden brought about by unexpected dental expenses. More than half of the American population have their own dental insurance coverage. There are a number of these insurance providers around and it takes some research to find out which one is the best one for your needs. Getting a dental insurance coverage provider that does not match your needs can only cause you to spend even more money than you have to.

There are two types of dental insurance plans. There is the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) and there is the Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO). Both dental insurance plans have thier pros and cons. The PPO plans have a network of dentists who will provide you dental services for a particular prenegotiated rate. There is usually a deductible that is charged and deducted from the treatment cost first. PPO plans are also co-pay plans where only a percentage of the treatment cost is shouldered by the dental insurance company and the rest is taken cared of by the insured. The DHMO, on the otherhand, works much like your regular medical HMOs in that it allows you to visit any dentist you want. The disadvantage to these DHMOs is that the dentists are usually not able to spend much time with their patients because to the large number of patients they have to attend to.