Denplan is one of the biggest providers of capitation schemes, with 1.8m patients who are registered with more than 6,500 dentists – a third of practising dentists. It has an 80 per cent share of the entire dental plan market, and also offers cash plans and dental insurance.
In order to sign up to Denplan, your dentist must first give you an oral assessment. You must then decide how comprehensive you want the cover to be and can choose from the Denplan Essentials policy which is more basic than the Denplan Care scheme which covers a wider range of treatments.
The Denplan Care policy, for example, covers all normal routine dental care including X-rays, examinations fillings and preventive care, as well as restorative care such as gum treatment, crowns, bridges, dentures and inlays, and root fillings.
The Essentials plan, however, does not include any restorative dental treatment, and neither plan covers cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, nor referrals to specialists. Denplan dentists set their own fees, so these will vary depending on the location of the practice, the costs of its overheads and your oral health. However, the average fee for Denplan Care is £18.05 a month, while for Denplan Essentials, it is £11.27.
Plans for children are typically £6.99. For more information, or to find a Denplan dentist, visit the website www.denplan.co.uk.
Another way of covering steep dental costs is to consider insurance, which is available through companies such as Boots. Its NHS cover is designed to repay your NHS dental charges and costs £9 a month. This provides cover of up to £500 a year for routine treatment and £500 for accidental dental injuries.
Level 1 Private cover costs £13.50 a month and will pay out up to £750 a year for routine treatment, and up to £1,000 a year for dental injuries. Cover for emergencies is unlimited. Boots Level 2 cover costs £19.50 a month, but will pay out up to £1,000 and £1,500 for routine treatment and dental injuries respectively, with cover for emergencies again unlimited. For routine treatments, you must have been on the plan for three months before you can make a claim. For more information, visit www.boots.com, or call 0845 840 1111.
The third type of dental cover you can buy is through health cash plans. These will contribute towards your routine healthcare costs. They work by paying out a cash sum whenever you visit a dentist or other medical practitioner, such as a chiropodist or optician, which you can spend on what you want. HSF's Health Plans, for example, start from £6 a month.
As well as dental treatment, the plan covers other medical expenses, such as practitioner treatment including physiotherapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy and podiatry, and specialist investigation and treatment. However, if you opt for the lowest level of cover, at £6 a month, the maximum you can claim back for both dental and optical costs is just £50 in any one year.
The highest level of cover, which costs £78 a month, will pay out a maximum of £850 a year for dental and optical treatment. To find out more, visit hsf.eu.com. Similarly, Medicash's health cash plans, start at £6.50 a month. The cover is available to anyone aged between 16 and 65 and the policy also includes payments for visits to the optician, overnight hospital stays, homeopathy, physiotherapy, having a baby and breaking a bone. Again, if you opt for the lowest level of cover, the maximum you can claim back for dental costs alone is £50 in any one year.
The highest level of cover, which costs £39 a month, will pay out a maximum of £300 a year for dental treatment costs. See www.medicash.org. HSA, at www.hsa.co.uk, offers a dental-only cash plan which offers three levels of cover, priced at £7.35, £12.60 and £17.85 a month respectively.
The more you pay, the more cover you get. So, for example, the maximum the lowest-cost plan will pay out for crowns or bridges is £200, rising to £500 if you take out either of the higher cost plans.
Whichever form of dental cover you opt for, you must always ensure you understand exactly which procedures are – and aren't – included, and what limits are in place, as being caught out over the small print is enough to leave anyone feeling down in the mouth
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