This is going to be a much different post than I usually write for M$M. Before I go through some of the numbers to see if dental insurance is worth it, I’ve got to admit that something like health care costs are so wildly different from person to person that it’s probably hard to come to any kind of solid conclusion.
I’ll want to hear about your experiences with either having or not having dental insurance below, so get your stories ready!
First, here’s my most recent dental insurance experience:
I used to have dental insurance when I was a teacher. I honestly can’t remember how much it cost per month any more, and it was a total afterthought anyway. It was just one of those random line items that got taken out of my pay every two weeks.
Fast forward to when I quit my job to run M$M a year and a half ago, and I was shopping around for health care.
As a side note – in my experience so far…health care kinda sucks when you’re self-employed. Keep that in mind if you are looking to start your own business soon.
I opted to go without dental insurance last year, and then again this year. The biggest reason was that I didn’t want to spend the money. I’m embarrassed as hell to admit this to tens of thousands of people because it seems a little gross, but I didn’t even go to the dentist at all last year.
That’s just the reality of being self-employed in the beginning; you kinda give up essential things like that out of fear of running out of money. But don’t worry – I do brush twice a day, floss, and use mouthwash probably two or three times a day. Gotta stay married after all. 🙂
I went to the dentist yesterday…
First, I got a call from my dentist’s office. They wanted to know if I still had dental insurance, because they tried to contact my old insurance company and found out I wasn’t on a plan anymore. I said no and that I was going to pay out of pocket, which received a super awkward “Oh wow…well…OK. We’ll see you at 10:40 am“.
I got to the dentist’s office and checked in. Again, they asked if I had dental insurance. And again, I said I was paying out of pocket and got an awkward response.
Then I sat down in the chair, and the hygienist asked if I had dental insurance as she was going over my file. Same awkward answer and response.
The dentist came in and immediately found a crack in a filling I had done when I was about 12. He said I would need a crown (which sucks and I will get to that later), but then mentioned dental insurance.
Same. Freaking. Awkward. Interaction. Followed.
He left, and then the hygienist showed me pictures of the crack in my tooth so I would know they weren’t ripping me off or anything. After that, she cleaned my teeth and told me my teeth and gums were in great shape other than the crack.
Then she called in someone from the office to work out a payment plan with me for the crown because I didn’t have dental insurance. I guess they just assumed that because I’m 20-something and dress like…well…a blogger, that I wouldn’t be able to afford the procedure. I can’t really blame them for not seeing my latest income report. 😉
The crown would have cost $2,000, but since I told them I didn’t need a payment plan and would pay out of pocket in full, they dropped it to $850. They said the dentist was “doing me a favor”.
*shrug* I feel like I was doing him a favor, but I digress.
After that I got up from the chair and went to pay for the cleaning and schedule my next appointment. They asked if I had dental insurance again. AGAIN. So, the same weirdness followed.
That totals six different times of being asked about my lack of dental insurance in one visit. That seems excessive, but I’m going to rely on my dentist/hygienist/teeth enthusiast readers to explain this to me in the comment section. I’m legitimately curious if that is a weird amount of times to ask or not haha.
What are the numbers on dental insurance?
Here are some interesting stats I found about dental insurance:
- 205 million Americans have dental plans
- 114 million Americans don’t have dental plans
- The majority of people that have dental insurance are covered through AARP or a plan through their employer
- The average cost of a cleaning in the U.S. is $85
- Average premium prices for employee-only plans range from $223-$288 per year.
- Average premium prices for employee and family plans range from $445-$865 per year.
Like I mentioned at the top, how “worth it” a dental plan is depends on the condition of your teeth currently and how much work you think you’ll need during the year. If you take great care of your teeth, you may not necessarily come out ahead with a dental insurance plan.
But…there’s always the chance that something weird happens (like a cracked filling or your tooth breaks while you’re eating potato chips) that could make dental insurance a valuable tool.
From everything I can find in terms of research for this question; there really doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer. That’s why I’m so curious about what you all do!
Questions for you:
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Do you have dental insurance, and is it affordable?
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Do you feel like you’ve gotten value out of it?
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(For people that are familiar with the dental field) Do dental practices prefer insured or uninsured patients?
Anyone that does things differently is questioned a million times in our society it seems… Plus I can see how the poor are often penalized in our society if they weren’t able to afford dental insurance and then needed a payment plan. That’s a 250% markup from $800 to $2,000!
I’m fortunate to have good dental insurance, and we pay $650/yr plus a $75 deductible. A cleaning with x-rays ran us $150 after insurance discounts so with 5 people, we are likely coming out ahead for the time being, especially if we end up needing any other dental work.
I have considered taking a year off every other year and staggering cleanings so that I could minimize it to one cleaning during the year without insurance (without X-rays). So basically, year 1 we would get dental insurance and go in June and then December and have them do X-rays then. The next year we would just go once and pay for cleanings. It might get tricky in subsequent years though!
Oh yeah with 5 people it sounds like you’re getting a good deal!
Yes, I definitely know I’m not a normal person in society…but it was really surprising how surprised THEY were! Haha.
Oh boy, this is close to my heart this week. I spend around $325 annually for my dental insurance premium. At this point I’m not even sure what’s being covered, but I’ve spent easily over $1200 out of pocket over the past 9 months for descaling, fillings, and cleanings. (Of course, I hadn’t gone to the dentist during my entire college career, so that didn’t help my situation) I know my plan is the most basic there is and doesn’t cover a whole heck of a lot, but I think whatever it saves me justifies the premium, especially while I’m in this period of going on a monthly basis. I’d be curious about other’s experience though, maybe I’ll cancel my insurance and open an HSA once I’m back on an annual cleaning schedule.
This is a pretty interesting financial topic – I couldn’t really find much information out there that proved whether it was actually worth having the insurance. A LOT of the stats out there are from dental plan companies/exchanges. I’m just interested to see what other readers think.
Many dental costs actually are negotiable, especially if you pay cash. It means the dentist gets his money upfront instead of dealing with insurance.:) For us, we do maintain insurance. Mr. Picky Pincher gets it through his employer. I think the insurance itself costs $17 or so each month. We actually do need/use the insurance. I’m a freak about keeping my teeth in tiptop shape; my parents were very strict about having healthy teeth. Once you lose ‘em, that’s it!
But we also need it because Mr. Picky Pincher has a litany of dental issues. Our out of pocket cost for his crown was just $400 (would have been $2,000-ish without insurance). So for us we actually save money with insurance. But if you don’t have dental complications, and especially if you’re self-employed, it probably makes more sense to forgo the insurance.
Also, your dentist is kind of annoying for asking you so many times for insurance!
Haha yes, I wish I was exaggerating about the amount of times I was asked. It was enough to where I knew I had to write a post about it!
Ooh, Ooh, I have something to say about this! I have been fortunate enough to have a great W-2 with great benefits, pretty much my entire life. I’ve always kept the dental coverage set to basic, which is pennies each check, and haven’t had any major issues.
The issue comes in when your parents saved absolutely nothing – a big fat $0 – for retirement. Now my father has passed away and my mother tries to live on his social security check which amounts to a whopping $1200/mo. Needless to say she has Medicare/Medicaid, basically the government health coverage for that age /low-income group. Fast forward to this year. My mom has been complaining about her gums being sore. Mr. MMM and I decided to get her to the dentist to see what was going on. Turns out, she needed almost all of her teeth extracted because they were brittle, cracking, and 72 years old. She also had a small infection that was starting. This small infection, if left go, would’ve turned into sepsis in about 6 months. Yeah.
Interestingly, Medicare/Medicaid comes with NO dental coverage. My mom also has NO money. So, we had to foot the bill with cash. The dentist also “gave us a deal” (I truly think he did) and charged us about $2k for all extractions and dentures. Before we scheduled the work, I started to look into dental insurance. It is crap. At least that’s what I found. There are high deductibles and the insurance only kicks in after having paid for a full year of coverage. On top of that, it only pays 50% of a maximum lifetime amount of only a few thousands dollars.
Anyway, that’s what I found when I tried to get private dental coverage for my aging mother. Thankfully we have the cash to pay it out-of-pocket. Blah.
Mrs. Mad Money Monster
Ah that’s such a bummer! That’s one reason I’m really trying to take care of my teeth – I’ve seen too many older people have major issues later on. Sometimes it’s not avoidable because of medications/health, but I really want to keep mine for as long as I can!!!!
$2k honestly sounds pretty reasonable for that much work. I’m no expert though haha.
First time reader and I just wanted to say that I love your blog.
Awesome voice with awesome advice.
I pay about $700 a year for dental insurance. And I agree with you…. we can’t forget about our teeth!
Thanks Bobby! Always appreciated.
Back at my old job, I didn’t get the dental insurance and didn’t really worry about it. I took good care of my teeth and got cleanings once or twice a year and paid out of pocket. As with your experience, they were always weirded out whenever I would say I was just going to pay up front.
Right now, being in Thailand, dental work is A LOT cheaper here than back in America. I got a dental cleaning for $28, having no insurance. Then I got some crowns put in and it cost $1,430. If I had gotten the same dental work in the U.S., it would have cost around $5,000. Yikes! Dental tourism at it’s finest, haha.
Ha that’s awesome! When I was researching for this post I saw a lot about dental tourism. I had no idea how big that industry is!
I had similar experiences with my dentist when I had no dental insurance. I don’t remember exact costs, but the premiums looked like more than two cleanings a year, so I opted out. My dentist was great and gave me frequent discounts for years because of my lack of insurance ????. However, a couple of years ago, when I decided to finally get insurance, the coverage was terrible. I paid way more out of pocket than seemed reasonable even with insurance. Ugh. I don’t like the whole system.
Yeah that’s why I decided not to do the insurance. I didn’t really see the crown coming this year, but if I just did cleanings I would probably save money over an insurance policy.
I think it’s normal that they asked you so many times because it’s different from what they see daily. Also, they charge insurance companies more for procedures than they would a person directly, so the “favor” was simply to charge you normal rates.
I had a dental plan through my employer the last 7 years, but I decided to drop it this year. I live in Arizona, a couple of hours from the border with Mexico, where I have lots of family I visit often. Dental work is much cheaper there and since I visit often, I plan am visit to the dentist for my wife and Iduring those trips. It saves me a ton of money.
I agree to both points – I think the “favor” was a bit of a sell job haha. I definitely read that dental work was much cheaper in Mexico! You can get complete travel packages to get dental work done…pretty interesting.
Brittany is a teacher in NYS I think we pay $8 a month for 10 months and have full coverage. Since we go every six months and feel that dental hygiene is important it’s a no brainer.
Same thing with health care. She has a great program through her school that is very affordable and covers almost everything. We even get an $800 reimbursement every year for anything out of our pocket such as deductibles.
Since I am planning on going 100% self-employed this year her keeping that job is super important for the benefits alone. Not to mention the 50%-60% pension she will receive down the road.
Great article thanks for sharing! BTW I had 2 cavities last time I went, how embarrassing!
My wife was also a teacher when I left, and I thought I was going to jump on her plan. Unfortunately, our insurance would have been about $800/month with a high deductible. Pretty crazy. Now I have crappy insurance, but luckily make enough money now to at least afford basic stuff. Just on of the joys of being self-employed!
We are self employed too and don’t have dental insurance. We looked at the numbers and it wasn’t worth it. We have two family members who are dentists; so worst case scenario we take a 6 hour drive to see them. We also have a friend who is a dentist who does our cleanings/X-rays for a great price. So far it’s been worth it!
Thanks for sharing! Glad to know I’m not alone 🙂
Next time you should wear a pin that says “I don’t have dental insurance” just to keep things simple for everyone.
Healthcare is one of the craziest concepts to me. It’s one of the few times you are expected to pay for something without knowing what it is going to cost. And it’s so variable your price went from $2k to $850 just to pay in cash! That smells fishy. I love the “showed me pictures of the crack in my tooth so I would know they weren’t ripping me off” because I don’t know about you but if you showed me an x-ray of my teeth I wouldn’t be able to know if they were mine or the last patient.
I have dental insurance because it doesn’t cost me any extra but if I had to pay for it, I would just go without it. It’s easier, in my opinion, to just take great care of my teeth.
Yeah they were good about the pictures. I mean really you just have to take their word for it. They mentioned that my tooth could crack in half if I ate something the wrong way…probably need to get that taken care of!
I am a dentist who owns an office (also a millennial and reader of your blog!), so I definitely have a few insights into this topic.
First, I think it is important to note that most dental “insurance” is really more of a discount plan. Most maximums on dental plants are not enough to cover a root canal and a crown (a very common combination even for the most meticulous patients). Depending on where you live, many maximums on dental plans have not appreciably changed in 30 years, while the costs of dental care certainly have! If you need more than a few fillings, chances are really good your coverage will be maxed out, even if you have it.
I practice in a rural community, and about half of my patients do not have dental coverage and pay for care out of pocket. In fact, growing up my family did not have dental coverage. It was simply a household expense my parents budgeted for each year. They were self-employed, and dental coverage was just not cost effective. My sisters both had braces, we all had our wisdom teeth extracted, we rent regularly for cleanings. This is how a good many of my patients handle dental care.
So now to the question of what we call “individual plans” (where you are buying your own dental coverage). It can often depend on what kind of services you require. If you only come in for your 6 month cleanings, and get the occasional filling (or crown, as the case is) paying out of pocket is probably your best bet. These services are really not THAT expensive, as compared to getting an MRI or a spending the night in the hospital. A great many of my patients handle their dental care in this manner. Farmers, merchants, retirees…these are all middle-class people who often don’t have dental coverage through their jobs and finance their care themselves.
In general, in my area, if your employer is not paying for most of your insurance, I would seriously push the pencil before automatically buying coverage.
And to the “my dentist gave me a deal” notion. This is probably very specific to your region. In my practice, many people don’t have insurance coverage, so my fees are set based on half of my patients paying “cash”, so I don’t give discounts if people walk in with a wad of $100’s. In many officers, the “cash” patients are more of a unicorn , so the fees are set as if everyone has insurance coverage (AKA “playing the insurance game”). I suspect what you are experiencing is an office that has almost all patients tied to some sort of plan, and the fees are set accordingly. This is not greed or corruption, its just the way the business is tailored to different markets. This issue is really complex (PPO, networks, geography, contracts) so it’s impossible to say fore sure what is going on, or course. In my office, the patient’s get asked once if they have insurance, maybe twice if they need something done, but it is certainly a normal thing in my world.
I’m happy to help answer any questions I can!
Thanks Gabe, this is exactly what I wanted to know!!!!! It’s honestly not as easy as I thought it would be to get a non-biased set of current stats for dental costs (unless I just didn’t look long enough). Very very good info.
I am a dentist and I only REALLY know what my own fees are, so I can imagine it is nearly impossible for consumers, short of a second opinion. There are many very good reasons for this, not the least of which is dental care is not a commodity, it is a professional service, and the services you need depend on the diagnosis of an individual provider. I know the averages for the nation and my region, but nothing more specific than that.
We are a family of 4 and pay $110 a month for dental insurance through my husband’s employer. I added up our typical yearly cost, and we really need to rethink this. Two cleanings per year including x-rays for our family is $900. Last year we did use the $1,100 they pay for orthodontist care for our oldest. We currently max out our HSA so will look at other options during open enrollment. My employer offers coverage for less than $100 a year for full time employees. I’m part-time right now so something to consider if the offer is made. Thanks for the article.
No problem Dee! Dental insurance is one of those weird things that most of us probably don’t pay enough attention to. When I was a band director, I just paid the monthly premium and didn’t even think twice about it.
I could go on and on about how much I spent in the last 2 yrs on dental. I went to a dentist and had 2 fillings done. Both of those teeth subsequently broke, resulting in two root canals. This was in the later part of the year. Found a new dentist to finish the work. He was very helpful. I waited for the new year to do the crowns so that I could use my insurance again. I am on my second crown and it will eat up my entire plan. Unfortunately in the mean time i broke yet another tooth and since it was a back molar decided to have it extracted. They gave me the insurance rate since I had insurance even though no coverage left already in Jan. So basically I will be paying insurance premiums all year and I have already used it all. Such a bummer. My beef with dental is you only get so much coverage each year and then you are done vs medical where you pay more at the beginning but once deductibles are met you get coverage. Anyway it is still beneficial for me to have it, and I made sure to have a healthy flex spending account this year because I knew I was going to be having dental work.
That markup is crazy! The whole thing is rigged if you ask me.
I have an employer subsidized plan with a high deductible. Which is negotiated on purpose to favor the employers bottom line. The whole thing is crooked. Because of my high deductible I always inquire about the cost if I pay out of pocket vurses have my insurance pay.
I had a prescription last year that would have cost me $250 through my insurance. Instead, I went through goodrx.com, and with the coupon it cost me $46. We wonder why healthcare in America is so expensive. I’ve gone through the same mouse wheel with doctor and dentist visits.
I just don’t like that feeling that as soon as I remove my dental insurance, something will happen, and then I will wish I had never removed it in the first place! For that reason, I simply keep my dental insurance. Premium is 300 per year, so not too bad. Oh, and thanks for reminding me to set up an appointment for dental cleaning!
Glad to see you talking about insurance I’ll be 26 in July and getting the big boot from my parent’s insurance. I just started my career and got health insurance but my company doesn’t offer dental insurance. I have been looking into it too. I will be sharing some light on this on my blog I want to launch soon, thanks to you! I am surprised you didn’t mention any specials like groupon or answering adds in response to having no insurance. You may have gotten an EVEN better deal on your crown. I am having some cosmetic work done soon and they are giving me a discount just for mentioning yelp! When my father lost his job years ago he still going to the dentist simply by going to groupon and getting specials like $60 dental cleanings etc. I find if you just get checked more regularly you can avoid the nonsense like your crown, or me needing 5 cavities after avoiding the dentist for 2 years. lol. At least getting regular examinations you may have gotten a heads up on that crown and saved money by purchasing insurance to prepare for it (even if temporary). Good topic! Looks like if I go the self-employed route dental insurance isn’t worth it.
My dental insurance has mostly been paid by previous employers, but last year we started paying for it through my husbands employer when I quit my job and started a business. We pay $50 a month for me, but I have a $50 deductible two cleanings 100% paid with imaging once a year. If you need fillings they only pay 70% and more serious procedures like a crown or root canal they would only pay 50%. Technically you’re getting a better deal since I pay $50 per month, plus $50 one time yearly deductible and a crown would be $1000 out-of-pocket (in your scenario). Paying $850 in cash is not a bad deal.
I’m a dental hygienist. We ask people if they have insurance one time. Six is absurd lol and we have no preference whether people have insurance or not at my office… but as a dental hygienist I completely think for a lot of people, you’re better off without dental insurance. IF you have a basically healthy mouth, you’ll save tons and tons of money by skipping the insurance.
Decades ago I found a dentist I really liked and he stopped accepting the “dental insurance” I had through my employer that really was just a discount plan. I’ve never had an employer that actually offered me a true PPO-like dental insurance. Anyway, I tried going to the dentists that were on the plan and they kept wanting me to do all these special treatments, replace my existing fillings, etc. It really was a racquet. When the FSA and HSA plans came out – I started contributing to them and using them to go back to the dentist I loved to pay cash. (BTW, he says that most of these treatment plans are dictated by the insurance companies and are money makers for dentists – but he doesn’t operate that way) Initially, I participated in the FSA, later the HSA with my HD insurance plan and have “self-insured” my dental needs for nearly 20 years. I’m lucky that I have a dentist who is trustworthy and honest and isn’t looking to wring every penny out of his clients. He has a thriving and healthy practice and isn’t dictated to by the insurance companies.
I’m starting to have vision needs, and I’m doing the same. Using my HSA money (which I max out the contribution each year and have a large portion of it in mutual funds so that it grows), I just pay cash for exams and then I order glasses online.
It’s kind of like being debt free, I guess – being self-insured gives me a flexibility and choice in dental/vision providers and treatment options.
We are a self employed family of 5, we dropped dental ins a few years ago, but this year added a “plan” through our dentist office. It costs just about them same as if we paid for the 10 cleanings/yr, but includes xrays/flouride and discounts on all other services.
I am not a fan of some dental insurance plans. They make no sense to me. Currently, I have a plan through work that costs about $31/month, with a $75 deductible. But it only pays out $1200 a year in claims.
I had very expensive dental work done last year that included 2 cavities and 6 veneers. I had to get the veneers for more than just cosmetic reasons, there was no avoiding it but I was also not expecting to have get it done so soon. That’s when I found out my dental insurance would only pay $1200 to cover my cleanings, X-rays, cavities and veneers. I was out of pocket over $6800 for the year. It really sucked. I had the money to pay for it out right, and I got a discount from my dentist but I had no idea my insurance sucked so bad.
My dental insurance is just barely feasible, otherwise I wouldn’t get it. I now put more money into my FSA account just in case. I wish I qualified for an HSA. I would take advantage of that too.
I don’t understand why dental insurance can be so inadequate. Dental health is vital to overall health.
We’ve had both dental insurance through my employers and also a dental discount plan when my wife was needing a lot of major dental work a few years ago. It seemed like we saved a lot more money with the dental discount plan…get cash rates and 50-80% discounts on services for only $120/yr with no annual limits or deductibles.
With the ever rising cost of Dentist, it is best to check out what your plan will or will not cover before you get a dental plan, Some plans are a lot better then others, but the small price of being covered is usually seen with your first visit , Great article good advice