Dental insuranceVHI, the Republic's largest healthcare insurance provider, has partnered with DeCare, a US dental insurance provider, to supply Ireland's first private dental health insurance plans.
Noting the decrease in physical pain associated with going to the dentist now compared to when he was a child, VHI Healthcare's chief executive, Vincent Sheridan, vowed that his company's new dental insurance plan would lessen the financial pain of paying for dental care in the Republic.
The companies offer three different plans - silver, gold and platinum - with silver covering the least expensive amount of treatment and platinum providing the most benefits.
Each plan offers 100 per cent coverage for investigative and preventive treatment like polishing, scaling, examinations and x-rays; allows consumers to see any dentist of their choice in the Republic and the North; and covers one instance a year of emergency dental treatment abroad.
That, however, is where the similarities end. For example, each plan has a different annual per member spending limit: €750 for silver, €1,000 for gold and €2,000 for platinum.
The silver plan allows for two annual dentist visits for basic investigative and preventive treatment and examinations, while gold and platinum provide for only one visit a year for a check-up.
The silver and gold plans cover 50 per cent of basic restorative treatment, defined as fillings and sealants, while platinum covers 75 per cent.
For major restorative treatment - defined as dentures, crowns, bridges, root canal treatment, extractions and treatment of gum disease - silver provides no coverage, while gold and platinum cover 50 per cent of costs.
For orthodontic work, silver provides no coverage while gold offers a €1,000 lifetime limit per member and platinum features a €1,500 lifetime limit per member. It is important to note that customers seeking orthodontic work under the plan must wait 18 months from the time they sign up before the coverage begins.
The annual cost of each plan is based on the age of the policy holder, with older people facing higher premiums. For example, the cost of the silver plan ranges from €144 for individuals under 17 to €166 for those over 70. The gold plan's range is from €217 to €408 while platinum ranges from €305 to €548. Each plan features seven different age categories such as zero to 17 years, 18 to 29 years and 30 to 39 years.
There is no waiting period to receive coverage for investigative and preventive treatment, while all three plans require a six-month waiting period before basic and major restorative treatment is covered.
Under the plans, customers must fill out a claim form, signed by their dentist, after any work is performed. Customers then submit the form, plus a receipt from their dentist, to VHI's claims department, which will send a cheque reimbursing them for the cost of the work. Cheques will go out about two weeks after VHI has received the forms, a spokeswoman for the company said.
Existing VHI Healthcare customers automatically qualify for a 10 per cent premium discount.
"I'd be less than frank if I said that this will immediately deal with the escalating cost of dental care in this country," Michael Walsh, chief executive of DeCare, said. "That will be solved by stronger and open competition."
Dermott Jewell, of the Consumers' Association of Ireland, said he thought that the programme would help to promote competition and "shake up" the market for dental services.
He said that it was coming into a market that was already "suffering" from waiting lists that were too long and prices that were too high. "The social welfare system that exists is costing consumers a significant amount of money."
The Irish Dental Association was unavailable for comment.