Arizona Dental insurance is always great to have no matter one’s age. Individual and family Arizona dental insurance plans are available from Total Dental Administrators Health Plan, Inc., as well as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona. With their comprehensive dental plans that contract with private practice dentists, you will have access to affordable, quality Arizona dental care. Please visit the Arizona dental insurance link for more information.

Arizona Dental Insurance

Many individuals, children especially, do not seem to realize the full retail cost of repairing or replacing one’s teeth, hence the need for Arizona dental insurance. It would not be impossible to spend over $100,000 in a lifetime on tooth repair. The standard root canal and crown averages $2500 per tooth. As discussed in depth on the other Arizona dental insurance pages on this website, there are several reasons for the high cost of dental care in America. The main reason is lack of competition, and the second reason has to do with liability insurance. For many years dentists did not make much money. It is a job that requires a lot of talent and knowledge, more so today than at any other time in history. Years ago the town dentist was also the town barber… “a shave and an extraction please.” Little did they know back then just how dangerous extracting a tooth can be, especially from the lower jaw, if not done properly. This is why today you will rarely find a regular dentist willing to pull teeth, opting instead to refer you to an oral surgeon. They also prefer to refer you to an oral surgeon due to the risk of being sued if something goes wrong during the extraction. The dentist’s liability insurer may also not cover a dentist for extractions. So, it is much safer today than years past to have complicated dental work done, but the patients out of pocket costs have gone through the roof. A dentist makes about $130,000 a year on average, working 32 hours a week. This is more than a physician these days. An oral surgeon on the other hand makes four times this amount, and someone must pay for this. Guess who? That’s right it is you. Your Arizona dental insurance covers you for a maximum benefit of $1000 a year, maybe $1500, but the cost of seeing a dentist or an oral surgeon will be much, much more than this, leaving you with thousands of dollars in expenses.

Arizona Dental Insurance

Why is Arizona dental care, and for that matter Arizona dental insurance, so costly. It’s simple really, no competition. Ever tried to get an appointment with a new dentist? Ever seen an empty waiting room in an Arizona dentist’s office? You are going to wait, and wait, and wait! As mentioned previously, dentists did not make much money in the past. To address this problem the dental colleges in America stopped graduating as many students, and closed dental colleges entirely. This created a shortage of dentists, allowing practicing dentists to raise their prices. You needed the dentist more than they needed you, there were plenty of patients to go around. Arizona dental insurance companies could not negotiate prices with the dentists simply because the dentist didn’t need to lower what they were charging, their waiting rooms were stuffed with patients.

Arizona Dental Insurance

Today there is good news for the patient looking for Arizona dental insurance. Competition has returned. In fact two new dental colleges have opened in Arizona in the last few years, and one of them recently graduated their first dentists. Obviously the more dentists there are in the marketplace, the lower their prices will be. The dentist is now willing to negotiate with Arizona dental insurance providers on their pricing, and this is a win-win for the dentist and patient. The dentists gets a steady stream of patients from the Arizona dental insurance provider, and the patient gets quality dental care at a somewhat reasonable price.

There are two types of Arizona dental insurance policies primarily. The discount dental plan is popular these days, and of course the true dental insurance plan does well too. This website offers both. True Arizona dental insurance has a yearly maximum benefit of $1000 or $1500 and costs more than the discount plans. It really depends on what your needs are, and this is something you can discuss with your broker to get the right Arizona dental insurance plan for you.

If you have any questions regarding Arizona health insurance, Arizona Medicare supplement (Medigap) plans, or Arizona dental insurance, please call Mike Higgins at (602) 405-8769 or send an email: info@higginscompanies.com