2 Year Old Daughter and Dental Insurance

I am a dental hygienist for 5 years and prior to that I was a office manager for 6 years with a total of 11 years in the dental field. So it all depends on how your childs teeth are. Do you brush her teeth at night? Does she eat/drink foods or drinks with high sugar content excessively? Does she go to bed with bottle or cup in mouth? If the answer to these questions are a no then your daughter probably is not at high risk for developing cavities. At 2 all you should be spending on dental work is for exam and if your daughter allows maybe a couple x-rays of front teeth (but at 2 that is kinda overkill), cleaning and fluoride treatment every 6 months. Again depending where you go but that is roughly $200-300 for the year. Having said that how much will it cost you to have her put on your insurance? Not only that does your dental insurance cover 100% of preventative visits or will there be a copay. Do the math and figure out which is cheaper for you to do. If not purchasing the insurance is your answer well then pretend you are paying that money for the insurance and just put it in a seperate bank account that could give you a couple of cents of interest and when dental visit time comes around you already have that money saved up and you will not have to go into your everyday living stash of money. Once your child turns 4-5 when they are more active and at risks for accidents in school then I would reconsider putting her on your dental plan b/c it is those unexpected dental emergencies that can really add up. Hope this helped!

K., if you have insurance of course you should add your child to your plan. She may need dental treatment later after the check up. Dental and health care are both expensive so use any insurance benefits possible. Also, make sure your child has a peds dentist and if she has a fit with the dentist keep looking for one who makes your child feel comfortable. I took my daughter to a friend referred dentist for a few visits. Each time she had a fit.They held her down to examine her teeth. I have a great dentist for her now in Oak Lawn. Also try to get the appointment in the morning or after your daughter has had a nap ( if she still takes them).

We added my daughter the day after she was born. Very small cost and as she would be seeing the dentist at 1 year old (as recommended per my dentist - they want to take a look before all of the teeth come in) I just wanted it done.

Hi K.,

I would strongly suggest you contact your dental insurance company directly. Everyone/company can have a different coverage plan so no matter what great "advice" you get from us moms at Mamasource, it may not pertain to your specific coverage which could result in money out of your pocket.

The contact number can usually be found on the back of your insurance card and sometimes even a direct website which will also give you coverage information.

Good luck and happy brushing.

Our dental plan pays for 100% preventative (2 visits a year or once every 6 months). So, yes, it was completely worth it for us to add our kids as soon as they were old enough to sit in the dentist's chair (we waited until 3yrs old).

I would say yes to add her because you never know. A neighbor's child fell and knocked out 4 of her front baby teeth when she was 3. She had many dental visits afterwards! Thank goodness she was included on their dental plan.

Call your insurance co. We had to add our son as he wasn't automatically added.

Hi K. By all means put her on the insurance! Dental can be expensive even at her young age.

My dentist recommends that we bring our son in for an exam and cleaning at age 3. He casually looked in my son's mouth and sat him in the chair last week during my appt, just to get him aware that he'll be there in 6 months for the real deal.

Find out how much an exam costs. I think you'll find that the cost is less than the monthly rate increase to add her for full dental insurance. Plus, you probably won't be able to add her until your open enrollment... when is that? Typically the enrollment time is fall for benefits effective 1/1 of the following year, although some companies have it mid-year. Consider whether or not you'll be doing the full exam/cleaning, the costs for that out of pocket, and what you'll pay for premiums and copayments.

Honestly I wouldn't. I'm not sure how much it would cost you but for me, I have delta dental, the cost to add her would be more per year than what you will actually spend to have her teeth cleaned. Not to mention, I have found that most dental insurance companies cover very little. In my case, I was better just paying the bill than paying for what was left of the bill and insurance. It wasn't until later when she would need more extensive care like x-rays that I added her. The same thing goes for 3 year old son.

I say add her - if you have any other kids, most group plans have different levels of coverage, including individual, individual plus spouse, plus dependent, plus familiy. The plus family option should cover any future children as well, and the cost is generally pretty low. You never know what's going to happen. My son was a year old and chipped a tooth and had to go to the dentist. Luckily it didn't require any work, but if the damage had been worse, that dental insurance would have come in handy. Plus at age 3 he'll start going for twice-a-year cleanings. The dental (and vision) portions of group insurance is generally pretty low, so I think it's in your best interest to protect yourself. That's what insurance is all about, right?

Most kids under 3 either don't go to the dentist or only go once each year...My daughter's first appt was at 3 (and 50% off for first time patient) and we did not have her on insurance at the time. It was very inexpensive - less than what we would have paid for her to be on insurance. Now that she has passed her 3rd birthday, she has been added to our insurance. Since we are paying for family insurance, my son is also on the insurance, but he only goes once each year until he hits 3 per the dentist.

I K.,

Our son will turn two in September and I just took him to his first dentist appointment yesterday. We did not add him to our insurance, and out of pocket the cleaning cost us $106.00. I was highly impressed with the practice and staff, I am very picky. They are located out of Long Grove. I am not sure where you live, but if you are interested, send me a personal message and I can give you their information. Good luck! (We will add our son to the dental plan next year) I hope that helps.

J.

If you have dental insurance, get her on the policy a.s.a.p. Exrays can be $150.00-$200.00 with the exam. It just cost me $140.00 without exrays.

We put our daughter on our insurance right after she was born, in case there was an accident, etc. It doesn't cost that much.

I didn't add my daughter because it was going to cost us an extra $400 / yr and 2 visits a year were not likely going to cost $500. It depends on the cost differential between adding her to your plan and paying out of pocket. For us, paying out of pocket was going to be cheaper.

Also if you think that she may have other dental issues that would cost more than the standard checkups, you may want to add her earlier. E.g. if you have a history of early cavities etc.

I would add her. Kids sometimes get cavities, fall and chip a tooth... My kids are older but they go every 6 months to the dentist.

If you want her appointments to be covered by insurance, then yes, you need to add her. Otherwise you will pay for all of her appointments out-of-pocket. This probably wouldn't be terribly expensive because they are just cleanings, but if you can add her to your policy, I would do it. : )

ABSOLUTELY add her to your dental plan!!! children as young as 18 months can get cavities! My niece lost her 2 front teeth to decay before she was 2. ( it was the bottle at fault)
the idea of having dental insurance is to keep costs down....I can't imagine you wanting to bear the entire cost of dental treatment for your toddler unless necessary.