Dental plan?

Izabella22 · December 2011

Err maybe this is a stupid question but I'm filling out forms for our insurance to add baby and HR sent me forms to add him to a dental plan... I know there is open enrollment every year and perhaps this is a bad assumption, but it seems kinda silly to add him to our dental plan now since well... you know. He won't have teeth for a while. I don't remember going to the dentist till I was a bit older for cleanings, not sure how early kids start going for cleanings? Hmm

VABride2008 · December 2011

Most pediatricians recommend that you take LO between 1-2 years of age.

namara5532 · December 2011

I'd add LO when they're 1. Before then, they don't even recommend using a toothbrush with them. You'd probably be fine to wait until next year to add them to dental.

Ashley&Scott · December 2011

We're adding DS right away. It's only $5/mo & he'll have teeth before our next open enrollment. Most likely he won't need the coverage but it's cheap so we decided to add him right away.

jnk062602 · December 2011

We didn't add dd until she was 1 yr 3 months (her bday is in Sept, so that next Dec we added her for open enrollment). This baby will get added as soon as he is born bc we already have the family plan so it is no extra money.

Kids can get teeth as early as 4-6 months old. And then add in falls from crawling and walking, they may need dental care within the 1st year. Looking back, our dental was cheap enough that I should have just added dd once she was born for piece of mind. She certainly had several face plants. But I thought the same as you and got lucky. We took dd for her first cleaning when she turned 2, which was what our pedi recommended to us. I have read on the toddler boards about some pedis recommending at a year or once a certain # of teeth come in.

rosenb2b · December 2011

Hi Izzy!

We held off with DS #1 until the next enrollment (he was 1-1/2). The pediatrician said around 2 yrs old to start, so that's what we did!

Izabella22 · December 2011

Thanks ladies - I was wondering why it would be necessary to add him so early. It makes sense in some ways but yeah... I think we'll hold off till next year. Saves me 2 visits before we have to pay more for the family plan!