There’s no denying the importance of good dental health to good overall health. In fact, poor dental health can lead to an unfortunate chain of events when it comes to physical health by limiting your intake of healthy foods and even contributing to heart disease from constant inflammation. That’s why it’s more important than ever before to make sure you take good care of your teeth. Dental insurance plans help to make that possible, whether it is for yourself, or if you are an employer, for your employees.

Types of Dental Plans Companies Can Select

There are several dental plans options to consider for dental insurance. Each one offers some strengths and all are better than no dental plan at all.

Dental PPO Plans – PPO stands for “preferred provider organization.” Essentially, there is a network of dentists considered to be preferred providers. When your employees visit one of the dentists within the network they pay a percentage of an agreed upon reduced rate with the dentist.

The reduced rates may vary from one provider or specialty to another and your employees may be required to meet a yearly deductible.

The beauty of this plan is that while the preferred providers offer the lowest rates, your employees do have the option of seeing dentists outside the group.

Dental HMOs – Often referred to as prepaid plans, DHMOs (dental health maintenance organizations).

Rather than paying a percentage of a reduced rate for fees, DHMO members pay a fixed amount, or copayment, for treatment.

Many diagnostic and preventative treatments require no copayment. Visiting dentist outside of the network, though, may result in you or your employees being responsible for the entire bill. While they are great for businesses to offer employees, they can also be affordable for individuals or families as well.

Dental Maintenance Organization – DMO dental benefits offer cost effective options to maintain dental health through a primary provider. Members can select providers from a specific network for covered preventive and basic dental services. These plans require no deductibles but may have limitations and exclusions for age, frequency of visits, and orthodontia.

Freedom of choice is the most important feature for many members when it comes to DMO plans and policies. You can even choose further by electing to combine a DMO with a PPO or some other indemnity dental coverage plan of your choice.

Fee for Service Coverage – Individuals or employees with a fee for service dental insurance plan have the most flexible types of coverage available as they can choose the dentist of their choice as long as he or she accepts the insurance. Members under this plan will pay a percentage for each service and the plan itself pays the difference.

Percentages will vary according to the type of coverage and type of service. Some preventative treatments may be covered at 80 percent, leaving patients to pay 20 percent while more intensive treatments, like crowns, are only covered for 40 percent, leaving patients to pay 60 percent of the costs. Most fee for service plans have a maximum coverage limit and require patients to meet a deductible.

Discount Dental Plans – Discount dental plans arrange for plan members to pay a reduced fee for the dental services they use. This is not insurance but can help people who would otherwise not see a dentist find this a more affordable health care option. The upside of discount dental plans is that they require no paperwork and have no maximum limits or deductions.

Phoenix Insurance Group can help you give you the gift of beautiful smiles and improved dental health. Call us today at: 908-879-6500 to learn more about the dental plans we have available and which dental insurance plan will provide the best level of coverage for you or your employees.