A study by the American College of Prosthodontics revealed that over 36 million people in the United States don’t have any teeth, while 120 million are missing at least one tooth. This is often the result of accidents, cavities, gum disease, teeth misalignment, and other factors.
To resolve this issue, many have used dental bridges and dentures, but both run the risk of damage to your natural teeth, as they require either grinding down or clasping over the adjacent teeth. For this reason, dental implants are a great alternative to replace one or more teeth.
What are dental implants?
Dental implants replace the root of your tooth and serve as a base for replacement teeth. The metal implants are placed in your jawbone through surgery, and the titanium root doesn’t make noise, slip, or cause bone damage (a common risk associated with dentures and bridges).
An implant is like a screw-in tooth (or row of teeth, depending on how many teeth are being replaced).
Should I get dental implants?
Dental implants may be the best option for you if you have a fully grown jawbone, healthy oral tissues, and don’t have health conditions that would affect how the bone heals. Furthermore, you should have enough bone to firmly secure the dental implant, or the ability to have a bone graft.
Implants are effective for one or more missing teeth and recommended if you don’t smoke tobacco and are open to committing several months to complete the entirety of the process.
What are the benefits of dental implants?
The apparent benefit of dental implants is an improved facial appearance, but there are a number of health benefits as well. Dental implants build an overall healthier mouth by lowering the risk of periodontal (or gum) disease caused by bacteria buildup on the teeth (plaque).
Furthermore, other dental procedures like bridges and dentures cause damage to adjacent teeth over time. Choosing the solution of dental implants, however, protects the integrity of your natural teeth, allowing you to keep as many as possible.
Alongside improved facial appearance comes a level of confidence, renewed self-esteem and comfort in a variety of situations which could have brought you fear and anxiety.
How much do dental implants cost?
While the exact price for dental implants varies from person to person depending on their needs, the average cost is anywhere from $1,500 to $6,000 for a single tooth implant, and upwards of $50,000 for multiple teeth.
Can you use insurance to cover dental implants?
Whether your dental insurance covers implants depends on the reasoning behind a patient deciding to get them. First and foremost, we have to understand the way that dental procedures are broken down in terms of insurance coverage.
The following are procedures in dentistry that can be covered by insurance:
- Preventative care, inclusive of regular office visits and cleanings
- Basic restorative care, which includes crowns and fillings
- Endodontics, inclusive of root canals
- Oral surgery, which includes bacterial infection drainage, tooth extractions, tissue biopsy, and the placement of dental implants
- Orthodontics, which includes braces, aligners, retainers, and palatal expanders
- Periodontics, inclusive of root planing, gum grafting, periodontal surgery, scaling, and placement of implants if certified
- Prosthodontics, which includes bridges, dentures, and the dental implants themselves
Because procedures available for coverage are arranged in this way, it is important to understand that every insurance plan is different and implants may or may not be covered in part or in full.
Speaking in a general sense, dental insurance plans cover 100% of preventative care procedures, but as you move further down the list, the coverages become less and less. Insurance plans often only cover 80% of basic treatments like extractions, root canals, periodontal surgery, and fillings. More major procedures inclusive of crowns, dentures, and dental implants are often covered only 50% by insurance.
If the loss of a tooth was the result of an injury or accident, you may be able to find coverage under your medical insurance or accident insurance policy to assist with the coverages. Implants are often considered more of a cosmetic procedure, so it is unlikely to find full coverage through your insurance provider for dental implants.
How to pay for dental implants
Since in most instances, dental implants are not fully covered by insurance, it leaves those in need of the service in a difficult place. If you are in need of an implant, you have a few options.
Traditional financing is an option that you can explore. The difficulty, however, is that most who are in need of dental implant financing may not necessarily have the best credit.
Complete payment options, like Denefits, are available that will finance even those who have bad credit with the services that they need.
Final remarks
Since dental implants in most instances are considered a cosmetic procedure, you may want to think through moving forward with them. If dental implants are the solution for you, however, you can greatly benefit from an effective financing platform.
Denefits allows anyone to be approved for financing, regardless of their credit history, and even reports payments to the major credit bureaus so that you can work on rebuilding your credit.
To find a dental implant provider using Denefits, or to refer your dental implant provider to Denefits, request a callback today.
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