Are Dental Discount Plans Worth The Cost?

The promise of dental discount plans is this… you pay a monthly or annual fee to be a part of their group and, in return, you can get significant discounts on dental services.

But are these plans worth the cost? Below we take a look at the pros and cons of these increasingly popular plans.

How Much Do Dental Discount Plans Costs?

At this point you may be wondering what dental discount plans cost. As with anything, the costs can vary but it is possible to find dental discount plans for $100 or less per individual. Depending on what dental services you need, the savings you can expect to get using a dental discount plan can range from 10% to 60%. Depending on what type of work you are looking to get, a discount like that can add up to $100s if not $1000s. So a dental discount plan may very well be worth looking into, especially if you have some cosmetic procedures you want done in the not too distant future.

Dental Savings Plans vs. Dental Insurance

First thing to understand about dental savings plans is that they are different from dental insurance. Yes, ultimately the purpose of both is to save money on any dental treatments and procedures you may need. But how they work to deliver those savings is quite different.

Dental insurance works like, well, insurance. You pay monthly fees to be a part of a pool and, in return, you get some or all of the costs of your dental treatments covered (with limits which we’ll get to in a minute). Now one potential drawback of insurance plans is that they can be pricey, especially if you’re looking at an individual plan (group plans through an employer generally cost less).

With dental savings plans, you can easily sign up as an individual or family and not be penalized with higher fees because of it. These plans offer some other nice advantages over insurance. They don’t involve nearly as much paperwork as insurance requires. They don’t penalize you (or make it harder to get coverage) if you have a pre-existing condition. There are no limits on the number of procedures you get.

Another big different is that most dental insurance plans have little, if any, coverage for cosmetic dentistry procedures. However, dental savings plans usually do include cosmetic procedures in their plans so you can get discounts on them, potentially saving you $1000s if you want a lot of cosmetic work done.

Dental discount plans do have some drawbacks, however. One of the main ones is that you are limited to what dentists you can go to and get discounts. Depending on your area and the plan you choose, the choices you have for a dentist may be quite limited. If you have a favorite dentist, you may want to ask them what dental discount plans, if any, they accept.

Another drawback of dental discount plans is that you will have to pay out of pocket for the costs of your dentist visits. Yes, you do get discounts on those visits but the plan will not pick up the costs you do pay for you. Those are 100% your responsibility.