Save Money By Taking Advantage of Your Health Insurance

I started off my morning today a little differently by scheduling myself a 7:30 AM teeth cleaning at my new dentist near my work. Call it an attempt to increase self efficiency or a pitiful way of getting into the office before 9 AM. This was actually my second trip to the dentist in as many weeks because last week I was sufferring from extreme tooth pain in the back of my mouth.

Turns out I had a cavity in a very odd place and they had to fill that hole immediately. Approximately $84 later, my tooth was fixed and I was back in the office smiling. The dentist asked me, “When was the last time that you had your teeth cleaned?” My response was “Well I started working at my recent job in 2006 and that was the first time I received my own health insurance, soooooo…” He was amused for a second, but then he went on to explain to me how I was squandering the whole concept of my dental insurance.

Health insurance providers, and mine in particular, provide free annual teeth cleanings for a reason. They classify this type of work as preventative care and by preventative, they mean to prevent from any other major problems from occuring. One example of a major problem would be a hardcore toothache in the middle of your work day (See above for a refresher). The piont he was trying to make was that if I created a routine of checkups and teeth cleanings, major problems would be prevented and, in the long run, I would be saving money.

Me? Saving money? It was music to my ears, hence, the reason I scheduled my lazy self a 7:30 AM teeth cleaning appointment. The bottom line is that health insurance providers are like us in the fact that they do not want to pay large sums out of pocket for service. If we take advantage of the routine services that they provide for free or significantly less than major work, we will save money in the long run.

And your smile will be as bright and shiny as mine. Please excuse me now while I go floss after eating my breakfast.