Dental Insurance

Dental insurance as part of your private health cover is a great way to offset the costs of your policy.

To make the most of your dental insurance, you should have a preventative check up every 6 months. This will reduce the prospect of more costly treatments in the future as problems may be identified and treated whilst they are still small procedures.

With the average cost of a 6 monthly preventative treatment around $200 for such procedures as check-ups, clean and polish and x-ray, having dental cover you could offset most if not all of this cost.

What type of cover do I need?

There are two types of dental insurance

• General dental this type of cover includes cleaning, removal of plaque, x-rays and smaller fillings.
• Major dental this type of cover includes cover for orthodontics/braces, wisdom teeth removal, crowns, bridges and cover for dentures.

What type of cover you need will depend on your age and current situation. For young singles or couples you may only need general dental cover providing your are in good shape.

Families or older couples you may want to consider major dental for the possibility of orthodontics/braces, wisdom teeth removal and dentures.

Free preventative dental care

Some funds provide No GAP dental services where you get free check-ups, cleans and fluoride treatments. Other funds have their own dental centres where you as a member get priority over the rest of the general public when it comes time to visit the dentist.

To take advantage of these services or to inquire if your fund offers this No GAP service, contact your health fund or ask an iSelect consultant.

What to look for in your private health insurance

Private health insurance funds offer a range of extras policies. The basic level of extras policies cover general dental treatment only. The higher levels of extras policies includes coverage for both general and major dental treatments the rebates payable on these levels of cover will vary.

Selected health funds including some of iSelect s participating health funds can at times provide special offers to waive the two month waiting period for general dental insurance.

The best way to take care of your teeth and help avoid future dental problems is to brush twice a day, floss, wear a protective mouth guard when playing contact sport AND visit the dentist every 6 months for a check-up.