Exercising preventive care can reduce your costs

Employer-sponsored dental plans actually encourage you and your family to make an annual or even semi-annual dental office visit. To promote preventive care, most dental plans pay all or most of the cost of routine dental checkups, including cleanings and exams. Additionally, exercising preventive care can help you avoid more costly dental problems that can develop or be worsened by lack of basic preventive care.

For example, for non-preventive services, your share of the costs — referred to as your "copayment" — progressively climbs as the type of dental procedure becomes more involved. For instance, it is not uncommon for many dental plans to require a 20 percent copayment if you need a cavity filled. A root canal, crown, bridge or periodontal work (to treat gum disease) can require a 50 percent patient copayment. Such procedures can cost upwards of $1,200.

Annual maximums, which refer to the total cost of care above which a dental program will not pay, are frequently in the range of $1,000 to $1,500. As a result, you can find yourself running out of benefits altogether if you or your family needs extensive dental work.

Even under most prepaid dental plans, which advertise lower out-of-pocket costs with no deductible and/or annual maximum, there are significant copayments for major services.

Regardless of what kind of dental plan you have, visiting the dentist for routine checkups saves you the cost, as well as the discomfort, of advanced dental disease.