The patient gets to see their dentist of choice. The patient's employer pays the dental bills up to the annual maximum AND saves money over conventional insurance plans by eliminating the expensive monthly premiums. It leads us to believe that there is something going on here besides honest journalism. The fact is, much dental disease does not cause pain, yet is insidious and can cause significant damage. The intra-oral camera is used to show patients the disease state in process.
Patients can clearly see for themselves if treatment is indicated.
It is, in fact, a great tool for allowing the patient to co-diagnose with the dentist. Fillings are just one of hundreds of different treatment modalities that can be needed to maintain healthy teeth for a lifetime, especially as teeth and gums age. As a norm, dentists are NOT over-prescribing care, as is evidenced by the latest statistics published by Delta Dental of California, one of the largest insurance plans in the nation. And, as the annual benefit increases, theoretically encouraging dentists to over-diagnose according to Mr. Ecenbarger, the number of patients who actually use their maximum benefit falls off even more. More aging people with more teeth, coupled with a decline in the number of dental schools turning out graduates in the U.S. equals a concern that there will even be enough dentists to get the job done.