How to Save Money with a Dental Savings Plan

If you have ever needed an emergency root canal you know the excruciating pain I woke to recently. Toothache doesn’t seem to convey the full force of the discomfort.

 Luckily, I was able to quickly land in my dentist’s chair and he took care of everything. 

The even better news is that my out-of-pocket cost was $859 lower than it would have normally been because I am enrolled in a dental savings plan that my dentist accepts.

I have been a happy customer of a dentalplans.com dental savings plan for years. This year, the family plan for KT and me has an annual fee of $189. A dental plan is not insurance. Rather, dentists who accept the plan agree to charge a discounted rate for care. Patients with a dental savings plan get that discounted rate, without any deductible and no waiting period. Nor is there any paperwork. I want to be clear: because this is not insurance there are no claims to file or claim denials to fight. You pay the (reduced) bill at the time of service.

If I didn’t have our dental savings plan, my root canal would have cost $2,025. But I was charged $1,166; a savings of $859. The year is young, and our savings are already nearly 5x the annual fee we paid for the dental plan.

If you don’t have dental insurance, I highly recommend you check out a dental savings plan. And even if you have dental coverage through workplace insurance or a Medicare Advantage plan that offers dental coverage, I encourage you to do some research. For starters, most dental insurance coverage is very limited. Your annual coverage may be limited to just $1,000 or $1,500 or so. Which as my root canal shows is not going to be enough if you need some serious work. My advice is to carefully review the specific coverage limits and deductibles on your existing dental insurance. 

I think many of you will be surprised at how limited it is. That’s where enrolling in a dental savings plan can make so much sense. If you have a dentist you love, check in with the office to see if they have a particular dental plan(s) they accept. Or you can do a search at dentalplans.com for dentists near you who work with a dental plan. If you decide to purchase a dental savings plan offered by dentalplans.com, use the code SUZE30 at checkout to save 30% on your fee.