Can you get affordable dental implants in 2024?

Get a dental savings plan

Dental discount plans are a convenient alternative or addition to insurance policies. You can use a dental plan alongside your dental care a coverage when your yearly limit is reached. This, however, is at the discretion of the dentist performing the job.

Plans help save on all types of dental costs, including dental implant surgery. There are no conditions for coverage. As long as you are a good candidate for implants, it doesn’t matter what your reason for getting implants is. They can be medically necessary or purely a cosmetic procedure.

So how do dental plans work? Members pay a monthly or yearly fee. There are over 100,000 dentists enrolled, you just have to find one in your area. Then you get to enjoy reductions of 10%-60% on anything you need or want done in your mouth.

The plan is active as soon as you sign up. There are no waiting periods. No yearly caps will slow you down either. You can have all the work done in one year and all bills will be discounted. More information here.

Use your insurance

Going to a dentist without insurance can be pricey. Insurance is the most well-known way to reduce healthcare costs. Some policies offer even more preferential rates when you have dental work done at affiliating offices. Still, insurance plans have many cons.

Although dental insurance that covers implants is becoming more and more popular, such policies usually have strict requirements. Most often, it is all about proving that implants are medically necessary in your case and that there is no other cheaper option for treatment.

A dentist can issue such a statement and you will have to contact your provider yourself. What's more, if a tooth was missing before the policy was active, you might not receive coverage for replacement.

There is also likely going to be a waiting period before the restorative treatment can start. Annual caps most often top off at around $1,500. This means the implant process might have to be stretched out over several years.

Being insured, your best bet is to have the policy cover associated procedures and treatments such as sinus lift surgery, extractions or X-rays. The dental implant procedure has many steps, so this can realistically lower the total cost of dental implants.

Check your local dental schools

Students need patients for their training. Most of the time, they offer dental care at about half the cost due to lack of expertise, so it’s a great way to cover procedures associated with dental implants for low-income patients.

Don’t worry, everything takes place under the watchful eye of a team of licensed professionals, so there is no extra risk to your health or life. The only downside is that the process might take longer. Each step has to be graded.

It’s best to get in touch with dental schools near you. While you have a bigger chance of finding one in a large city, smaller colleges might have shorter waiting lists. You can check whether a given dental school performs dental implants or associated procedures with the ADA search tool. Contact the office and ask for details. They are sure to answer all of your questions.

You may come across information that dental schools even make implants at no cost. We contacted them and, according to our research, you can't get completely free dental implants from schools.

Make use of tax deductions

Use your FSA funds to finance dental implants. This money is both tax-deductible and before taxes, so you can use those savings to lower your overall costs. Write a check or pay with a debit card directly to your dentist or dental implant center.

The important thing is to use the money you transfer to that account before the end of the year. Unlike your HSA, FSA does not guarantee rollover. So if you don’t spend those savings, you forfeit them.

You get to keep your HSA funds at the end of the year, but in order to have this account you must have a high deductible savings plan. You can ask your employer or the HR department for details.

Travel abroad

You can travel to Central American countries such as Mexico for affordable dental implants. This can save you about half the cost of the surgery and associated procedures. Add the costs of journey and accommodation to your implant budget.

Cheap teeth implants are not rare in Central and South America, but make sure to do your research as regards the practice and the chosen cheap dentist. Look at reviews and opinions online from real patients. This is vital in saving you unnecessary pain and trouble.

Although traveling somewhere else to get low-cost dental implants can be a solution, remember, if anything goes wrong, you will have to return to the same location to have it fixed or pay even more to make adjustments in the US. Finding a specialist who will solve problems with implants done in another country may also be a challenge.

Dental tourism makes the most sense in two situations. The first is when you’re getting same-day implants, as you won’t have to make multiple trips. You might also be able to arrange having the whole process done over several days.

The second group of patients that can benefit from this are those who live close to the border. Hotel and high travel costs can be avoided, making implants even more affordable.

Low-cost dental implants near you

There are many platforms that offer services at special discounts. The most popular is Groupon. You can try looking there for affordable dental implants near you.

Some offices have discounts that you can take advantage of if you:

• pay upfront,

• require multiple implants, or

• if you recommend another patient.

Shop around and sift through opportunities in your area. The Internet is a great resource, but sometimes simply calling and asking can be more fruitful.

Always be mindful of the brand of the implant that is being placed. There are companies that offer implants at reduced prices, but they discontinue their service for the implant after a short period of time. The quality of materials used is usually suboptimal.