{"id":5174,"date":"2018-04-13T02:13:11","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T06:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/?p=5174"},"modified":"2021-04-08T13:56:07","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T17:56:07","slug":"do-international-students-need-dental-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/do-international-students-need-dental-insurance.html","title":{"rendered":"Do International Students Need Dental Insurance?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While it\u2019s ultimately your choice to purchase a dental insurance plan, this blog will outline the cost of treatment without coverage and the most popular types of dental plans to help you make the best decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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In preparing to become an international student, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ve been warned about how expensive medical treatment can be in the United States, but did you know that dental treatment is also veryexpensive?In addition to being pricy, dental insurance and health insurance policies are completely separate plans. What this means is that your student health insurance<\/a> plan can cover doctor visits and potential hospitalizations, but more than likely won\u2019t cover your bills if you were to chip a tooth, get a cavity, or need a root canal.         <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/span>Let\u2019s Talk Numbers  <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a natural feeling to assume you won\u2019t need to visit a dentist while outside of your home country, but the reality is that insurance is generally used in unexpected situations and \u2018worse case scenarios.\u2019 It\u2019s rarely bought when someone knows they\u2019ll use it. To add a bit of perspective, the bullets below indicate average costs of dental treatment without insurance according to DentalPlans.com. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Routine 6 Month Visit: $220<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Full Mouth X-Rays: $296<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Adult Teeth Cleaning: $398<\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Root Canal: $971<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Pro Tip:<\/strong> These prices are meant to be guidelines. The cost of procedures will vary by location and the specific dentist visited. This means your visit could ultimately be more affordable or more expensive.<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Traditional Dental Plans vs. Discount Dental Plans <\/strong>                  <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While you\u2019re still trying to decide if dental insurance is a good investment, it\u2019s important to understand how this type of coverage works in the United States and what your options are. This is especially true if you\u2019ll be personally responsible for paying for your dental treatment.\u00a0Don\u2019t worry – you have two viable options!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Option #1. Traditional Dental Plans<\/h3>\n

\nTraditional dental insurance plans will likely cost about $50 per month but will vary depending on the company offering the plan and the coverage it includes. In most cases, dental insurance plans will provide a certain dollar amount of coverage for specific services and any amount over this will need to be paid out of pocket.<\/p>

It\u2019s important to keep in mind that insurance policies will always have exclusions<\/a> (meaning things that won\u2019t be covered by the plan), so pick up the phone and speak to someone if you need help. This will help ensure your questions are answered and the plan will ultimately cover the bills you\u2019re expecting it to.<\/p>\n Check our Major Medical plans with optional dental coverage<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Option #2. Discount Dental Plans<\/h3>\n

Referred to as dental savings plans, these types of plans require you to pay an annual fee (about $150 a year or so) and then in turn, you receive about 10% – 60% discount on specific dental care at select dentists. One additional benefit with discount dental plans<\/span><\/a> is that you\u2019re able to purchase them in the event you need something specific done, such as a tooth extraction. This can come in handy if you decide against a dental insurance plan but ultimately need some kind of coverage later on.<\/p>\nPurchase your dental discount plan<\/a>

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Pro Tip:<\/strong> Shopping around for the best rate and coverage may be time consuming, but will likely result in significant cost savings over time. Trust us, it\u2019s worth the effort.<\/em> <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Bottom Line<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Think of dental insurance like the umbrella – you may not expect to need it on any given day, but it sure does come in handy from time to time.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As with most things in life, the answer to the question \u2018Do international students need dental insurance?\u2019 isn\u2019t black and white. On one hand, it\u2019s possible that you buy dental insurance and never use it, but on the other, you could end up using it several times (and each time thank your lucky stars). What we can be sure of, is that dental visits in the US don\u2019t come cheap and it\u2019s always good to hope for the best but prepare for the worst!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nContact us<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As with most things in life, the answer to the question \u2018Do international students need dental insurance?\u2019 isn\u2019t black and white. On one hand, it\u2019s possible that you buy dental insurance and never use it, but on the other, you could end up using it several times (and each time thank your lucky stars). What we can be sure of, is that dental visits in the US don\u2019t come cheap and it\u2019s always good to hope for the best but prepare for the worst!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,106,99,968,105],"tags":[1430,1501,1059,1296,1500,1227],"class_list":["post-5174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-explained","category-product-information","category-student-insurance","category-student-travel","category-study-abroad","tag-dental-coverage","tag-dental-discount-plan","tag-dental-insurance","tag-discount-dental","tag-insurance-with-dental-coverage","tag-student-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5174"}],"version-history":[{"count":72,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7557,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5174\/revisions\/7557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.internationalstudentinsurance.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}