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Dental Benefits Overview

Understanding your dental benefits can improve your health and lower your out-of-pocket expenses.

Choosing a Dental Plan

Some considerations you should make before choosing between dental plans:

  • Review your family's dental needs.
  • Review coverages (e.g. deductible, co-pays, co-insurance, maximum, limitations and exclusions).
  • Review your monthly contributions for the dental plan and your potential out-of-pocket expenses.
  • Is your dentist a network provider? What is the impact to your out-of-pocket expenses for using non-network dentists? For more on the cost impact of using network or non-network dentists, see Financial Impact of Using PPO Dentists and PPO vs. non-PPO Dentists.

Types of dental benefit plans

The following chart compares Fee for Service versus Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO) and Dental Health Maintenance Organizations/Exclusive Provider Organizations (DHMO/EPO).

 Fee for ServicePPODHMO/EPO
CostHighestModerateLowest
Choice of DentistAny dentistAny dentistNetwork dentists only
Network of dentistsNoneLargeSmall
Dentist discounts feesNoneYesYes
(DHMO–Capitation)
Dentists' credentials verified (Credentialing)NoYesYes
  • Author: Fluent staff
  • Last updated: 6/30/2020
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