How many of you have allowed your dental benefits to dictate your dental treatment? Unfortunately, many of us have answered "yes" to this question, but did you know that it is actually illegal for your insurance company to dictate the course of dental treatment to you?

How do they do this? Let me give you an example. Many patients at one time or another have been told that the best dental treatment for a particular broken down tooth would be an extraction and an implant. The second option would be to extract the tooth and then create a bridge. Many of you look at your dental benefits and realize that you have no coverage for implants but that you do have coverage for the bridge. Therefore, you decide based on your coverage that you will have a bridge rather than an implant, even though the best treatment would be the implant as it does not destroy two adjacent teeth for the bridge.

This is a prime example of the insurance companies dictating treatment by your coverage. In many cases, what you are not told is that there is hidden coverage in your plan for what is known in the industry as alternative coverage. This means that the insurance must give you the same payout for the dental treatment that you choose whether you go with an implant or a bridge.

So in the future, before you let your insurance benefits dictate your next dental treatment, check your benefits carefully or let us help you so that you get the best dental treatment based on your oral health needs and not on your benefits.

Maria