It’s no secret that avoiding flour-based, white, starchy foods can be a challenge. However, the benefits of limiting your intake of refined carbohydrates for the sake of good dental health are worth it. Refined carbohydrates have been linked to heightened inflammation, which can lead to oral health issues such as gingivitis. On the other hand, opting for whole grains and less processed carbohydrates can significantly contribute to maintaining healthy teeth and gums, giving you more reasons to make these healthier choices.

Although one of America’s favorite morning and afternoon beverages may be coffee and tea, they have compounds called tannins, which can cause unsightly stains and discoloring of your teeth. Therefore, to avoid staining your teeth, limit the amount of coffee and tea you drink throughout the day. If you drink coffee and tea, do so with a straw to limit contact with your teeth. Avoid slowly drinking these types of drinks. It can be fun to hang out at the local coffee house and buy one cup of coffee during your hour or more stay, but it could be more fun for your teeth if you don’t baby your drink or at least drink through a straw.

When you get a dental HMO and have to choose a dentist in the network, how do you choose the best one? I can only afford a dental HMO insurance plan. Since I do not have a current dentist, choosing one in a network is not a big deal other than ensuring stuff gets done.

Reply: You want to start with calling the dental office in the plan network of providers and confirming that they are still accepting the plan and new patients. Once you confirm that, the next step would be to ask some basic questions that may be important to you. Such as hours of operations, how long they have been in business if you have any special needs, and whether the office can address your needs. Do they have a website you can review for additional information about the dental office? You should check review sites such as Yahoo, google, and Yelp, to name a few. Remember that people tend to want to leave reviews when they have a terrible experience, but only sometimes when they do not. However, if one office has excessively bad reviews, you may want to rethink picking them as a provider.

Dental health care is critical, and there are many ways to ensure you do all you can for your oral health care. There are many ways to ensure you are doing all you can for oral health care: simple things like brushing your teeth at least twice a day, flossing daily, using tarter control, and gum care mouthwash. The primary dental care you do for yourself is low-cost and takes very little time each day. The next step is to see a dentist at least twice a year for check-ups and cleanings.

Cost can be a factor, but it does not have to be. One way to control dental costs is through a low-cost dental insurance plan. Many dental insurance plans offer free to low-cost preventive dental care. The money you spend on dental insurance is well worth it. And by seeing your dentist regularly, you will avoid any major dental issues. However, if you need more extensive dental services, having dental insurance will also help control your dental cost. Be thoughtful about your oral health and think ahead. Good dental care now makes for good dental care in the future.

Question: I just got some dental bonding on five teeth. However, I did not ask my dentist if it was okay for me to eat anything or if I needed to wait. If so, how long do I need to wait after having bonding done? I need to know.

Reply: You don’t have to wait to eat or drink after your appointment. However, you may experience slight tooth sensitivity to heat and cold after teeth bonding for a few days afterward. To prevent staining, avoid or keep to a minimum coffee, tea, soy sauce, colas, grape juice, blueberries, fresh cherries, and acidic foods like citrus juices and tomato sauce. You may want to call your dentist, who did the bonding, for any aftercare instructions, which they would typically give you at the time of your appointment.

Question: I need to find a family dental plan where we can all go to the dentist whenever we need to and pay the dental office bills after the dental insurance company pays their part before making us pay our share of the cost.

In the past, we had plans to pay the dentist upfront for the total cost of our dental services and wait for the insurance company to refund us. In this day and age, who can afford to do that? I know we can not. 

Those types of dental insurance plans keep us from going to the dentist, and at that point, I do not see paying $120 a month for a dental insurance plan we do not even use because we can not pay upfront for dental services. What options are left for us that would be more affordable?

Reply: Welcome! I hope you are doing well today. I want to discuss dental insurance plans and how claims are processed. I can understand why the claims process can be upsetting, particularly regarding how claims are paid. Let me assure you that you are not alone. Many people have questions about dental insurance plans and how they work.

Based on what you have told me, you have either a dental PPO or an Indemnity dental insurance plan. If you like the plan benefits and coverages overall and it is just about how claims are paid, consider talking to your dentist. With dental PPO and Indemnity plans, the payment process and how the dentist gets paid is really up to the dental office. It does not typically come from your insurance company.

The dentist can choose to submit the claim and get paid by the insurance company before billing out any remaining balances to their patient. In the past, many dental offices processed claims that way. However, sadly, many patients would fail to pay their part, and then the dentist’s office would have to chase them down for payment. This is why many dental offices have started billing their patients in full and making them file claims to the insurance company to get paid back (refunded) the part due them.

Some dental offices charge you what they think your part of the cost would be based on your policy coverages, then bill or credit you depending on the outcome. However, few dentists still do this, as it can still be an issue of fully getting paid for services already rendered.

Based on what we have discussed, it is not an issue with the insurance plan per se but more of knowing how your dentist is willing to file claims and how they expect you to pay for services. Therefore, if you are still facing issues with your dental insurance plan, you may need to change your dental office, not your dental insurance plan. I hope this information was helpful to you. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Dental 4 Less, Dental Discount Plans

You will want to use caution with this type of dental plan since it is not insurance. The managing organizations have negotiated with local dental offices to establish a set price for a particular dental procedure and offer deep discounts (some up to 70%) off the regular ADA pricing code.

This plan has several advantages over traditional dental insurance plans, namely, there are no exclusions for pre-existing conditions. This allows a patient to receive immediate coverage for work without meeting any waiting period requirements.

Dental Discount Plan for Preventive Dental Care

All I want to do is to be able to get my two cleaning a year and check up.  My teeth are great I never had even one cavity.   I would just like to have something in place for just in case and preventive care.

I been reviewing your Careington dental discount plan which off hand looks good to me, since it does not cost much and start right away.  Is there anything I should do or know before buying.  Never had a discount plan so just checking it out.  Thanks

Reply: Dental discount plan are a great low cost alternative to a high cost dental insurance. The main thing is making sure you have a dentist in the plan you want to go to. Call and confirm with the dental offices that are listed under the plan, to make sure they are still accepting the plan before buying it.

Otherwise you can see your discounted costs for dental services that are listed and for all other dental services not listed you will still receive around a 20% discounted saving.

Are there any dental insurance plans that covers for cosmetic dental services?  My current dental plan will not cover for me to have any dental cosmetic services such as teeth whitening, veneers or dental implants. That said I would still like to have some help with the cost of cosmetic dental services.  I have yet to find a dental insurance that will cover for cosmetic services.

Reply: Most dental insurance plan to not offer benefits/coverage’s for cosmetic dental care services. So it may be hard to find one that dose. However you may want to review a  dental discount plan options such as Careington. With a dental discount plan you save off all your dental care needs including cosmetic services.  Generally your average discounted saving on cosmetic dental services is around 15% to 20% not bad on a plan that cost you less then $10.00 a month for an individual.

Question: Does buying a dental discount plan really offer you true saving?  How do you know if you are really getting much of a saving by buying a dental discount plan? Is there a way of comparing what they say your discount rate is to real dentist cost to know that you are truly getting good saving off the plan?

Answer: Discount dental plans are designed to help reduce your over all dental cost. Do they save you money? Yes dental discount plans do what they say the do they help reduce your total dental care cost.  You only need to start calling around a few dentist stating you do not have insurance and get a quote based on that to see for a $10.00 a month or less dental discount plan it is truly saving you money off your dental care needs.   I suggest that you review the plans in question and call the dentist under the plans to confirm they are still accepting the plan. If you do that you should not have any problems with buying a dental discount plan.

I need to have a few dental services that my current dental insurance plan will not cover since they are stating it is cosmetic dental work.  I do not see it that way because I am not asking for any thing that does not have to be done.

Any way that aside I see you offer dental discount plans.  I been looking at the fee schedules that are listed for each plan but do not see the dental services I need listed.  Does that mean they are not covered either?

I do not have dental insurance and I need a low cost dental plan since it is looking like I may need to have my bridge fixed.   I do not have a lot of money and was thinking about getting a discount dental  plan.  Are the good plans to get?  Do that really help you save money off  the cost of dental services.

I am 19 and out on my own.  I am just looking for a low cost dental discount plan that offers some really good discounts for dental services.  I have nothing wrong with my teeth currently but since I only getting medical though my job I want to get some dental help just in case I ever need it.

Looking over so many discount plans I am not sure which one is the best one to get they seem all alike to me.  Any advise to help me pick a plan?

I have been reviewing your dental insurance as well as the discount plans you have to offer.  I also been to other website that offer many of the same dental plan.   I am still deciding on which one I really want.

My family say to get dental insurance but I think that because that is all they know since they never had any dental discount plans to compare.   Can you offer up some pros as well as cons about buying a dental discount plan over dental insurance?

I have been reviewing your plans and I think that the discount plan choice would be the best for me at this time since I do need major dental services and can not afford to waiting out the waiting periods your other plans have.  I just would like to know does a discount really work as well as they make you belive?  Can you explain to me how a discount plan works so I am sure I understand what I would be buying?

I need to have three teeth pulled.   I was looking at your discount plans since I need to have this dental work done ASAP.  I am in a lot of pain and can not aford to wait for dental coverages.  That said I do not see anywhere on the plans about anestheis.   I am a big baby and I will not have my teeth pulled while I am awake.  What kind of discounts if any do you get for being put to sleep?

So I have been thinking about picking up a dental discount plan until my current dental insurance plan waiting periods are over.  On my current dental insurance,  I still have another ten months before I have no waiting period for any dental services.

However I am worried that on a dental discount plan you may not get the same quality of dental care.  I need two filling nothing to big but I want them done now.  Are the dentist in a discount plan just as good as dentist that do not take discount plans?

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I am thinking about getting the Careington discount plan you offer on your web site.  I read most of it but would like to make sure how it works?  Do I have to pay the dentist in full and submit the receipts to get my discount saving from Careington?

Am I am able to go out side there net work to different dentist?  My dentist I am currently going to is not on your list.  I am okay with changing provider but it would be cool if I could keep her.  Can you advise.  Thanks.