Debunking Dental Insurance: Part 2
The problem with completing dental work $1,500 at a time
Unfortunately, for many individuals who are stuck in the dental insurance mindset, dental work is viewed as an expense that can be completed $1,500 at a time. We touched on this briefly in the last blog post, but I think that it’s worth exploring further.
The problem with completing dental work $1,500 at a time – $1,500 being what most dental insurance will cover per year – is that the issue will often get worse because it is not treated correctly the first time.
The Dental Insurance Mindset
Take, for instance, a 65-year-old woman who has collected her fair share of dental work over the years. She’s looking at her mouth and she sees a collection of bridges, root canals, fillings and crowns, and she doesn’t understand why her dentist is now telling her that she needs a partial denture after having all of this work done.
The problem is that this patient’s dentist has been limited to what he can do based on the $1,500 cap she has placed on each dental treatment. As a result, her problems have gotten worse over time and she’s now unhappy with how her smile looks.
For patients with this mindset, the treatment that they select is often determined by what their dental insurance plan will cover. For instance, if it doesn’t cover implants but it does cover bridges, this is often what the patient will have done – even if an implant is the better long-term option.
A good analogy here would be a homeowner who has a leaky roof. He gets the quote from the contractor and decides that they can’t afford to replace the whole roof, so instead they patch it. However, the problem gets bigger and he continues to patch it, until one day he has to eventually replace the roof anyway.
While the patching was less expensive at the time, in the end it cost the homeowner more money that it would have to replace the roof in the first place, not to mention wasting months – or years – dealing with the problem.
There is a Better Way
Rather than looking at dental treatment as an expense, it should be viewed as an investment that will not only treat the problem but also prevent a larger problem from occurring in the future. This type of investment dentistry will save patients time, money and the pain of undergoing unnecessary treatment.
If this sounds like the type of treatment plan that you’re interested in – call us at (813) 689-4226 to schedule a consultation today.
