Q.: I currently have dental insurance. It is quite basic dental insurance. It covers the basic services only. I need three dental implants. That is the only additional help I need. I got a quote from a dentist of a friend of mine who gave me a discounted price of about $2500 for dental implant work per tooth, or total of about $7200 for three implants.
I am ready now. I have been waiting on this because of the finances but I do not want to wait any more. I am ready to get my implants within the next month if possible. Also, my sister has already started her dental implant work and she paid $1000 already for the first phase of the implant. Can she get coverage for the rest of the procedure as well? Would that be considered pre-existing condition?
M. L., Bronxville, New Jersey
A.: Hi, M. L., We are receiving many requests for dental implant work coverage these days. Dental implants are becoming more of a common place as we can tell. However, most dental coverages are lagging in this realization and refuse to cover dental implants. The few insurances that do cover implants will have long waiting periods and relatively low annual maximums, so not much of major implant work would be covered anyways. You want to look into dental insurance alternatives, such as discount dental plans. The advantage of these are that they do not have annual maximums and in the US they cover dental implants. I will suggest a few resources below. The savings will be 20%-25% on the low end, and as much as 50%-60% on the high end, depending on the service, the implant service, crown service, etc. As far as your sister, these plans do not have pre-existing condition clauses. Your sister will be able to get savings on the rest of the implant procedure at a discount as well.
--Dental Cool
Resources
Top nationwide plans that cover dental implants
Selection of competing dental discount plans that cover dental implants