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Most “health” insurance plans in the U.S. don’t cover two pretty vital things: your eyesight and your teeth. While health insurance in general is a dumpster fire in this country, nothing compares to dental insurance for sheer uselessness. As anyone who has ever needed extensive dental work knows, even with dental insurance your out-of-pocket costs are astronomical. In fact, many folks don’t even consider dental insurance to be actual insurance, because most people will pay more in premiums than they ever get back in benefits. And while Medicaid can provide dental care, its dental coverage varies by state and drops significantly after the age of 21, and only about 40% of dentists accept it. That’s one big reason why a whopping 74 million people in this country don’t have any dental coverage at all.
Oral health is vital to the rest of your health, though, so how can you pay for dental care if you don’t have insurance—or even if you do have insurance but have discovered just how bad it is? Here are some ways you can get the care you need without going broke.
Dental schools
No matter where you live, there’s a dental program somewhere in your state filled with students who need to perform examinations and procedures on real patients. There might be some travel involved, but the upside is that you can often get things like cleanings, root canals, or fillings done for less than half the cost you would pay at a practicing dentist’s office.
The downside is that the service will be slow: Every step of the procedure has to be supervised and checked by a licensed dentist before you can move on to the next one. You can find dental schools in your state at the Commission on Dental Accreditation.
Dental clinics
There are free and low-cost public dental clinics that utilize a sliding scale based on income and insurance coverage in just about every area of the country. You can find them by searching FreeDental.org. Many non-profit organizations also stage dental clinics at fairs and other public events, and the America’s Dentist Care Foundation tracks these events on their website, so you can see if one is headed into your area in the coming months. The United Way also maintains a directory of emergency and low-cost dental services that can help you.
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If you are dealing with a disability or are over the age of 65 and unable to afford oral health services, you can contact the Dental Lifeline Network. Dentists volunteer their time and services to the DLN in order to help society’s most vulnerable. If that’s you, they may be able to help. Finally, there are hundreds of federally funded public health centers around the country that provide low-cost oral healthcare. You can find a list of the ones in your area at the Health Resources & Services Administration website.
Your dentist
While it’s an uncomfortable conversation to have, sometimes simply being upfront with your dentist about your finances is the best way to handle this situation. If you’ve got insurance and have been getting regular checkups and cleanings but now face a procedure that will cost you thousands of dollars, ask your dentist if they have any sort of payment plan—or if they do a certain number of “pro bono” procedures every year (or if they have a relationship with another practice that takes such referrals). They may not be able or willing to help you, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Clinical trials
It’s a long shot, but if your oral health needs go beyond the most common procedures, you can search for an applicable clinical trial. Clinical trials often offer no-cost basic healthcare as part of the trial, and if you have a specific condition, it might be a way to get a cutting-edge treatment without having to spend a dime. The government’s ClinicalTrials.gov is a good place to start, and WCG CenterWatch keeps a list of active dental and oral health trials.
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