Do I need vision/dental insurance for Sydney?

H&W05 · November 2010

I'm enrolling for 2011 insurance and wondering if she needs vision or dental. (it is paid seperately than medical ins). When are their first eye and dental exams?

raceyrae · November 2010

If it's not too much, I would get it. With teeth, you never know what could come up -- chipped tooth from falling, etc. I'm pretty sure one of the mom's on here had to take their LO in for a chipped tooth. In general, the first dental exam, assuming no issues, is 2.5-3 yrs old.

With eye insurance, I wasn't sure it would come up but I took Claire in for the free InfantSee appointment (free eye exam for those up to 12 mo old) and the eye doctor actually wants to see her back in a year because one eye is lagging behind the other so I'll definitely want insurance to cover that and whatever comes out of it.

uncjules · November 2010

I chose not to get either. I went back and forth on it for awhile, but realized the likelihood she will need either is low. And if she does need them, it will likely be cheaper to pay out of pocket than to pay for the insurance each month. It's totally a personal decision, so do what seems best for your family!

MelBee12 · November 2010

uncjules:
I chose not to get either. I went back and forth on it for awhile, but realized the likelihood she will need either is low. And if she does need them, it will likely be cheaper to pay out of pocket than to pay for the insurance each month. It's totally a personal decision, so do what seems best for your family!

I just wanted to say that your siggy pic is ADORABLE!!

veronicacorningstone · November 2010

When DH put the boys on his insurance after they were born, we opted not to get vision/dental for this first year. When they turn one, though, we will insure them because they will need their first dental exam then. According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry:

"First visit by first birthday" sums it up. Your child should visit a pediatric dentist when the first tooth comes in, usually between 6 and 12 months of age. This visit will establish a dental home for your child. Early examination and preventive care will protect your child?s smile now and in the future."

I don't really see a need for it the first year (despite what the AAPD says, I'm not taking my boys to the dentist at 7 months old) but I do believe in it after that. I'm paranoid and all about being insured for everything, though.

cate1119 · November 2010

We still do not have health / vision for Ella. It would be significantly more to add her to the policy for those 2 items than would be just an office visit. I plan on taking her to the dentist this year next year for a check-up, so I added those $$ to my FSA card. I called a few pediatric dentists for an estimate. Also - remember you can get a free vision exam for infants (up to 1 year). I don't remember the name of the program though...anyone remember???

mrsmikey · November 2010

raceyrae:

If it's not too much, I would get it. With teeth, you never know what could come up -- chipped tooth from falling, etc. I'm pretty sure one of the mom's on here had to take their LO in for a chipped tooth. In general, the first dental exam, assuming no issues, is 2.5-3 yrs old.

With eye insurance, I wasn't sure it would come up but I took Claire in for the free InfantSee appointment (free eye exam for those up to 12 mo old) and the eye doctor actually wants to see her back in a year because one eye is lagging behind the other so I'll definitely want insurance to cover that and whatever comes out of it.

That was me!!! Eli fell and chipped his tooth in January of this year and it resulted in alot of dentist visits, xrays, etc. So you just never know.

HOWEVER, everything was covered under his medical insurance. Well, almost everything, there were like 2 small charges that weren't. And really, it didn't end up costing that much. I haven't done the math, but even if we'd had dental insurance I don't know if the monthly premium would have made it worth it to have. We still had to pay for it all, because he hadn't met his deductible yet. If he'd had dental insurance, they would have picked up part of it, but we still would have had to pay the 20 or 30% of our share. So that, plus the premium, I'm not sure we would have come out on top. If our medical policy didn't have a deductible, or if he'd already met it, it would have been paid for. So...

Even though we were *those* people, I still don't know if it would have been worth it to add him to our policy. And both DH and I have healthy eyes so I felt pretty safe not having him on our vision policy either. At least for the first couple of years.

Next year I think we are going to add him to dental, because he will start going in for regular visits. But he'll be 3, which is when our pedi always told us to start taking him to the dentist. But we're still not going to add him to vision. If something happened, like an injury to his eye, our medical would cover it, like it did his tooth.

ETA: you can see his chipped tooth in my siggy

JenShea · November 2010

I put DS on dental but not vision since BCBS covers opthalmology visits. My sister's daughter fell and pushed her front tooth all the way back up into her bone. She had it removed and if not for insurance she would've had to pay over $600.

cmbrown · November 2010

We didn't get either. We are getting dental this coming July, so she'll be just over 2. Haven't talked about vision.

MelBee12 · November 2010

WM is having open enrollment right now and I signed DS up for both dental and vision. I've had glasses from a very young age (DH's eyes are perfect..damn him!) and even though my dentist recommended to bring him in at 3 1/2 he did say that you never know if he might NEED to come in before that. Knowing our luck...he will.

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