Are Veneers Covered By Dental Insurance?

Veneers are an increasingly popular choice for cosmetic and medical procedures, but are veneers covered by dental insurance? Here's what you should know about this topic and other dental procedures that could be covered.

Does Dental Insurance Cover Veneers?

So, are veneers covered by dental insurance? Like most topics involving insurance, the answer is "that depends on your coverage". There are two major things to consider here.

First, most insurance plans cover medically necessary procedures. In general, medical treatments are those used to diagnose or treat a medical condition. For example, most locations do not consider overbites to be medical conditions, even though they are dental conditions.

Even if a dental insurance plan doesn't cover a medical procedure, other insurance plans usually will.

Second, veneers are generally cosmetic. This is why dental insurance doesn't typically cover them. If you only want them to whiten your smile or fix slightly crooked teeth, that's not enough to satisfy the insurance companies, and they'll ask you to pay for it yourself.

The good news is that dental veneers are relatively affordable even without insurance. Depending on your provider, veneers could cost as little as a few hundred dollars per tooth. Most dentists accept various payment plans, so you can pay off your procedure in instalments rather than all at once.

So, are veneers covered by dental insurance under your plan? The best way to find out is to contact your insurance provider. Some higher-quality plans do include cosmetic procedures, so you should check with your insurance provider instead of making any assumptions.

Procedures That Are Covered By Insurance

Veneers usually aren't covered by insurance, but here are some standard options that most plans include.

Basic Restorative Care

These procedures are the heart of all good dental insurance plans. Basic restorative care includes things like extractions, fillings, and some non-routine X-rays. In this context, non-routine checks include things like getting your teeth checked after a severe impact on your mouth, rather than annual screenings.

Major Restorative Care

Major restorative care includes more extensive procedures like crowns, bridges, or dentures. These procedures either replace teeth in their entirety or involve making significant alterations.

Some procedures require grinding down one tooth to help solve a problem in another area. For example, creating a bridge usually requires grinding down at least two other teeth to hold the bridge itself. Your dentist may evaluate the status of your other teeth when choosing which procedures to recommend.

Orthodontic Treatments

Orthodontic treatments mainly focus on aligning your teeth and keeping them in the right position. This coverage could include retainers, braces, spacers, and other devices that dentists or orthodontists typically use.

Major Surgery

Most people do not need major surgical procedures for dental work. In this context, extracting a tooth and placing an implant is not considered a major procedure. However, jaw surgery to correct an underbite is a major procedure, as are things like reconstructive surgery after an accident.

Major surgeries are usually medically necessary, rather than cosmetic, so insurance plans will cover them.