Dental Insurance: Everything You Need To Know

Dental treatments can be a bit expensive due to the expensive set up and lab material involved. To cover your dental treatment expenses, several health insurance providers have come up with policies that cover expenses due to tooth extractions, filling cavities, dentures, root canal treatment, and more. 

Types of Dental Insurance in India

Currently, none of the major insurance providers in the country provides exclusive dental insurance policies. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made it mandatory for health insurance policies to cover dental care, even if it doesn’t require hospitalisation. 

There are several health insurance policies that provide dental care, including:

Individual health policies

Individual health insurance policies can cover specific dental procedures. However, it is usually covered under additional benefits or premium covers, and customers may have to pay an additional premium to get this facility. 

Preventive healthcare insurance

Insurance policies covering preventive care such as health check-ups and doctor consultations often include oral care and consultation. 

Family floater health insurance policies

These health insurance policies cover dental insurance as a part of the plan for all members of the insured family. 

Critical illness policies

These are standalone plans covering specific illnesses, which may sometimes include dental surgeries. 

Personal accident policies

Most personal accident insurance policies cover dental treatment to treat accidental injuries. 

Travel health insurance

Most travel insurance policies cover dental procedures as a part of accidental injury coverage. However, these will likely have limits on procedures and compensation. 

What Coverage is Provided by Dental Mediclaim in India?

There are no exclusive dental insurance plans available in India. This results in different providers offering various types of benefits and coverage. The following is a generalized overview of the various types of treatments covered by dental insurance.

Basic restorative care

This includes routine procedures such as extractions, fillings, and check-ups.

Orthodontic treatment

It includes using braces, space maintainers, and other devices to properly align your teeth. 

Preventive dental care

Preventive care includes routine X-rays, regular teeth cleanings, fluoride treatments, and the usage of sealants.  

Major restorative care

This includes dentures, bridges, and crowns. 

The following is a list of treatments and procedures are covered by most teeth insurance policies:

• Tooth filling
• Oral cyst and infections
• Root canal treatment
• Dental implants
• Routine oral check-ups
• Dental surgeries
• Gum diseases
• Dental X-rays
• Follow up care and treatment

What are the Benefits of Having Dental Insurance Coverage?

Following are some of the major benefits of having a dental insurance policy in place:

Cost-effective treatment

Dental diseases can pose a significant financial burden as many of the treatments can be quite expensive. Having dental insurance in place is a cost-effective solution to avail of these treatments. 

Full coverage

Depending on the insurance agency, dental insurance policies can not only cover accidental treatment but also other expenses. Dental insurance policy coverage can include expenses for diagnosis, preventive or curative treatments, regular consultation and other common treatments. 

Accidental coverage

Many personal accident insurance policies in India cover dental treatment due to accidental damage. This allows the insured to claim benefits for dental treatment when hospitalised without paying any additional premium. 

OPD treatment

Few insurance companies offer coverage for outpatient department (OPD) treatments and cover dental treatments. This lets the insured person get claims settled without getting hospitalised. 

Regular check-ups

It can be easy to neglect dental problems when the cost of regular visits is too high. Some dental insurance policies cover the cost of routine check-ups and procedures, making it easy to visit a dentist more often. 

What is the Cost of a Full Coverage Dental Insurance Policy?

There are several types of full dental plans with different price models. 

DPPO model

Also referred to as PPO (preferred provider organisation) plans, these provide cost-effective insurance coverage as they contract a specific dentist for an organisation.

DHMO model

Under the ‘Dental Health Managed Institution’ model, the insurance provider contracts a vast number of dental organisations to provide cheap dental treatment. 

There are several cost models for the various types of full coverage dental insurance policies: 

Premium

In this cost model, one pays the full premium for the plan chosen. Generally, DPPOs tend to have a slightly higher premium than DHMO plans. 

Annual maximum

Here, the insurance policy agrees to pay a certain sum in a year, with additional expenses being paid out of pocket. 

Deductible

This includes the costs the insured pays before his/her policy covers the rest of the expenses. Some DPPO plans have deductibles, whereas DHMO plans don’t.

Coinsurance

Once the deductible is covered, a certain percentage of the expenses is then covered by the insurer. 

Also Read: Deductible in Health Insurance: What Is It and How Does It Work?

How to Get Full Coverage Dental Insurance Without Maximum and Waiting Period?

Most dental insurance coverage includes a fixed annual maximum. This is the most that the insurer will pay for dental treatments over a plan year. 

Usually, DHMOs don’t have annual maximums, which ensures that the policyholder does not run out of benefits. One can also look for a DHMO plan with higher annual maximums depending on his/her expectations. 

Most health insurance policies with dental coverage come with a waiting period when you can’t make claims. Depending on the insurer, this can vary between a few months to years. Hence, policyholders may need to pay out of pocket if their dental issues occur before the end of this period. 

It is advisable to get dental insurance coverage as soon as possible to minimise the chances of issues occurring before the end of the waiting period. 

Also Read: Features & Benefits Of Different Types Of Health Insurance Policies

Exclusions under Dental Insurance Policies

Depending on the type of policy chosen, there are certain exclusions available. 

For example, personal accident policies will exclude all accidental dental treatments. Full coverage dental policies will exclude only the following conditions (which may differ according to policy):

• Cosmetic surgery
• Jaw alignments
• Dental implants
• Dental prosthetics
• Jaw bone surgery
• Orthodontics

Claim Procedure for Dental Insurance Policies

For dental care involving hospitalization, follow the given procedure to raise a claim:

Step 1

Contact the insurance company and seek approval for getting cashless claims.

Step 2

Produce the necessary documents (proof of age, identity, and address) to hospital authorities and TPA (third-party administrators). One may also have to produce a health card for cashless claims.

Step 3

Once the TPA approves the claims, the hospital will send all relevant documents to the insurer.

Step 4

If all the terms and conditions are met, the insurance company will settle all dental care bills. 

Step 5

If the insured avails OPD treatments or preventive care, he/she can pay expenses out of pocket and later claim reimbursement. 

Final Word

A dental insurance policy is a requisite owing to the high treatment expenses. You can always sign up for a comprehensive health insurance policy for more extensive coverage. 

If you are looking for a health insurance policy that promises fast claim approval with no paperwork involved, look no further than Navi. Download the Navi app and get claims processed in over 10,000 hospitals across India. 

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