The benefit to using these types of discount plans is that they offer substantial discounts, in some cases as high as 60% off, on most routine dental care, such as cleaning, dentures, orthodontic braces and much more.

Here are some of the pro's and con's of US discount dental health plans.

Pro's

One of the good things about these types of plans is they don't have any age limit restrictions. What this means is that you can see a participating dentist or specialist no matter what your age is.

Another benefit of joining a discount plan is that preexisting dental conditions are not excluded. Dental insurance policies won't cover any condition that already existed at the time you were issued the plan. This means that if the whole reason you're buying dental insurance was to get your teeth fixed then you are in for a shock because I guarantee you it won't happen. You can get a discount at a participating dentist as soon as you have your discount card in hand.

Although the cost of joining a discount dental plan and getting insurance is close to the same, a discount plan does not require you to pay co-pays each time you visit the dentist. Furthurmore, there aren't any annual limits placed on consumers that use discounted plans like there is with most types of dental insurance.

Cons

If you have a major accident, such as falling off a bicycle, falling out of a tree, falling down and breaking your teeth, etc, then dental insurance would cover most of the costs of fixing your teeth, whereas a discount plan would only offer the discount.

Even though there are over 100,000 participating dental professional nationwide that accept discount dental plans in the U.s., there are still some rural areas where service may be limited and you could be forced to drive an hour or more to see a dentist.

You may not be able to continue seeing your current dentist, if you have one. You could ask that they become a discount plan provider and then see them, but if they refuse then you'll have no choice but to find a new dentist within the network of the discount plan.

So are us discount dental health plans a better deal than traditional dental insurance? This depends on your personal needs and the immediate care needs of whoever is going to be included in the plan. It would be best for everyone if they could carry both plans, but that's not feasible for everyone to do since there are costs involved. Your best option is to get as much information as possible about these two plans, evaluate your urgent dental care needs and make an informed decision afterword.