When you buy a health insurance plan, you look for wholesome coverage. You are often willing to pay extra money to ensure you have the maximum coverage. While ailments such as heart issues and organ-related disorders are covered, many a time, the smaller but extremely crucial covers, such as dental covers are excluded. This is unfortunate because your dental health is just as important as your other bodily health factors. This is why you should look for health insurance plans that include dental covers in them. Read on to know more.
Remember you can get coverage for your dental treatment if you need hospitalisation and if that is a part of your recovery, especially if that is from any accident. But this is not payable if you need a root canal treatment or any other tooth issues.
Taking Care of Your Dental Health
Dental health is not something you should take lightly. Many people have the misconception that brushing their teeth is enough to ensure the mouth stays healthy. This is in fact far from true, as brushing only removes the external grime from teeth and does nothing to nourish the gums or tackle the deep-rooted dental problems. If you ignore the wellness of the inside of your mouth, the infections and ailments can spread to the other parts of your body as well. This can cause a chain reaction and you will end up in a lot of pain.
Also, dental problems are often nagging and unless you take care of them, they do not go away on their own. Finally, dental treatments are very expensive. These days, even a simple tooth extraction costs thousands of rupees. These are some reasons why you must take care of your dental health and find a health plan that helps you in doing so.
Top 5 Types of Dental Treatments in India
- Root Canal Treatment, which costs anything from INR 7,000 to INR 15,000 for 1 tooth
- Dental Implants, which costs anywhere from INR 15,000 to INR 25,000 for 1 tooth
- Dental Filling with capping, which costs anywhere from INR 5,000 to INR 15,000 for 1 tooth
- Dental Braces, which costs anywhere from INR 15,000 to INR 2 lakhs, depending on the type of braces used
- Tooth extraction, which costs anywhere from INR 2,000 to INR 15,000
Tooth problems can lead to multiple health hazards like gum disease, missing tooth, tooth sensitivity, dry mouth and swelling, bad breath, facial swelling, tooth decay, cavity with pain, crooked tooth, etc. According to the National Oral Health Policy 2018, dental illnesses are a silent epidemic in India where more than 85% of the population has poor dental health, which is mainly due to tobacco. Despite this concern, only 12.4% of the adult population visit a dentist and get their tooth examined and treated. The worst form of oral disorders leads to cancer but there are multiple stages before that which needs urgent attention and it still remains the most ignored part of the body.
Health Insurance and Dental Covers
As mentioned above, dental covers are not very common in standard health insurance plans. However, you do have some options:
- Comprehensive Family Floater Plans
There are many plans in India that do offer dental insurance covers after a waiting period. The top-rated plans from the best health insurance companies offer dental coverage. However, most plans require you to stay insured for 2 or 3 years before you can make a dental related claim.
- Standalone Plans
These days, there are also standalone plans that offer exclusive dental coverage. The options are limited, but you can compare the plans online to locate an ideal cover at the best price. Go for this, if you regularly face dental problems or if you have a family history of orthodontic problems.
- Individual Health Plans
Most of the individual health insurance policies also have dental insurance covers. If you are buying an individual health insurance policy, make sure the plan has provisions for dental covers. Read to policy wordings to ensure the coverage is available.
- Travel Insurance Plans
And finally, you can opt for travel insurance plans that offer a dental cover. Many travel insurance plans offer dental covers all over the country.
You may have to pay a higher premium if you opt for a dental insurance cover, but it is a very important coverage so do consider opting for it.
Covers Available Under Dental Health Insurance
When you buy a dental health insurance coverage, you are expected to get the following covers and benefits:
- Dental consultations in the OPD
- Teeth whitening procedures and plaque removal
- Infection management
- Teeth scaling procedures that help to clean the teeth and gums and thereby make them less susceptible to long-term damage
- Tooth extraction and filling procedures
- Minor dental surgeries that can be administered under local anaesthesia
Please read the policy wording very carefully to understand what covers are available and what are not. This will help you to avoid any disputes or disappointments during a health insurance claim. Also, please note that dental surgical procedures may not be covered under the regular dental insurance covers. You may need an additional surgery protection plan to get adequate protection for all your dental surgeries.
Plans to Choose for Dental Insurance Coverage
If you are looking for a good dental insurance cover, here are some available options for you to explore:
- ICICI Prudential Health Saver Plan is a life unit-linked insurance plan with benefits that can cover dental expenses, diagnostic expenses, medicines and other miscellaneous expenses.
- New India Mediclaim Policy is a health insurance plan that pays INR 5,000 under Plan A and INR 10,000 under Plan B for OPD expenses including dental expenses after 2 claim free years.
- HDFC ERGO Maxima Plan is a health insurance plan that pays for OPD expenses for dental treatment which are not cosmetic in nature.
- Digit Health Care Plus Plan is a health insurance plan which pays for OPD expenses including dental treatment by a registered dentist which are not cosmetic in nature.
Also, most group health plans cover dental expenses upto a certain specified limit. Choose from any of the above-mentioned plans and you will be able to get good and adequate health coverage for all your dental problems.
The Bottom Line
When you buy cashless health insurance, you should look to get the largest possible cover, which includes a truly wholesome and comprehensive cover. Your teeth and gums are just as important to your health as your heart and kidney are. Unless you have healthy and strong teeth and gums, your body won't receive the nutrition you need. Also, faulty dental health can lead to low confidence which in turn can affect your mental health.
To avoid all such problems from cropping up, get a good dental insurance cover. As you saw from all the points mentioned above, it is not impossible to get dental insurance. So do your research and find a good insurance policy that will offer coverage against all dental disorders.
