Family finances: Paying for dental bills

As you choose benefits during open enrollment, it's worth checking up on the coverage in your dental plan. Dental insurance is usually cheap. The most popular kind of group plan costs just $32 a month, on average, and three-fourths of employers help pay the tab, according to the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP). That cuts the average employee premium down to about half the original cost -- or even less. But you get what you pay for. The coverage is awful.

Still, if your employer subsidizes your coverage, you probably should take it, says Evelyn Ireland, executive director of the NADP. The plan likely covers routine care, such as cleanings and exams every six months, and most of the cost of basic procedures, such as filling a cavity.

But out-of-pocket costs pile up quickly with more-complicated procedures. For example, a single porcelain or resin crown goes for $650 to $1,600 in Los Angeles, according to estimates from Fair Health (www.fairhealthconsumer.org), a cost-lookup tool. A set of dentures runs about $1,600 in Indianapolis. A typical plan covers 50 percent of the cost for these services but limits coverage to once every five to seven years. And once your plan has reached its maximum annual benefit (often $1,000 to $2,000, if your plan has one), you're paying out of pocket.

Don't expect your plan to cover cosmetic procedures, such as tooth whitening, and orthodontia may require a separate rider, if coverage is available at all. For dentally necessary veneers, inlays, onlays, implants and other procedures, the plan may pay out only once every few years or per tooth.

One promising trend: Implants are now covered by 59 percent of plan sponsors, according to Mercer's National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. In addition, many group carriers have started to add periodontic procedures, such as scaling and root planing (deep gum cleaning), at no cost for patients with certain high-cost medical conditions, says Ireland. And many plans will now roll over unused annual maximum amounts to the following year.

If you anticipate needing an expensive procedure next year that your plan won't pay for, you may be able to put money aside tax-free in a flexible spending account (if your employer offers one) or a health savings account (if you have a high-deductible health plan).

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-201509241100--tms--kplngmpctnkm-a20151013-20151013-story.html

In other dental news: Aurident's de 3D scanners offer superior quality for both model and impression scanning. The Optimet DS 6000 Scanner uses patented proprietary conoscopic holographic technology to generate highly accurate and consistent scans. The DSi 6000 Impression & Model Scanner overcomes the limitation of other scanners by accurately scanning impressions and models where other scanners have difficulty.