Your health impacts your quality of life, affecting everything from your ability to work, engage in your favorite pastimes, and enjoy intimacy with your partner. While people commonly think of going to the doctor to address health issues, oral health is critical to your overall health. Dental health issues have been linked to severe health conditions, including the following:
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Erectile dysfunction
- Heart disease
- Kidney disease
- Respiratory diseases and infections
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Sjogren’s syndrome
- Stroke
Medical research has also linked dental health issues to complications during pregnancy, premature birth, obesity, and infertility.
Although oral health care is crucial for our well-being, 74 million people in the United States lack dental insurance. Without suitable benefit plans covering dental costs, many Americans cannot afford the dental services they need.
Let’s look at some reasons for high dental care costs and options you can consider when paying for dental care.
Factors Affecting Dental Costs
To understand dental costs, you must understand the things included in the price of dental work. Dental bills include the following:
- Electric bills
- Equipment costs
- Internet services
- Marketing
- Materials
- Phone lines
- Rent
- Staff
- Water bills
While the overhead costs associated with running a business are significant, dentists are highly trained professionals who typically complete at least four years of postsecondary education to earn their bachelor’s and another four years to earn their advanced degrees. Dentists typically have a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DDM); dentists may also opt to earn a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. Dentists must also complete their state’s licensing requirements, and dental hygienists must have an associate’s degree and license. Academic requirements are a crucial reason for the high wages of professionals in this field.
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$179
With this offer, there’s no excuse not to get back on track! Schedule a complete exam and x-rays for only $39 and ensure you have a beautiful healthy smile.
Does Absolute Dental Provide Financing Options?
Absolute Dental understands the challenges of paying for expert dental care and created our Smile Saver plan, putting affordable expert dental care within reach. Our Smile Saver plan involves paying a low monthly fee for dental coverage that includes the following benefits:
- Free comprehensive dental exams
- Free oral cancer screening
- 87% discount on X-rays
- 53% off adult teeth cleaning
- 44% off porcelain crowns
In addition to these savings, Smile Saver plan members receive 30-50% discounts on all other dental services, such as braces, root canals, tooth extractions, emergency dental care, dental surgery, and dental bonding.
Smile Saver plan members receive more than financial benefits. No waiting period is required to access plan benefits, enabling members to get the dental treatment they need without delay. Plan members don’t have to submit any forms, and no annual maximums exist. You can use the plan as often as you need to maintain your oral health.
How To Reduce Dental Costs
There are options you can consider to reduce your dental treatment costs.
Deals For Cash-Pay
At Absolute Dental, we offer discounts for customers paying in full with cash. All businesses pay up to 3.5% in service fees when patrons use a credit card. We share those savings with our patrons, enabling those who pay in cash to save.
Are you looking for a cash-pay dentist near your Las Vegas or Reno location? Absolute Dental has offices in Carson City, Henderson, Minden, Sparks, and Summerlin.
Call or visit our offices to learn about payment options and how much you can save on dental care.
Payment Plans
One way to reduce the cost of dental care involves negotiating a dental payment plan with your dental health care provider. Dental payment plans are an excellent option if you don’t have cash available to pay for your total dental bill at once. You can create a plan suitable to your payment schedule that accounts for your other financial obligations.
Specials
Another way to reduce dental treatment costs is to capitalize on dental care specials. Absolute Dental offers specials on common dental services, including exams, braces, wisdom teeth extractions, and dental implants.
CareCredit
You may qualify for CareCredit. CareCredit helps people pay for dental care and reduces dental care costs by waiving interest fees if the account holder can pay off their bill quickly, enabling them to save money.
What Insurance Does Absolute Dental Accept?
Absolute Dental accepts dental plans from most leading dental insurance companies, including the following:
- Aetna
- Ameritas
- BlueCross BlueShield
- Boon-Chapman
- Cigna
- Delta Dental
- GEHA
- Guardian
- Health Plan of Nevada
- Healthscope
- Humana
- Liberty Dental Plan
- MetLife
- Premier Access
- The Standard
- The Zenith
- THT Health
- United Concordia Dental
- UnitedHealthcare
Ways To Prevent Oral Health Issues
Investing in preventative care is one of the ways to avoid expensive dental bills. While dental exams and teeth cleanings are a crucial part of preventative care, you can also take the following steps to protect your teeth and oral health:
- Brush two times every day
- Brush your tongue
- Eliminate the use of tobacco products
- Floss daily
- Increase water intake
- Reduce your sugar intake
- Use a soft bristle toothbrush
- Use dental sealants
- Use mouthwash
- Use toothpaste with fluoride
Nutrition also plays a significant role in oral health. While reducing your sugar intake helps prevent cavities, you can also strengthen your teeth with calcium intake. Foods high in calcium and low in sugar include cheese, milk, and yogurt. The casein in these foods reinforces tooth enamel, helping prevent breaks and cavities.
You can also increase your calcium intake by adding spinach, kale, and lettuce.
Nuts, meats, fatty fish, tofu, cranberries, and raisins also deliver essential oral health nutrients.
Affordable Oral Health Care
Whether looking for a Las Vegas dentist or a dental office near your location, Absolute Dental has over 50 offices throughout Nevada, ensuring affordable dental care is within reach for Nevadans. We offer multiple payment options and will work with you to create a plan suited to your needs so you can afford the dental care you need.
Sources:
Dentists: How to Become a Dentist. (2024).
15 Diseases Caused by Poor Dental Hygiene. (2024).
Grigg, B., et al. (2024). How Much Are Credit Card Processing Fees?
Oral Health. (2022).
Sainato, M. (2021). ‘Your mouth becomes a minefield’: the Americans who can’t afford the dentist.