Bloomsburg, Danville, and Lewisburg, PA
Dental insurance can be great to have when it allows you to get the care you need, but your dental coverage can feel like a burden when you’re stuck shelling out hard-earned cash on top of making your premium payments. One treatment option that many insurance plans won’t cover is a dental implant, even though this is considered the single best method of replacing a lost tooth. Drs. Joel Hamilton and Leigh Jacopetti-Kondraski, Bloomsburg implant dentists, want to explain why you should consider dental implants, even if your insurance won’t cover them.
What Are Dental Implants?
Dental implants represent a virtually permanent solution to replacing a missing tooth. An implant consists of three components: a titanium implant screw that is surgically placed into the jawbone, a customized crown that replaces the exterior of your lost tooth, and an abutment that attaches the two pieces. The crown will be made to match the color, shape, and size of your other natural teeth. Plus, the crown will be the only visible part of the implant. Meanwhile, the implant screw fuses with your jawbone during the healing process once it’s been inserted, replacing the tooth root and providing extraordinary stability. That is how dental implants mimic a lost tooth so perfectly.
Why won’t insurance cover dental implants?
Dental implants are the most permanent solution to a missing tooth, but why do insurance companies put up such a fight when it comes to covering the cost? In many instances, the insurance industry avoids dental implants for two reasons—deeming them experimental or cosmetic.
Are implants experimental? Far from it. We want to reassure you that dental implants are a time-tested method of restorative dentistry. The first dental implants were placed more than 50 years ago. Numerous comprehensive studies have shown that dental implants are successful and functional. Dental insurance companies have no justification for using the term “experimental” when describing any implant procedure.
Implants aren’t just cosmetic. Cosmetic treatments often are not covered by dental insurance plans. Insurers justify this by saying they promote health, not aesthetics. If receiving a dental implant were like a teeth whitening treatment or a veneer procedure, this point about implants would be valid. However, dental implants have functional benefits that no other tooth replacement does. These benefits include restoring more of your chewing ability, which means better nutrition and fewer digestive problems, and maintaining or improving the alignment of your bite since a well-installed implant prevents your other teeth from shifting. An implant is self-supporting. It can be placed without modifying your existing teeth. And it prevents the deterioration of your jawbone because implants provide the same stimulation that came from the root of your lost teeth.
Dental implants in Bloomsburg
Living with a missing tooth weakens the health of your gums, jeopardizes your remaining teeth, and eventually affects your overall health. Insurance companies will avoid paying for implants at all costs. That’s why more and more of our patients at Hamilton Dental Care are moving away from relying on insurance plans and towards working on financial plans with us to receive the care they want. Contact Hamilton Dental Care today to find about our financing and payment options. Don’t live with missing teeth. Learn more about implants by calling our office at (570) 387-0533 to schedule a consultation.
Hamilton Dental Care is here to serve patients in the communities of Bloomsburg, Danville, and Lewisburg, PA.
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