Dental insurance in Australia

The table below shows a range of extras-only health insurance policies from our Online Partners offering general dental cover.

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$36
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$33
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$43
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$26
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$30
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$36
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The initial results in the table above are sorted by Star Rating (High-Low) , then Monthly premium (approx) (Low-High) , then Provider Name (Alphabetical) . Additional filters may have been applied, which impact the results displayed in the table - filters can be applied or removed at any time.

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What is dental insurance?

Dental insurance refers to health insurance that includes cover for dental treatment. There are several different types of dental cover available in Australia to cover the different types of treatments and procedures.

Dental cover can be offered through an extras policy, as well as a hospital policy. This means you can be covered for going to the dentist for a check-up or a filling, or going to hospital to get your wisdom teeth removed.

You can use our table to compare extras-only health insurance policies that offer general dental cover from our Online Partners, which includes basic dental care such as dentist visits, fillings and hygiene services. For more involved dental treatment, you may need ‘major dental’ extras cover or hospital cover that specifies dental procedures. Change the filters on the table to explore the different types of cover.

How dental cover works

Dental cover works in a similar way to many other forms of private health insurance. Once you’ve selected a policy and signed up, you’ll often need to serve a waiting period before you can make a claim for dental treatments. This length of time can vary between insurers, but can be as little as two months.

You can typically claim part of the cost of each dental treatment on your private health insurance, though you may need to consider annual limits. You may need to contact your insurer to submit a claim, or you may be able to provide your membership details to the dentist to handle as part of their billing process. This may be easier if your dentist is part of your health fund’s network of preferred providers.

What does dental insurance usually cover?

The treatments or services that are covered by dental insurance in Australia depend on your health insurance policy, and whether you are taking out insurance as part of extras cover or a hospital policy.

Extras dental insurance is usually divided between two main categories:

  • General dental cover is usually focused on the cost of routine dental treatments, such as check-ups, cleaning, filings, and x-rays.
  • Major dental cover is designed for more complex (and often more expensive) dental procedures such as crowns, dentures and veneers.

You can use our table to find extras policies from our Online Partners that include general dental and/or major dental work such as root canal therapy or braces.

Hospital policies can include cover for dental surgery done in a hospital. This could include procedures such as surgery to remove wisdom teeth or dental implant surgery.

How to find the best private health insurance for dental

Remember that the best dental insurance policy for you may be different that what’s best for other Australians. You’ll need to consider your own personal financial situation and lifestyle needs when comparing and selecting a private health insurance policy.

Some of the questions you may want to ask yourself include:

  • Do you want general or major dental cover?
  • Do you want extras only, hospital only, or hospital and extras?
  • Is your preferred dentist in the insurer’s network?
  • How much are you prepared to pay in health insurance premiums?

The best dental insurance policy for you may also be affected by where you’re living and who it covers (e.g. yourself only, you and your partner, or your whole family). Overall, the more cover you want, and the more people the policy may cover, the more you may need to pay in premiums.

Frequently Asked Questions about Dental Insurance

Medicare covers basic dental treatments for eligible children under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. Some adults, namely those who have a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, may be eligible for public dental services.

Otherwise, you are expected to pay for dental treatment yourself. If you have a health insurance policy that includes dental cover, your insurer could contribute towards the cost.

For extras policies, insurers typically allow you to claim a percentage of the cost of your treatment or you may be entitled to a set amount.

In addition, extras cover typically comes with annual limits, which is the maximum amount of money you can claim for a particular service.

Insurers may also specify a combined annual limit which applies across a group of services, for example, a combined annual limit for general dental, major dental, physiotherapy and chiropractic.

Almost all health insurers have a lifetime limit for orthodontic benefits such as braces, according to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. This means that once you have claimed the maximum benefit, you won’t be able to claim further benefits during your lifetime.

Several health funds offer 100% back on dental insurance for regular check-ups and other preventative services when you visit a dentist in the fund’s network. This is often known as ‘no gap dental’ as you will pay nothing out-of-pocket if you are eligible.

Preventative services typically include scale and clean, and fluoride treatment, while some health insurers may include x-rays.

It’s worth checking with the individual fund to see what is and isn’t included and what other terms and conditions apply to their dental insurance. For example, no gap dental could be subject to annual limits. The fund may also have a cap on the number of check-ups you can claim 100% back on per year.

The waiting period is the amount of time you have to wait before you can make your first claim. Waiting periods will depend on your policy and provider.

As a guide, typical waiting periods under extras cover can be around two to six months for general dental, and 12 months or more for major dental procedures such as orthodontics.

For hospital policies, the maximum waiting period an insurer can set for dental surgery is two months though longer waiting periods may apply for pre-existing conditions.

From time to time health insurance providers may offer dental insurance with no waiting period as a promotion to attract new members.

Additionally, if you have already served a waiting period under one policy and switch to another insurer with the same or a lower level of cover, you will generally not have to re-serve the waiting period.

Invisalign uses clear, custom-fitted ‘aligners’ to help straighten teeth. Your health fund may classify Invisalign treatments as orthodontics under extras cover.

If this is the case, there may be a maximum amount of benefits you can claim for orthodontic treatment within a calendar year, as well as an overall lifetime limit for claims involving orthodontic procedures.

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Mark Bristow, Senior Finance Content Producer

Mark Bristow
Mark Bristow is Canstar's Senior Finance Content Producer, and an experienced analyst, researcher, and producer. While primarily focused on Australian mortgage and home loan expertise, he has experience across energy, home and travel insurances. Mark has been a journalist and writer in the financial space for over ten years, previously researching and writing commercial real estate at CoreLogic. In the years since, Mark has worked for the Winning Group, Expedia, and has seen articles published at Lifehacker and Business Insider. Mark has also completed RG 146 (Tier 1), making him compliant to provide general advice for general insurance products like car, home, travel and health insurance, as well as giving him knowledge of investment options such as shares, derivatives, futures, managed investments, currencies and commodities. Find Mark on Linkedin.

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