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Dental insurance is actually a pre-payment plan between your employer or union
and the insurance company. Your employer or union hires an insurance company
to provide benefits to the employees and its company covers some of the costs
of the dental bills. The insurer says to the union/employer: for "X"
dollars I can give you package "A" that covers the procedures in that
package. The insurer does not know what type of treatment you need and does
not pay the dental bills. Insurance is there to help you cover some of the cost
of your dental treatment, not to cover whatever treatment you need.
In your insurance package,
certain procedures may be covered a certain number of times per year. This is
an arbitrary number and most of the time has no scientific basis. The number
of visits you need to keep your teeth and gums healthy may be very different
from what your friends and relatives need. Your friend may need dental visits
every three months while you may need them every twelve. Because children develop
cavities faster than adults do, dentists recommend that they visit the dentist
every six months. If your plan covers visits every nine months, that's because
your employer/union wants to decrease the usage rate of the plan - they would
like to decrease their costs.
If your insurer does not
agree to pay for certain treatments this does not mean that you don't need them.
It only means that in the agreement between the insurer and the employer/union
all parties agreed not to cover those treatments.
You should ask your dentist
what treatment is best for you and how often you should receive dental care
to keep your smile good for life!
When your dentist examines
your mouth he or she can see several things that you can't, including:
- deterioration in fillings,
crown and other restorations
- root cavities (decay
on roots of teeth exposed by receding gums and bone loss)
- periodontal pockets
caused by gum disease
- new decay under the
gumline
- cavities under existing
fillings
- hairline tooth cracks
- impacted wisdom teeth
- early signs of gum disease
These may be present without
you noticing any significant pain or other symptoms. Waiting until you feel
pain may result in the loss of teeth because decay or bone loss may be too extensive
to be treated.
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