Budgeting for your Dental Care

Dental care can be expensive, especially when the treatment is unexpected. Budgeting for your dental care is one of the best ways to take care of your oral health, so we wanted to share a few ways you can make a trip to the dentist less of a shock to your bank account.

There are 3 main ways you can start budgeting for your dental care:

• Payment plans such as Denplan
• Practice payment plans for one off treatments
• Setting aside money in a ‘rainy day’ savings account.

Denplan

Denplan is a monthly payment plan that can cover your routine check-ups, x-rays, and sometimes your restorative treatments depending on the type of plan you’ve agreed with your dentist. It can even include hygienist appointments. This means that when you arrive for your routine check-up, you will know that you have already paid for that appointment and you won’t need to worry about paying for it all in one go. Our plans start from just £9.98 per month!

Further treatment may require additional funds, so read on to see what options you have.

Treatment payment plan

Treatment payment plans are great for unexpected treatments, one-time treatments, or long-term treatments. These plans allow you to pay for dental care in smaller instalments as opposed to the whole amount at once. Sometimes paying in smaller chunks over longer periods of time will incur an interest fee, though there are often interest-free options up to 12 months.

And once you’ve paid for your treatment, that’s it! Perhaps with the money that you used to put towards the treatment, you could set it aside for the next time you need to go to the dentist (unexpected or not!).

Rainy Day Savings…Sinking Funds…True Expenses

Whatever you want to call it, the aim of this method is to allocate a set amount each month from your pay cheque to ensure that you have some money to contribute to your next dental visit.

 “But how do I know how much to save each month?”

The answer is that it will depend on your individual dental needs. Some may only need to save for the two routine check-ups a year – in which case, the amount you would need to save each month is decided by the cost of the check up divided by the amount of months until that appointment.

Some may need more regular check-ups, or would like regular hygiene visits, or have generally more complex dental needs. In these cases, start by saving for what you know you will need on a regular basis. Talk to your dentist about treatments that may be on the horizon, and plan accordingly.

The key with this one is that you don’t necessarily have to save for the entire treatment; as we discussed above, the goal to have some money set aside rather than having to find it all at once.

Whether you do one of these methods or all three, budgeting for your dental care will make a huge difference to your oral health: you’ll be less likely to avoid the dentist, which means your dentist can find things early and work on preventative treatment rather than curative, saving you more money in the long term.

For more information about Denplan or our patient finance options, please call Eden on 01726 61212 and one of our practice team will be more than happy to help you.