Dental Implants with Low Monthly Payments

Dental Implants with Low Monthly Payments
If you are missing teeth and have spoken to your dentist, you know that you have many options for replacing them. Oftentimes, if you are generally healthy and have enough bone mass in your jaw, the “gold standard” for replacing teeth is the use of dental implants.
What is a dental implant?
A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that is implanted into the jawbone through a surgery. The implant is like a post, upon which a prosthesis is placed. These prostheses can be a crown, a bridge, or removable dentures. Your dentist can use dental implants to replace a singular or many missing teeth. Because the artificial root becomes part of your jaw through bone growth, dental implants are strong, stable, functional, and look like real teeth. Implants greatly enhance your quality of life. They are beautiful, often indistinguishable from natural teeth, and very functional in that they allow for easy chewing and speaking. Because they encourage bone growth in the jaw, they also help combat bone loss in the jaw.
Generally, the replacement of missing teeth, regardless of the method, can be a costly procedure, and is often categorized as non-medically necessary by your insurance company. If something is deemed “non-medically necessary” by an insurance company, they will not cover any of the cost of the procedure. This can make replacing your teeth cost-prohibitive for many patients. Implants can cost anywhere from $1500- $3000 a tooth, and likely can be more if a bone graft is needed as well to support the implant. If you have regular health insurance and need implants, you might ask your health insurer if they will cover any of the costs associated with implants. Though this is unlikely, it is worth speaking with your health insurance company and seeing if this is a possibility. If it is not, luckily, we recommend you speak with your dentist. They will be able to tell you about your options for paying for your new teeth beyond paying one large lump sum out of pocket. Below are some of the most common options for payment for dental procedures.
Payment Plans
If you are considering expensive dental work, you can always start by asking your dentist if they offer payment plans without seeking outside financing. For some patients, this is a convenient way to pay for your treatments. Many offices allow you to make weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly payments directly to them. Additionally, some dental offices may do this through a third-party vendor such as Healthcare Finance Direct- where you make payments through the third-party’s portal payment system. Ask your dentist if this might be an option for you.
Health Savings Account
While this is not an option for everyone, some people do have access to a health savings account through their employer or other means. Dental implants are an appropriate and allowable expense for a health savings account, if you have one.
Standard, Credit-based Healthcare Loans
If you have good credit, you will most likely be eligible for credit-based healthcare loans from companies such as CareCredit. These generally take the form of a line of credit to pay for an entire procedure that you make monthly payments on like a credit card. Like a credit card, however, these types of lines of credit will charge you interest, which can make paying them off take a while. Usually, these lines will offer interest-free lines of credit for a specified period of time. If you can, it is best to try and pay off these loans in that specified period of time, to avoid interest charges and make what can already be an expensive procedure even more costly. If you use this method, please pay close attention to the terms of your loan, as sometimes, if you don’t pay off all the principal of the original loan during the no-interest period, ALL of the interest that would have been accrued during the introductory period will be tacked on to the loan, and you will end up paying interest, which will again, extend the period of time it may take to pay off the line of credit. Typically, you will need a credit score of around 640 or higher to be considered for this type of financing.
Sub-Prime Lender Financing
If your credit score is less than 640, you might be eligible for sub-prime lender financing for your dental work. Sub-prime lenders take a more holistic look at your credit worthiness- and take into account more than just your score. They review your employment and credit history and household income as well as your payment history on other loans and determine your ability to be able to make payments on your loan. Typically, sub-prime loans have higher interest rates than standard loans, so it is especially important to pay attention to the terms of the loan and determine the right payment to make each month in order to pay them back as quickly as possible. Typically, making the minimum stated monthly payment will result in a longer payback period, so you would often want to pay more than what the lender tells you is the minimum payment each month.
Personal Loans
By definition, a personal loan is a loan that is granted to a private person (or to several people, for example a married couple). It is about the financing of relatively small objects or projects, such as a washing machine or a music system, a kitchen or a living room, a computer, vacation, or even your dental work! There are two types of personal loans: secured and unsecured. Secured loans are loans that are backed by collateral from the borrower- such as a house or a car. These types of loans can generally be of larger sums than unsecured loans and are generally easier to get but have consequences if you default on the loan- including being turned in to a collections agency or even the repossession of your collateral. Unsecured loans generally can only be done in smaller amounts and will result in collections if you default on the loan. Unsecured loans can be harder to qualify for, since there is no collateral involved.