Dental Insurance – Is it available in India?


When you think of a major medical expense, you would envisage a heart ailment, a stroke or cancer that can cause a huge expense. A dental expense usually does not cross the mind but mind you a hole in your tooth can also drill a hole in your savings. 

Dental implants charges range from Rs 20,000/- to Rs 60,000/-. Orthodontics (braces) charges range from Rs 25,000/- to Rs 1,00,000/-. Root canal treatment can range from Rs 3000/- to Rs 7,000/- per tooth. So, the next logical question would be to know about the dental insurance options available.


Dental Insurance Plans:

Sadly, not much options are available. Unlike the western countries, where many standalone dental plans with comprehensive coverage are available, our country has a lot of catching up to do in this regard. Currently, no standalone dental insurance plan exists.

Most of the health insurance plans cover dental treatment only if it is caused by an accidental bodily injury. Hospitalization expenses incurred for dental treatment though may be claimed from your health insurance policy provided there is a minimum 24-hour hospitalization.

This is what the brochures of prominent health insurance plans said with regards to dental coverage.

Health Insurance Plan
Nature of dental coverage
Religare Care
Dental treatment excluded
Max BUPA Health Companion
Only inpatient hospitalisation due to an accident covered
Bajaj Allianz Health Guard
Only dental treatment necessitated by an acute traumatic injury or cancer and also requiring Hospitalisation
ICICI Lombard Complete Health - iHealth
Dental treatment excluded


Out-patient dental treatment:

Most dental treatment cases are out-patient in nature and a couple of health plans such as Apollo Munich’s Easy Health Plan and Bharti Axa's Smart Health Insurance Plan cover this. However, be warned that they come with stringent restrictions and very limited cover.


Probable reasons why dental expenses are not covered:

Dental expenditure is discretionary. Also, cosmetic dentistry charges are exorbitant. If dental expenditure is covered by insurance, many people may opt for high end and very advanced dental treatment and this in turn can shoot up the number of claims. Also, the cost of dental treatment for the same procedure varies widely depending on various factors such as the specific procedure you require, the technology being used, the surgeon’s experience and seniority, location etc and hence it is difficult to standardize. The insurers would also need to put a lot of efforts to create a network of dentists. 


Conclusion:

Dental Insurance as a concept does not exist in India as of now.  Most health insurance plans only consider dental treatments which are necessitated by an accident and may need hospitalisation.

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