Dental Capitation Plans
A “Dental Capitation” plan is a fancy name for dental maintenance. In a dental maintenance plan, you pay a monthly or annual fee to any private dental care center and their task is to give you monthly appointments and conduct period checkup. If the person concerned is a minor, then he/she will receive free maintenance under the NHS scheme but for adults, the cost of capitation is high, especially when people need to visit dental clinics every month.
If you become a member of any dental capitation plan then you are assured of contracted care. You enter into a contract with the dentist and if any dental insurer is involved, it will be limited to selling dental insurance to people and helping the registered dentist with administration. Except for cosmetic dentistry, your dental maintenance insurance will cover preventive care, fillings, check-ups, X-rays and others.
Sometimes supplementary insurance may be included, depending upon dental emergencies or accidents the insured has undergone. If any maintenance treatment is not covered by the insurance plan, you have to pay in full to the dentist. Make sure the dentist you choose is credible because once you sign the insurance contract, you have to visit the same registered dentist every time.
If you go to other dentists, you have to pay them. The cost of your dental insurance plan will depend on the state of your teeth and the treatments you want to cover within the plan. Dentists will pre-assess your condition and give his suggestions. The maintenance plans cannot be said to be strictly “insurance”, they come under “contracted services”.
