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Regardless of who is paying for your individual dental insurance, however, because almost all dental insurance carriers require a waiting period of between six months and a year before they will honor your claims. Individual dental insurance also has deductibles and annual spending caps, and seldom pays for dental work done to treat pre-existing conditions.

It hardly seems fair that a person's dental health should depend on whether or not he or she can afford to visit the dentist, so a review of the individual dental insurance plans and alternatives is definitely worthwhile.

Individual Dental Insurance

Since your dental health will depend on the coverage offered by your individual dental insurance plan, you should examine a number of different plans and choose one which will cover regular checkups, cleanings, and X-rays. Having this coverage will encourage you to visit the dentist often enough to catch minor problems before they become major ones.

But you may have to abandon the idea of finding an individual dental insurance plan which will fully cover more expensive dental treatments, unless you are willing to pay significantly higher premiums. Even then you can expect your policy to have annual or
lifetime spending limits.

Dental Discount Plans

A great many dentists have now begun to offer discount dental plans as an alternative for those who can't afford individual dental insurance. Dentists in a particular area will form a network and offer reduced fees for their procedures to those who pay small monthly fees to belong to their dental discount plans.

By joining a Dental discount plan you will be entitled to immediate treatment from your choice of the network's dentists. In addition to having no waiting period, a dental discount plan differs from individual dental insurance because there are neither deductibles nor spending caps, and pre-existing conditions will be treated.

Individual dental insurance, or a discount dental plan. Each has its advantages and shortcomings, so keep researching until you find a solution that works for you!