Adults may make many decisions based on what they feel they can afford at the current time.  For the most part putting off buying a new pair of shoes, cell phone, video game, etc. until you can better afford it is a good idea.  Yet what about dental insurance?  Many adults either put of buying dental insurance or never buy dental insurance primary due to cost factors.   Stating dental insurance is too costly and if need be they can pay for the cost of getting a dental cleaning done.

Doing the Math: If you add up the cost for twice a year checkups and cleanings, for a single, couple or  family of three or more,  preventive dental services (without dental insurance) can range for a single person around $200 – $400, Couple $400 – $800 and Family of three $600 – $1200 a year. Now lets just say more then just preventive dental care services are needed.  Cost for fillings, crowns, extractions and root canals can start getting in to $1000 plus range on just one individual.

However, say you buy a lower cost dental insurance plan such as an HMO dental plan. Dental HMO plans can range around  $8.00 – $20.00 for a single  $12.00 – $35.00 for a couple and $15.00 – $45.00 for a family a month. At first on the high range this can seem costly. Yet most HMO plans provides benefits for free preventive dental care services such as office visits, oral evolutions, X-rays and basic cleanings.  You can see  how on just preventive dental care services, by having dental insurance you are already saving money on your dental care needs.   In addition when larger dental care needs are necessary, having dental insurance will cut the cost in (most cases) by half or more.

If cost is a factor as to why you do not have current dental insurance, then odds are you may not seeing a dentist regularly due to the same issue. Yet by deferring your dental care you run a much higher risk of needing larger more expensive dental care services in the future. So you would be much better off budgeting a low cost dental insurance plan now then trying to figure out how you are going to pay for dental care without it latter on.