Has anyone been able to have their insurance cover dental work under “Medically Necessary Dental Services”. I have read some about dental problems and diabetes, I defiantly have both. Money is tight though, and I have been putting of dental work for awhile.
Thanks.
In general you will not be successful. The roots of why dental and medical insurance different dates back to a truly bizarre history. Dentists emerged from as an offshoot of hairdressing and barbers took care of dental problems. And as the dental field emerged they were not trained by the medical field. In fact the medical field was extremely aggressive in beating down other professions like dentistry and chiropracty. And the medical field fought to make sure those other fields were not part of the covered services in health insurance.
As a result we have the totally perverted system today where dentists are trained in school as medical professionals just like GPs yet are not covered services like health. And this is despite overwhelming evidence that dental health “IS” health. If you have diabetes and periodontal disease you know this truth intimately.
If you do have dental procedures that require certain things like surgery, grafts or removal of cysts may be covered. You will have to argue for the medical necessity, you dentist or periodontist would know. I have never been able to get coverage for dental services by health insurance.
Just to clarify (not stating what you posted is wrong) your second paragraph: dentists do not receive the same training as “GP’s” (more accurately termed PCP’s or Primary Care Physicians, who are MD’s who have usually specialized in either Internal Medicine or Family Practice). Their (dentists’) training is, for the most part, limited to all things dental plus how to treat infections related to dental caries and secondary dental infections, and local anesthesia plus sedation.
I’ve never quite completely understood why dentistry and podiatry branched off into their own fields as opposed to just becoming additional allopathic medical specialties. Unfortunate, because this offers health insurers a way out of covering dental procedures.
This is interesting to me. Here in BC, the government doesn’t cover these (but in some other provinces they are covered). But if you have private insurance through your employer, then dentist and podiatrist are usually both covered (I’ve never had work health insurance where these weren’t covered). Are these not covered even with health insurance in the US?
In the U.S., some health insurers offer the option of adding dental coverage. For a ginormous additional cost.
Interesting. That seems crazy to me. Even more money you guys have to pay! 
One thing is true about employer-sponsored dental plans. They have very stable costs. Even when the pay out is not a function of caps on costs, dental charges on most employer plans are very stable year to year. In over 25 years of managing employer health plans, I have never seen more than a 5% per person cost rate variance year over year. Even with a 5% variance, it is sometimes a variance of up and down. I have never seen per person health costs decline year over year.
There are a few reasons. First dental costs are almost always capped well below what most people would spend if caps did not exist (the caps themselves prevent using dental services).
Other factors costs generally are preloaded for children. If you think about dental costs about 60% of typical year dental costs are for participants who are less than 18. Finally, preventative costs are well documented. Spend money on preventative services and chances are good that the plan saves those cost in the long run. Finally end care costs, end. Acquiring dentures generally stops services for the affected area. Typically end of life costs are not the end in a health plan. In medical situations some people every year go back and forth near death. These near death experiences are very expensive and year over year in a plan of 500 employees one can expect 2-4 of these per year.
Try this. It saved me a lot of money. I don’t think you have to keep it after you have the services done (it’s not really insurance, just dentists that agree to share less, I believe). Check with your county - mine has a program that offers it at lower cost. My credit union used to also.
or this
If you have a dental school nearby, the costs are much less and the students are supervised.
I’m sorry if my comment was misinterpreted. The “education” of both areas are 90% the same, the only differences are in graduate education (of which some is undoubtedly the same) as well as the follow up practice training (like residency). The course that you take as an undergraduate as a pre-med/pre-dental are typically the same (i.e. it is the same track). Both mainstream medicine and mainstream dentistry are “allopathic” and follow science and evidence thus it makes a lot of sense that their educational foundation is pretty much the same.
I would also note that in my experience, dental insurance plans are not insurance plans. They are in fact “payment plans.” The cover routine care, 2 checkups a year, a cavity here and there and maybe a crown. After that you start to pay for everything.