5 Minute Guide to Selecting a Dental Plan

With discount plans, PPO, DHMO, indemnity and other combinations of dental plans and insurance, it can be confusing as to which plan is best. At times we think we should just post one or two plans to make your selection easier.

Before you call me, read this page. It will save us both a lot of time.

We offer four types of plans.

PPO – We offer the Select Dental plan and a similar, less expensive plan from an group called NACD. The NACD plan uses the Ameritas dental network. The Ameritas network is huge and the plan is a much better value - in my opinion. It also includes the VSP vision plan. You really cannot beat the pricing. (click here if you want to go to the dedicated web site). This is a hybrid plan. There are two parts to this plan.

There is a PPO-Style network. Your dentist may or may not be in the network, but you can search for them online. Use this link to search for your dentist.

If your dentist is in network, you are entitled to the discounted rates for all services.

The second part of this plan is the indemnity portion. Indemnity means that they will pay you specific amounts based on what procedure is being performed. In other words, if they list $35 for a cleaning, they will pay you or your dentist $35 for a cleaning. It does not mean that a cleaning costs $35. If they pay $200 for a crown, again, it does not mean it costs $200 for a crown. It means they pay out to you or your dentist this amount.

When you put the two parts together, it is an excellent plan and a great value. It also includes a decent vision plan with $10 eye exams.

Indemnity – We also offer a pure indemnity plan. This plan is essentially just like the second part of the previous plan I just described. It is a little cheaper and has no network. However, they do pay a decent amount for the scheduled procedures.

If you cannot find your dentist in the Select or NACD plan networks, see if you can find them in one of our discount networks. You can buy the indemnity plan and the discount plan and use them together. They combine to make an awesome plan at a very reasonable price. Better in my opinion than most overpriced PPO plans.

Discount – These plans are usually under appreciated. I have a discount plan and love it. The trick is finding a dentist in the network that you like. If you do, the plans are very inexpensive and have no waiting periods for major work. You can click here to jump to the discount dental plan page. We have these plans in all 50 states.

DHMO – This is a dental HMO plan. If you live in Florida, New York, New Jersey or Texas, I have a great DHMO dental plan for you. The price is right and the benefits are excellent.

Go to our quote page and look at the SafeGuard DHMO plans for Texas and Florida.

With a DHMO, you have a primary dentist, similar to medical HMO plans. If you need a specialist, they make a referral.

Finding Your Dentist - If your dentist does not appear in any of our networks, it means that he or she does not accept any of our plans. Don't call me up wondering how you can make them magically appear. Find another dentist. Believe it or not, one is just as good as the next (except for my dentist). Seriously, find a dentist in one of our networks, there are plenty of good ones. They will all sedate you and not cause you any excessive discomfort. Unless you are into that sort of thing.

I really appreciate the fact that you spent the time to read this page.