People with dental benefits visit their dentist more frequently than people without benefits because the cost is shared. Learning about your dental benefits and becoming an educated consumer of those benefits can improve your health and lower your out-of-pocket expenses.
Reasons employers offer a dental plan:
| Dental benefits | Medical benefits | |
|---|---|---|
| Complexity | Mouth | Entire body |
| Treatment | Predictable, ongoing | Unpredictable, episodic |
| Cost | Low cost | High cost |
| Control | Preventable | Not always preventable |
| Setting | Office based | Hospital and office based |
| Specialties | 8 | Over 150 |
| Solo practitioner | 75% | 10% |