User Comments

1. 

   9/10/09

   Anok

   Haven't heard a thing about it, actually. If my memory serves me well, buying dental insurance on it's own is darn near impossible as companies and insurance agent groups often reject the purchase of just dental insurance.
   
   So it's usually employer based dental that covers people, and with the ever decreasing amounts of employer based insurance I'd say it's a problem.

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2. 

   9/10/09

   Agit8r

   We have people in this country who think that drinking clean water is a privilege, so...
   
   www.clarksvilleonline.com/2009/09/01/national-civil-rights-leaders-gather-f...
   
   www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070709133240.htm

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   1. 

      9/10/09

      Anok

      I'm going back into my happy place now
   2. 

      9/10/09

      Agit8r

      I wish I had a happy place
3. 

   9/10/09

   MadameX

   Employer-based dental insurance doesn't, in most cases, cover very much, anyway. A cap of $1000 per year is pretty standard. One very important piece of information that many people overlook, though: many "dental" emergencies are really medical emergencies that happen to take place in the mouth. Something like an abscessed tooth must be removed for medical reasons, and as such should be covered by regular medical insurance. Even those in the dentist's office don't always think of this, but in my experience if you ask them to bill your medical insurance carrier they will typically respond with something like "Well, we can try it" and it often works out.

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4. 

   9/10/09

   cooper

   You can buy it along with your plan here for about forty bucks a month the standard give you a covered cleaning every year and 80 percent coverage on fillings with 60 percent on caps if mandatory, endontics is covered at 60 percent, periodontics 80 percent which is not great consdiering that kind of surgery which is not covered by any insruance in this sate because it is not done in a hospital or medical clinic, it's not bad. You can't really purchase worthwhile plan if you don't have an insurance plan already though.
   
   If a procedure is done in a hospital, medical insurance covers it, but otherwise nada.
   
   To me there is enough evidence linking dental health to overall health to make it just part of the medical insurance. Bad gums gives you a greater chance of heart disease and puts you at greater risk, though I'm not sure how much, for some kind of low level viral endocarditis.
   
   It seems to me it would benefit the underwriters to cover dental to prevent other things from happening. Like that kid who died in DC from a brain abscess because of an infected tooth he either couldn't afford to get treated or wasn't picked up because he didn't have routine dental cleanings. I mean seriously, the state ended up paying a pretty penny for his care before he died didn't they? This is not that uncommon, though not an every day occurrence, nor is the heart thing, that is why according to my aunt who is a doctor, when someone comes in with some kind of heart infection of the endocardium or myocardium they always say ask if they have been to the dentist... from the mouth to the heart is a saying among some medial personnel.

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