In simple and easy words a dental insurance reimburses you the cost of your dental treatment that you receive from a dental practice or a dentist. As far as the United Kingdom is concerned there is the NHS through which you get your dental treatments at subsidise prices. But the NHS offers a limited number of treatments. Moreover in order to the necessary paperwork and documentation in place treatments at the NHS take lengthy time to finally reach you. In the real world scenario neither it is possible nor feasible to access the NHS every time for a treatment or the other. This is where a dental insurance proves relevant and handy. Your dental insurance plan also proves helpful when there is a lot of work to be done on your teeth and the gums. With a smartly chosen insurance plan it becomes quite easier to tackle those situations.
In the following sections of this post let us explore few basics of dental insurance like how it works and the main types of dental cover that are available in the UK and so forth. This discussion is likely to prove useful in helping you choose a smart investment plan for your entire family while keeping your teeth and the mouth free from diseases.
The basics about dental insurance
The NHS scheme offers a limited range of dental treatments to cater to your oral health needs. The treatments that the NHS offers turn out to be more easily affordable and some treatments are free. There exists the option of paying for your dental care which you can do it two ways – dental insurance policies and dental payment plan.
- Dental insurance policies – dental insurance companies offer dental insurance policies; through these policies you first pay your dentist for your treatments and then claim the cost back from your insurer.
- Dental payment plans – dental payment plans are also called capitation plans where the total cost of your treatment is spread over a set period of time and you keep paying a monthly instalment throughout the time period to cover the cost of your treatment.
When does a dental insurance coverage become useful?
If you possess sound dental health and you only visit your dentist for routine annual checkups then probably there is no need for a dental insurance coverage for you. But perhaps you can still go for one as because it gives you the peace of mind consideration the fact that a dental emergency may pop up any time without any prior intimation.
On the other hand if you do not possess sound dental health and need to make frequently dental visits for various treatments on regular basis then perhaps an insurance coverage is a cost effective means to foot the bills of your treatment. Moreover, a dental insurance coverage also proves handy when you do not find any NHS dentist. There are also times and situations when people just want a private dentist and do not want to go any NHS dental practice for some reason or the other. In both these circumstances an insurance coverage proves to be a sound financial sense.
Treatments that the NHS offers are usually much cheaper compared to private dentistry and those treatments are also capped. But the fact is you still have to pay for most of your treatments. Even the wait time at the NHS to receive a treatment is much longer than that at private dental surgeries. It is relevant to mention that treatment costs at the NHS are not uniform across the United Kingdom and vary from place to place.
Before you set out for an NHS dentist to get any treatment here are few things you should better try out.
- Log into the NHS website and see if you qualify for a free dental care in England.
- Know about the costs as well as the dental treatments that are free in Wales by browsing the NHS 111 Wales website.
- Similarly the Scottish Government website tells you how much you may have to pay for your dental treatments.
- You should collect the necessary information about your treatment costs in Northern Ireland.
Important facts you should know about dental insurance
Here are some crucial facts that you must be aware about when dental insurance is concerned.
- Dental insurance policies usually cover both – your routine dental checkups and the cost of every dental work you undergo including dental emergencies and accidents.
- By virtue of a dental insurance coverage you can get the necessary treatments done either at a private clinic or at an NHS practice.
- When you get your treatment done at any NHS dental practice you are likely to get cent percent reimbursement of your treatment cost.
- Even with a full coverage of dental insurance when you do not get your treatment done by an NHS dentist and go to a private practice instead, you are reimbursed only a percentage of the total treatment cost.
- When you are under a dental insurance coverage you have to pay the dentist first for your treatments and then you claim the money back from your insurer. Usually you can place a claim between one and three months of buying an insurance policy.
- Usually annual caps or limits are set on dental policies on how much you are entitled to claim for certain treatments.
- If you have not visited a dentist in the last twelve months then probably your policy coverage will not reimburse you the cost of the treatment that was recommended in the last check up.
- These insurance policies usually do not cover cosmetic dentistry treatments like teeth whitening.
- Usually these policies have an age range starting from age 18 although certain policies start as early as age six.
- Certain policies are identified with the “no claims discount” category. If you claim for anything other than standard or routine checkups, the cost of premium rockets up with these policies.
Standard price of dental insurance
Now that we have covered the basic information about dental insurances let us now see how much these policies cost. So, how much is a dental insurance in the United Kingdom? The cost of dental insurances varies widely ranging from £70 to £300 annually. In other words, this means different varieties of dental insurances at Emergency Dentist London Pro provide different levels of coverage. Some offer basic and routine care while others cover extensive treatment plans. This flexibility enables you to decide how much you want to spend and amount of coverage you want.