Decare or others

usernamegoes

I am interested in people's views on private dental insurance.

Currently, I have Laya health insurance which gives me the following:

Emergency: 50% up to €510 when carried out within 5 days
Non-Emergency: 50% of charges up to €300 per year

I also have HSF which provides the following benefits:

€300 per 12 month period for dental.

So basically that is €600 per year for Non-Emergency dental. Which seems more than enough for most years. As I usually got twice a year and it's all routine clean etc. Never usually approaches that figure.

I have always had pretty healthy teeth so never really thought about what would happen if I need a large amount of work.

However, recently a family member had been hit by a huge bill and it started me thinking. Then to support this niggle I had about what would happen if I had a huge bill, I started grinding my teeth all day I have badly damaged one tooth which I expect will need sorting, not the end of the world, but what about the underlying cause of the grinding; what if that is an expensive procedure?

I have looked at the benefit terms of Decare, but hardly understand the exclusions or what is actually covered. The benefit table advertised seems quite simplistic compared to the T&Cs I looked at. If anyone can shed some light on the value of the insurance.

I also understand that some oral surgeries may be covered under regular Laya hospital cover. Can anyone give me some context on that?

Best,

R

Kanno

I have the same Laya cover as you OP.

Non-Emergency: 50% of charges up to €300 per year
Laya have told me that this only covers basic dental treatments like checkups,cleanings,fillings and extractions .
It doesnt cover xrays or treatment of gum disease.
You have 4 years to submit the receipts too which is excellent.

I took out dental insurance with VHI a few months ago as I have had alot of issues with my teeth in the last few years .
There is a waiting period of 12 months for major work like root canals and crowns which is fair .
Fillings, extractions and gum treatment is covered after 3 months (70% cover)

At the time I took out the cover ,Decare were underwriting the cover for VHI but they have moved out on their own since the start of 2014 and it would seem their cover is slightly more extensive and cheaper.

Decare cover 70% of the cost of root canals and crowns while VHI only cover 50%.They are almost identical in other areas.

The Decare Healthy Smiles Level 3 cover is just over 200 euro per year and is good value for money and peace of mind if you need to get procedures like root canals which frankly are an outrageous price in this country on molar teeth .You could be looking at 1500 euro for a root canal and crown .

With regard to your grinding you may need to wear a splint or see a tmj specialist ,I dont think dental insurance will cover any of these costs,it didnt in my case anyway irrespective of waiting periods.

Regular Laya hospital cover will cover extraction of wisdom teeth or compacted teeth and I think it may also cover certain gum recession treatments .

Hopefully other Decare or VHI customers might add their thoughts too.

usernamegoes

Thanks, that's very useful information.

If anyone else has some experience with dental insurance and it's value, I'd love to hear it.

ash23

I have it and so far have just used it for my regular checkups and xrays with one filling. It was fine. Similar to claiming for my GP visits on my medical policy. I just paid the dentist, filled in the form and sent it away. Got the money back into my account a couple of weeks later.


As far as I know though grinding isn't covered as I asked about cover for a mouth guard and it wasn't. Think it's just things like cavities and broken teeth but best thing is to ring around and get some prices and ask them about the specifics of what you need cover for.

helimachoptor

Sorry Billy, if you want to advertise you need to go though the official channels, please email hello@boards.ie

btkm8unsl0w5r4

My experiance is limited, I have filled in maybe 20 claims for patients. If you need simple dental work they coverage is alright, but you get quite a bit of dental work for 200 euro a year. If you need loads of advanced work like crown, implants etc it's pays out very little in porportion. I think it depends on your dental requirements. If you have good teeth it costs too much. If you have medium teeth it's probably a good idea, if you have proper bad teeth it's not great. Study the terms and conditions carefully and look at what they actually pay out for each item and what your dentist charges for that treatment