Chicago Dental Insurance - Specific Procedures Covered by Your Insurance Policy

Everything seems expensive these days. Nothing more so than any medical treatment. Dentistry is not immune from this trend. After all as our expenses go up so must our fees. I remember when charging a hundred dollars for the most expensive crown seemed ridiculous. (OK I'm dating myself.) Now you can drop a thousand or more for the same crown! Ouch!

To make matters even worse, dental insurance, which was started in the mid 1950s, has on average not increased the level of coverage since then. Yep that $1000 or $1500 annual maximum you might have on your insurance is what the average person got in the 1950s! Back then you could rebuild an entire mouth for that kind of money. Today you need roughly $43,000 or more to provide the same coverage (based on medical and dental inflation).

So what can you do to keep the cost of your dental care reasonable?

First, and this is not to be underestimated, keep your teeth healthy. I know, you\'ve heard it before. But consider that coming in to get your teeth cleaned and checked twice a year is great insurance. You are highly unlikely to have a significant problem creep up on you.

If it has been awhile since your last visit and you are hit with a big tab, now what?

Always ask what options you have. Take the basic filling. There are at least six different materials that are used for fillings these days. Some are considerably more expensive than others. Ask the benefits, drawbacks and costs of them all. For instance, silver fillings tend to be considerably less expensive in many offices than white fillings. If you are working on back teeth you might want to consider saving and using silver. Also silver fillings last on average two or more times longer than white ones (recent studies suggest). And yes you can ignore the fringe element that suggest they are a problem for your health (I'll go into that in another article.)

Finally, look for an office that provides multiple methods of payment. An office that won't find every reason to charge you add on fees. An office that stands behind what it does to assure satisfaction. An office that knows how to maximize your insurance and minimize your out of pocket. This, coincidently, is exactly what our goals are at Pleasant Dental.

So if you want to minimize your out of pocket and we are an option for you, call us at (708) 849-4400. Schedule your savings today.



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