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When was the last time you or a family member on your insurance plan visited the dentist? Was it three months ago? Six months ago? What did you get done at this treatment? Was it a routine cleaning or something more extensive that you knew was going to require follow-up appointments? These are all important questions to ask yourself as the end of the year inches closer.<\/p>\n
If you have unused dental insurance benefits<\/a>, they could go to waste if you don\u2019t schedule your next appointment today!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When it comes to insurance plans, any benefits you paid into at the beginning of the year will reset on January 1st. According to the American Dental Association, this is a very common issue. Based on their reports, the average individual with dental insurance only uses $323 worth of insurance in a given year, despite having an annual maximum of about $1,250. That\u2019s over $900 worth of benefits going out the window.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this is a very common problem across the country. According to the National Association of Dental Plans, only 2.8 percent of PPO plan participants met or exceeded their annual maximum. This is often because they didn\u2019t know they had dental benefits to use or because they don\u2019t understand their insurance well enough to do so.<\/p>\n Thankfully, there are ways to maximize your benefits before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n Start by contacting either your insurance company\u2019s customer service representative or your HR manager, depending on where you get your insurance. Both individuals are experts when it comes to the nuances of your plan. They\u2019ll explain key points you\u2019ll need to know when you visit a dentist. These include your remaining benefits, your current annual maximum and the amount of coverage you can expect for certain services.<\/p>\n Once you know what treatments you need, you can schedule a dental appointment and build a treatment plan with the dentist.<\/p>\n Preventive treatments are always the first type of treatment you should consider as these are typically the cheapest and most helpful. If you already have healthy teeth, then a preventive exam and routine cleaning is a great way to confirm no dental disease is present and get professionally-cleaned teeth.<\/p>\n Alternatively, those with extensive and incomplete treatments like dental crowns or fillings, should try to stagger them throughout the current and following year. Dental practices are known for building treatment plans in this way. By doing this, you can use your remaining benefits now and then complete treatment once your benefits reset next year. It\u2019s why so many dentists implore their patients to see them if they have dental insurance and the year is almost over.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let dental benefits go to waste, schedule an appointment today to get started!<\/p>\n Dr. Bradley Mitchell<\/a> is in-network with Delta Dental, but he\u2019s more than happy to file claims with your provider for you as well. If you have any questions regarding accepted plans or insurance in general, don\u2019t hesitate to contact him through his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When was the last time you or a family member on your insurance plan visited the dentist? Was it three months ago? Six months ago? What did you get done at this treatment? Was it a routine cleaning or something more extensive that you knew was going to require follow-up appointments? These are all important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182,"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mitchellsmiledesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why Dental Insurance is \u201cUse It or Lose It\u201d<\/h2>\n
The Best Ways to Maximize Insurance<\/h2>\n
Treatments to Prioritize When Maximizing Benefits<\/h2>\n
About the Author<\/h2>\n