You cannot take out stand-alone dental insurance if you lucky enough to be treated under the NHS.
If you pay for private dental treatment, whether or not it is worth your buying dental insurance depends on the state of your teeth and the fees your dentist charges.
If you don't have any teeth problems after every check-up, it is unlikely that your dental charges will be high enough to warrant buying dental insurance.

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If you have private medical insurance – either as a perk from your job or because you pay for it yourself – you might already be covered, although there are limits on what these policies will pay out for dental costs. An increasing number of employers are offering dental insurance as part of a job package: if you are eligible to join an employer’s scheme, it will almost certainly be cheaper than paying for dental insurance yourself.

The costs of dental treatment

NHS fees are set by the government and are the same across the country. Under the NHS you pay 80 per cent of your dental costs, up to a maximum amount per course of treatment. The other 20 per cent, or anything over that amount, is paid by the state.
With private dental treatment, there are no standard charges or maximum expenditure limits. Costs are nearly always higher than NHS fees, and will vary according to where you live. Prices are highest in London and the south-east.

Free dental treatment
You should be eligible for free dental treatment on the NHS if you are:
• Pregnant or have a child under the age of one
• Under the age of 18
• Under the age of 19 and in full-time education
• On Family Credit or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Receiving income support on top of a state pension.

Choosing the right dental insurance policy

If you choose to pay for private treatment, you may want to consider an insurance plan to avoid being hit with any unexpectedly large bills and to help you spread the cost of payments across the year.
One attraction of a private plan is that it may cover you for more expensive cosmetic treatments – such as white fillings in back teeth – which may not be available under the NHS.
What is covered by the insurance plan depends on what sort of scheme it is. There are three main types:

• Capitation schemes
These are budget plans for private dental treatment which you take out through a specific dentist. Once registered as a private patient, you are given an initial dental health check.
The dentist then makes an assessment of how much you should pay based on the amount of future treatment you are likely to need and the level of cover you want.
You are then charged a regular agreed amount, usually monthly.
According to the terms of the plan, you agree to see your dentist on a regular basis for preventative treatment.
Capitation schemes therefore encourage you to look after your teeth.

• Dental insurance schemes
These are straightforward insurance policies which repay the costs of private treatment.
You can either pay for a stand-alone scheme or you can buy dental cover as part of a private medical insurance policy.
You must have a check-up before the policy starts and may be refused cover if your oral health is not satisfactory (because there is a greater risk of the insurer having to pay out for expensive treatment).

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• Health-care cash plans
Usually, these cover the costs of dental treatment as part of an overall package of health-care benefits such as maternity benefit and opticians’ fees.
You will be unlikely to be able to buy this sort of insurance to cover just dental costs. Premiums are calculated on a flat-rate basis and do not depend on the state of your oral health.
You pay a regular amount on a monthly basis and the insurance pays out a proportion of any dental bills (both private and NHS) you incur – usually 50 to 75 per cent, subject to an upper limit. You can claim on the policy any number of times until you reach the maximum annual limit on claims: the amount paid depends on the level of cover.
There is usually a waiting period of around six months after taking out the policy before you can make a claim.

What is covered

Both capitation schemes and dental insurance plans cover you against the costs of regular treatment from a private dentist after an initial consultation.
Health-care cash plans pay part of the costs of treatment from either an NHS or private dentist after you have had the policy for a certain period of time.

What is not covered

Capitation schemes are, in effect, mouth-maintenance contracts which encourage preventative treatment – so if you choose this form of insurance you may not be covered for expensive treatment like root-canal work, or the plan may meet only part of the cost. In addition, because you cannot take out a plan until after you have had an initial check, you may need to pay for treatment to bring your dental health up to scratch before you can take out the policy.
The extent of cover from a dental insurance scheme varies from policy to policy, but generally it is very unlikely that any plan will meet the full cost of expensive treatment or major procedures such as laboratory work for crowns and bridges.
You may not be covered for the first part of any claim, and there may also be an upper limit on what the insurer will pay out in any one year – which means that you will have to meet these extra costs yourself if you exceed the limit.

Health-care cash plans will usually not cover you for the cost of any treatment you have in the first six months of taking out the plan.
Even after this waiting period, your dental costs will not be met in full. There will also be a limit on what the plan will pay out in a year, which means that you will not be covered for costs that exceed the limit.

Calculating the cost

The cost of a capitation scheme depends on how much treatment your dentist thinks you are likely to need. If you want your whole family covered, the costs per person may be reduced.
Dental insurance will not necessarily meet your dental bills in full, and you should check the details of what is and is not covered very carefully before you buy.
If you visit your dentist regularly and generally look after your teeth, paying as you go could well be cheaper than paying for insurance.

See also: types of health insurance cover