How to Get Insurance to Pay for Dental Implants

Dental implants are less popular today than they have been. This is partially due to better general dental hygiene but also due to the advent of equally as effective veneers which now cost roughly the same as dental implants. Getting insurance to pay up can be hard, as we all know, but there are ways.

Things You'll Need

• Dental Insurance
• Medical Diagnosis from approved dentist (approved by your insurance company).
• Health Insurance that can cover potential orthognathic surgery

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Instructions

• 1

  So as not to get too bogged down with the technical aspects of dental implants, I will give a brief description of the most popular method and common method used at present. This is called osseointegrated implants. It is the process by which direct anchorage of a dental implant root and the bone of the jaw occurs. Osseo is for bone and integration is the melding of something or the assimilation of something. Osseointegrated implants are the most commonly used and successful type of dental implants. It can take anywhere from three to six months for an osseointegrated implant to anchor and heal, at which point your dentist can complete the procedure with the placement of a crown that resembles your other teeth. If osseointegration is not successful, the implant will fail.

  Now the costs are very prohibitive and can cost as much as 25-100,000 US dollars for a full set (full mouth) of such implants. Due to better oral hygiene and veneers for cosmetic use, these implants are mainly a consideration for people with lost teeth or people who are using false teeth and need teeth to function.

  The first thing you need to do if you want to get insurance to cover this is to determine why you need these. For example, if you were in a car accident or other accident and have lost teeth you may have a legal right to claim this as part of your "treatment" for which the insurer of the claim is responsible. So if you were in a car accident, even if it were your fault, you may be eligible to get this type of injury covered. In these cases you should always be consulting a personal injury attorney as soon as the accident occurs. Likewise, if you had a slip and fall, even on your own property, consult an attorney. These injuries and this type of claim often can and will be covered.

• 2

  If, however, you have simply lost your teeth, well this is another issue. If you are currently losing teeth you may well want to get some very good dental insurance, and fast. Go as soon as possible to a dental appointment. This way, further and future problems are covered. When one tooth is lost due to poor oral hygiene or loss of bone, others often follow and thus you may well be able to get covered by pre-empting this with good insurance and then replacing all teeth after the next one comes out.

  Alternately you may be suffering from certain conditions such as bone loss due to medical reasons that may be grounds for your health insurance, yes general health insurance, to cover the costs of implant dentistry. To do this you will need to consult with an orthognathic surgeon. An orthognathic surgeon is a surgeon who operates on abnormalities of the jaw bones. This could be mandibular (lower jaw), or maxillar (upper jaw though originally pertained to both jaws). In either case a consultation with an orthognathic surgeon for tooth loss from unknown causes may well yield answers. An underlying mandibular or maxillar deformity could mean that the tooth loss was medical in nature, may necessitate orthognathic surgery and may be grounds for your insurance to pay for any needed implants.

• 3

  No matter what the cause and no matter which insurance you intend to claim this expense on, expect a battle. With prices as high as they are, often 1k dollars a tooth, most insurers, as with any procedure, will look at ways to get out of paying. Researching the doctors is very important as a good doctor often is able to negotiate and argue with your insurance in such a way that they have to approve the procedure. Obviously this will be easier if your plan is a superior health or dental plan in which you can choose your doctor. In these cases the doctors do not receive any type of bonus for keeping prices down and as they do not have severely negotiated rates they have more incentive to fight for your needs and rights to have the costs covered.

  Alternatively, and more ideally, an auto or personal injury claim which resulted in permanent tooth loss will almost always yield a positive result. No lawyer worth their contingent fee will let you walk away toothless!