Got hit with another big dental bill the other day (which will bring my total to around $3500 in less than a year), despite having fairly healthy teeth. That's my dentist and endodontist talking, not just me.
Word on the street seems to be that self-indemnification competes well with the cost of dental health insurance. A relative of mine counseled that one should look at dental care from mid-life and longer like a car purchase: One puts in some big bucks for a year or so, and then is good for another ten years.
What have people here experienced?
P.S. The minor but expensive dental work at least improved my smile still more (ya, we're all good looking... ), and admittedly some of it was preventive maintenance. SoI think it was worth it. I just need to plan a bit more for this.
My husband's pension includes system-paid medical care, but dental/vision is an add-on at $54/mo/person. At first I thought we wouldn't purchase it as normal years we only have 2 cleanings and x-rays each - less than $600 per year. But year before last I needed 2 crowns because of fractures and then early last year I needed to have an old filling replaced. This last got my attention more than the crowns. I thought, "Yikes, we both have quite a few fillings that are 25-30 years old." So we signed up for the dental/vision insurance and even with $150 annual deductible I'm betting we'll come out ahead over the next 30 years. YMMV
For what it is worth I managed on $35/month between ages 56 (early retirement) and about age 67 (Delta Dental became available for individuals). This is in spite of having a filling in almost every tooth. This covered cleanings, X rays, an occasional filling and a few crowns).
I used to put a sum of money every month to cover large annual payments such as auto insurance, vacations, dental etc
Delta Dental costs me about $35/month and covers about 40% of what my dentist charges (50% if I used one of their dentists) but doesn't pay over $1000/year. The last few years some of my 35 plus year old fillings have begun to fail and have needed crowns and we are definitely pushing the $1 k limit..
Fortunately no root canals or perid> Got hit with another big dental bill the other day (which
I was just looking at the AARP dental insurances recently. The annual premiums ($445) about 42% of the maximum annual payout ($1200) , suggesting the average person will spend that amount every 2.5 years. Employer group insurance is considerably less costly for similar benefits. I wonder if self-insurance plus discounts (5-20%) some dentists give for immediate cash payment is worth it?
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Elizabeth, Avrum, and Rick.
about when old fillings fail (with possible root canals required) might go a long way. In other words, in hindsight, I think I might have been meaningfully ahead had I gone with some dental insurance starting when I turned about 40 years old. I am almost 47 now, and have had pretty good dental health before the age of about 40. Others not so lucky might start earlier. I have the one bad tooth but I think it's a pre-existing condition and so I am really too late to get insurance. Or I don't know. I have a few other fillings that are old. I'll have to think more about it. It's such a tangled web of seeming peace of mind and getting what one pays for, via discounts etc.
My current dentist gives cash-payers (meaning greenbacks, credit card payers, and I guess people who write a check) a
7% discount. Problem is, I don't know if that's really meaningful or not. Who can say what insurers negotiate or what the bottom line is for the dentist/endodontist to make a reasonable profit?
I do feel at this point that one gets what one pays for with dentists. I am paying top dollar for this latest work but I think it's overdue (the dentist says, no not really, but he's a new guy for me), and a better dentist would have commented on it sooner. This fellow comes recommended by friends.
On the other hand, I think I got a top-dollar, but not well-qualified, endodontist last summer and he may have taken me for some kind of ride, doing an expensive apicoectomy (a "fix" to a failing root canal) that may really not have been very good counsel for the particular tooth, especially since he never even mentioned the option of an implant. Extraction and implant have become very popular (though person's health-specific) in the last several years as an alternative to extraction and a bridge. One of the dental assistants commented that she thinks prices on implants will come down, since more and more dentists are doing them, and competition will have its effect.
Insurance is about risk and the likelihood of dental work is a sure thing. Among agents, individual dental insurance is almost a joke. I once asked a general agent if his health plan had dental and he said with a straight face "I advise all of my clients to floss."
Dental insurance is like swapping money for money. There are some good discount plans around, some even have good dentists participating. Here's a starting place -
formatting link
Their discounts look substantial and I recognized at least one good dentist in my area on their list. Good luck!
"Alan Ballow" wrote snip interesting comments for brevity
Alan, thanks, interesting site. Several months ago I happened on a site that seemed at least a little reputable that gave approximate costs of common procedures by geographical location, and this was helpful as well. Now I can't find it, though.
My last reply didn't get through...the gist was that I self-insure dental but pay from an HSA (this is an allowable use of HSA dollars). When you do that at least you're using pre-tax dollars to pay the dental bills. And my dentist gives a better rate, some deal they have with my insurer (though I don't have actual dental insurance).
Might not be a huge benefit but it does, in effect, reduce the cost of the health insurance you need to buy the HSA. This would have been a $3500 deduction off of your income instead of a $3500 check that probably won't be deductible - the ~$700? tax benefit might have paid for almost a half-year of insurance premiums?
If the work wasn't done yet you could have started HSA-compatible insurance before March, and made 10 months of HSA contributions, deducting that on your 2007 tax return. Then write a check from the HSA for the bill. But that's locked-barn-after-horse-gone.
. Only updated through 2004, and, as usual, its veracity is hard to confirm. But it might offer some idea of what's reasonable for standard dental procedures. :-) Had a good talk with dear ol' dad last week about dental costs and what he and his wife have experienced. He proposed viewing one's payments on one's teeth kind of like maintenance costs on a car: Every 5-20 years, expect some major expenses, then one should be good to go for awhile (knock on wood, and factor in that genetics may play a role here in teeth health). Which of course is in the vein of several people's comments here.
... and on the upside, shucks, I so want one back tooth gone. It has demanded ridiculously high maintenance (plus, let me not be too graphic, it's ugly!) over the last seven years. I don't mind too much shelling out some serious bucks to have a beautiful, pearly-white implant done. If it helps my love life... ;-)
BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.