We recently attended the National Association of Dental Laboratories (NADL) Vision 21 meeting where Dr. Mark Murphy spoke to us about dental insurance and the differences between PPO’s, HMO’ and indemnity plans. These are things we are not very familiar with on the lab side of the business.

He enlightened us that dental insurance was created by dentists 40 years ago at which time they never accounted for inflation. What was originally intended to improve dental care has actually hindered it. Due to the limitations of dental insurance, patient care plans are often developed with these limitations in mind rather than presenting the optimal plan that is best for the patient.

In his article entitled, “Insurance-odontitis: Our Greatest Handicap,” Dr. Murphy talks about how insurance today is misleading and merely basic coverage for a dental maintenance plan. He challenges us as an industry to put patients first and to educate them on the real truth about insurance.

For the complete article and what you can do to decrease your insurance dependency, click above.