Your Dental Plan – Comparing Dental Plans

Choosing the Dental Plan that’s Right for You

With so many dentists leaving the National Health Service in favour of private dental care for their dental patients, it is important to choose a dental plan that will work for you.

The NHS say that dentists are no longer obliged to register a certain percentage of NHS patients, but this does not prevent them from taking them on and providing ongoing treatment and care. Yet to find a dental practice which still takes on NHS patients is rare in some areas..

Even if you get on an NHS dentist’s books does not necessarily mean you will pay less in some cases and you will certainly be on a long waiting list for treatment.

This is because primary care trusts (PCT) now have money they must spend on dental services. PCT’s can now agree contracts with NHS dentists to provide the services local people need and influence where new practices are established.

How does that affect you?

Whether you need simple dental care or emergency dentistry, your chances of finding a dentist who continues to provide a National Health dental service is getting increasingly difficult.

According to whatprice.co.uk the average private dental charges are £43 for a routine examination (NHS = £16), £31 for an X-Ray as a private patient, £381 for a root canal procedure and £851 for a bridge, while with NHS you are looking at £198 for procedures such as crowns and dentures.

Here is the basic breakdown as supplied by the NHS: an examination, diagnosis, and preventive advice will cost £16.50; an examination, diagnosis, preventative advice and one or more fillings will cost £45.60; and an examination, diagnosis, preventative advice, one or more fillings and one or more crowns will cost £198.00.

If you have an NHS dentist and are referred to another dentist for specialist treatment such as treatment under sedation, orthodontics or even home visits then this count as a new course of treatment. That means you will need to pay two sets of charges: one to your dentist and one to the specialist. This rule does not apply should you have the right to free NHS dental treatment.

Does your employer offer dental insurance?

If your employee benefits package offers a dental insurance plan, it is advisable you sign up. More and more families are feeling the pinch of paying for private dental care so it is essential to get on a dental insurance plan. If your employer is not offering a dental insurance plan, it is still necessary to get one.

The NHS isn’t free, they pay part of the fee and it’s up to you pay the rest. Although it may seem less expensive in the short term, the NHS can carry higher costs over the long term.

Comparing insurance plans

When comparing dental insurance plans, you will find that some plans offer NHS only policies, Private Care policies and those offering a combined NHS and Private dental plan.

The reason for offering private dental plans only is becoming clearer each year as many British citizens move to buying private insurance choosing private health care over NHS in return for quicker treatmeDencover nts.

Dencover Dental Insurance ensures your portion of the NHS dental costs is paid in full.

Alternatively Dencover Dental Insurance covers 75% of the cost of private treatment up to the amounts shown in this dental insurance comparison table

How to buy a dental insurance plan

Dental Insurance Policies are typically sold online and/or by phone. With many of the dental insurance plans sold on the internet, immediate cover is restricted to emergency treatments and examinations during the first 90 days or three months to prevent abuse of the system and keeps your premiums lower.

Starting at around £7 and moving up to £22.50, premiums are monthly or yearly and often with little to no discounts for paying in full. Many of the cheaper dental insurance companies offer very low claim limits. One example is a plan with half the monthly premium compared to Dencover plans but provide less than half the cover in return - the amount of cover you purchase being the total amount you can claim in any one year limited to 50% of your dentist's bill.

Dencover Dental Insurance Plans for individuals are only £12.99 per month and pay your compensation to a maximum figure per visit. You won't find this plan cheaper anywhere else.

It makes sense for you to choose a dental insurance policy that offers them the choice of attending their dental surgery as either a private or NHS patient. You will find it easier to see a dentist immediately as a private dental patient should you need emergency help, rather than be turned away as an NHS patient. Should you need urgent treatment, some dentists will insist you register as a private patient if you are not registered at their surgery

Dencover Dental Insurance Plans offer you the choice of attending as either a private or NHS patient. See what is covered by our dental plan.

Which plan to choose

There are three types of dental plan you could compare the merits of:

• Indemnity insurance plans
• Capitation insurance plans
• Cash plans

Indemnity plans are a kind of dental insurance. With these dental insurance plans, you can choose your dentist.

The insured pays a monthly premium and your chosen dental insurance plan pays for any dental treatment needed but there are standard exclusions and conditions. Usually there is a maximum payout within a 12 month period.

There may be a qualifying period before you can claim against this insurance policy. You cannot claim for pre-existing dental conditions.

Capitation insurance plans mean a trip to the dentist for an assessment of your oral health and the dentist you use prices for treatments. This way the dentist is able to determine a monthly payment based on your dental history, the current condition of your teeth and his charges.

Capitation insurance plans may refuse you should you require work on your teeth, and if this is the case, your premiums may be set higher once you are accepted to join the scheme at a later stage.

According to an article published in the Daily Mail, monthly costs range from about £10 to about £30 with the average amount paid by Denplan members being £19.30.

These Capitation plans cover the costs of dental check-ups, X-rays, fillings and depending on your plan, hygienist appointments may or may not be covered. The cost of crowns, root canals and dental bridgework is not included on all of these plans so thoroughly investigate the features before you sign up.

The premiums for Capitation schemes will vary between counties, towns and cities dependent on many issues, combined with your oral health. A spouse or partner of yours could find they pay far more or far less than the other and should this be an option you are considering, remember to check the small print on your policy, cancellation clauses and initial treatment exclusion periods before you buy.

A cash plan is the third option where an amount of money is put away each month to help cover the costs of future national health dental care.

It is sensible to choose a method or type of dental insurance plan to assist you in managing your dental health costs.

Your Dencover Dental Insurance policy

• Offers you the choice of attending as either a private or NHS patient
• Is only £12.99 per month – less than 45 pence per day
• Pays your compensation to a maximum figure per visit