Given in the morning, at bedtime, or after meals, mouth care entails brushing and flossing the teeth and inspecting the oral cavity. It removes soft plaque deposits and calculus from the teeth, cleans and massages the gums, reduces mouth odor, and helps fight and prevent infection. By freshening the patient’s mouth, oral cavity care also improves and enhances the taste of food, aiding appetite and most importantly, nutrition.
When you reach the point in your life when you realize that you need an oral health treatment or is expecting to need it soon, you need to plan out an analysis about this matter.
If you don’t know already, Medicare doesn’t include dental insurance for our elderly population or for our senior citizens. There might be a couple of exceptions but they are mostly rare to acquire.
There are a few of dental plan options available in the market today, and four of the dental plan options will be explained to see how each one of them affects you as a paying member.
First is the PPO dental insurance plan which is quite popular for senior citizens since it gives you the freedom of choosing your own preferred dentist. Businesses usually use this type of insurance plan to provide valuable options to their employees. Though PPO plans have numerous benefits for the elderly, be alert and aware for its flexibility comes at a price. Annual premiums are much more costly than the others.
Second is the HMO dental insurance plan, also known as dental health maintenance organizations or DHMO. This insurance plan is less expensive than the PPO plans and indemnity plans, and businesses usually use this type of plan to insure their employees at affordable rates.
A traditional dental coverage for seniors or the Dental Indemnity Insurance is the third type of dental insurance plan. In here, the policy holder picks any dentist he or she wishes and pays the dentist directly for services. The payment you gave is then returned to you for the insurance reimburse the carrier by means of the claims process. These plans cover 50%-80% of the dental work expenses, while the remaining is paid by the patient. The only advantage is that it may take a long time before the patient can be reimbursed, making this type of dental insurance for seniors, not the best choice.
Lastly is an alternative to traditional dental insurance plans, the Discount Dental Plans. They are not insurance, so they don’t require any copay or deductible and carry no yearly or annual maximum limits. It is also important to keep in mind that you will be responsible for paying the dentist the full discounted fee.
Dental infection and decay advance more in seniors. It is of utmost concern to schedule frequent checkups with proper oral health. This can ensure that you’re still smiling with confidence.
