If you are like most people out there, you have some kind of dental insurance coverage for yourself and your family. Either it is a benefit provided from your workplace, or it is part of a group coverage you have through a work union or a union based insurance plan, e.g Local 183 LIUNA, Local 595, Local 65, Ontario Steelworkers Union, Roofers Union, etc. Or your dental insurance is something you buy privately out of your own pocket. Whatever be the case, your dental insurance coverage is an important part of your overall health plan and must be treated with a lot of respect and care.
You can do a lot of things to keep this coverage active and up to date.
- Always ensure your annual dues are paid on time. There is nothing worse than to get expensive dental work done and realize your coverage had lapsed due to a missed payment!
- Always keep the details of your coverage is a easily accessible place. Usually a booklet, often the coverage details can be accessible online and sometimes details can be obtained over the phone from a 1-800-number.
- If your company provides these benefits, then your Human Resources Department is the place to start for benefit details.
- Know the annual renewal date of your particular plan. It is not always January 1st.
- Carry a current insurance coverage card in your wallet at all times, or at least for the first time when you register with a dental practice. Once the information is fed in to our software, we usually do not need the physical card present for all appointments.
- We often do a “pre-determination of benefits” before starting expensive or extensive dental treatment. This estimation process helps you plan the co-payment that usually accompanies major dental treatment.
- Even if your plan has an annual maximum that may be high, it does not mean that the plan pays for every treatment at 100% of the charged fees. For e.g. even if your plan has a limit of $2500 per year, and it pays only 50% for a crown, then only half of the $663 (usual crown fees) will be paid by your dental insurance company, the maximum amount may rarely be reached. The other half is due from you.
- After a dental treatment is billed to your insurance, you will get a copy of this submission, if you do not understand anything on this document, please ask. Our reception staff is more than glad to break down treatment costs to you in simple easy to understand language, rather than 5-digit codes!
- Always pay your portion of your dues (called co-payment) on the day of completion of treatment. Letting balances accumulate on your account makes it more difficult when the amount accumulates into a big number. And remember, balances that have not been paid within 30 days may start to accumulate interest as well!
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Attend to dental issues early to avoid painful flare ups!
A stitch in time saves nine! When we recommend a particular treatment, say a filling on a tooth, do it as early as possible, waiting “till it hurts” usually is a bad idea. Dental decay or gum disease is a constant process, once the decay reaches the nerve of your tooth, then it is ‘kaboom time’; meaning the tooth hurts constantly, often throbbing all night, is followed by a swelling and an abscess, and usually flares up on a long weekend when no dentist is available!
What could have been a simple filling is now an expensive and time-consuming root canal!
What if you are among the small minority who do not have a dental insurance plan? You are not alone and need not be afraid. Get an initial complimentary consultation, and we will give you a written estimate and detail of your proposed dental treatment, then you can plan your budget accordingly. Patients are surprised to see that dentistry is not as expensive as people make it out to be. Considering the time and material expenses, modern dentistry is very good value for money, when you realise that fillings and root canals last many many years and give trouble free service to the patient.
Call our office today on 905-279-1818 or email our receptionist Barbara, you will be glad you did!