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How to Get Dental Insurance

Before diving into how to get dental insurance, it’s important to understand which kind of dental insurance will work best for your unique situation. Determining how much coverage you need, deciding on the right type of plan and choosing an insurer that listens to your needs are top priorities.

Aflac offers full coverage dental insurance, with PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) and MAC (Maximum Allowable Charge) options. Don’t worry – we'll dive into all the details within each type of dental insurance plan. We also offer supplemental dental insurance to help cover treatments and procedures that aren’t covered by your primary dental insurance policy.

How Does Dental Insurance Work?

Every dental insurance plan is different, but each one is designed to help prevent and care for your teeth and gum issues.1 Usually, you pay a monthly premium to keep the dental insurance policy active.2 In some cases, you may need to pay a deductible – or minimum amount of money toward your dental work before benefits kick in.3

In other cases, there may be a cap on the amount of coverage you can receive for dental services.4 You may also face waiting periods for specific treatments before you can receive benefits.

What Does Dental Insurance Cover?

When you shop for dental insurance, you may want to consider which treatments and procedures you think you’ll need in the future. For example, if you know you will need to get dentures, you can explore the coverage and waiting periods within each specific dental insurance plan and see which option fits your needs best.

At Aflac, we provide a variety of dental services. Depending on the plan you choose, you can expect some coverage for:

  • Preventative and Diagnostic Services: Routine exams and cleanings, x-rays, sealants, space maintainers and fluoride treatments.
  • Basic Services: Fillings, emergency palliative care, simple and surgical extractions, and repairs for crowns, bridges and dentures.
  • Major Services: Inlays, onlays, crowns, bridges, dentures, nonsurgical and surgical periodontics, endodontics, oral surgery, anesthesia and implants.

Some of these dental services will require waiting periods, and others will not. We suggest taking a close look at the details in each policy before you get dental insurance.

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How Do I Get Dental Insurance?

Now, we’ll break down what’s required in every step to determine how to get dental insurance:

Figure Out Your Dental Coverage Needs

First, we recommend considering which dental treatments and procedures you may need in the future. Next, you may want to consider if you’ll need to provide coverage for dependents too.

If you need dental coverage for your children and spouse, it may be a good idea to get dental insurance that includes family coverage.

Decide on a Type of Dental Insurance

With some dental insurance plans, only certain dentists are considered "in-network" and you'll want to ensure you select a dentist within your network to help bring the costs of treatments down.5

PPO stands for preferred provider organization and facilitates a relationship between dental providers and insurance companies. If you choose an in-network provider, you can receive dental services at a reduced cost. You can also still get some coverage with out-of-network dentists, but you may not get the same benefits.6

HMO stands for health maintenance organization and is like a PPO dental plan, but the policyholder can only get services from in-network providers. Due to less accessibility to outside dentists, these insurance plans are usually less expensive.7 Additionally, you aren’t able to see an out-of-network provider, even if you are willing to pay out-of-network fees.8

MAC stands for maximum allowable charge and refers to the maximum amount of money a plan will allow in dental service costs. Once the maximum allowable charge is met by your insurance company, they may stop providing coverage.

Choose a Dental Insurer

If you decide to shop for dental insurance, there are many companies and plans to consider. We recommend exploring all your options before making a choice.

Why Aflac Dental Insurance Is Worth It

Now that you know how to buy dental insurance, you can decide if it’s the right fit for you. We believe dental insurance is worth it because taking care of your oral health early on may prevent the need for serious dental treatments and procedures later.

At Aflac, we offer full coverage dental insurance to help you get the services you need. You can also add on our supplemental dental insurance plan if your primary dental plan doesn’t quite meet your coverage goals.

Still have questions?

Explore your dental insurance options.

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