Approaching the right question from the right direction can save you money.

Case in point: Delta Dental’s dentist networks.

Let’s suppose you have Delta Dental and need to go the dentist. In the old days, you might have gone to the Yellow Pages, found some dentists close by, and started calling to find out if they were in your plan’s network.

Even today, out-of-network dentists might reply, “We accept all insurance,” but that doesn’t answer the question. They may accept insurance, but your out-of-pocket costs can be significantly higher when you see an out-of-network dentist. The difference can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars. 

Similarly, a Delta Dental Premier dentist could say, “We’re a network dentist with Delta Dental” – which is true, but if your plan includes a Delta Dental PPO option, you’ll receive your best benefit when you see a Delta Dental PPO dentist.

You can see how calling around is an inconsistent and inefficient way of finding a Delta Dental network dentist.

Here’s a better approach: Use Delta Dental’s website and online dentist finder (www.deltadentalwi.com/provider-search/dental) to find a dentist.

The website tells you your benefits, and helps point out how you can benefit from seeing a Delta Dental PPO provider.

The dentist finder clearly shows the network affiliation(s) or each listed provider, and the maps let you pinpoint their location – and if you supply your street address, they even include driving directions!

This sort of high-quality information helps consumers make good choices.

So let’s segue to Delta Dental’s networks, and the differences between them.

Delta Dental of Wisconsin has two dentist networks to choose from. The Delta Dental Premier network is Wisconsin’s largest dentist network, and the Delta Dental PPO is Wisconsin’s second-largest network. (The situation is much the same nationally.) Together they save Wisconsin-based groups millions of dollars – almost $80 million in 2012 – and deliver the largest effective discount of any Wisconsin dental carrier.

One of the best things about this is that if a dentist isn’t in the Delta Dental PPO network, they’re probably in the Delta Dental Premier network. You save a little less, but you get treatment guarantees — and you don’t get charged more than the agreed-upon fee, no matter what the dentist charges.

Here’s an example of how that translates into dollars and cents: 

*Approximate fees and percentages for illustrative purposes

The Delta Dental Premier network (if your plan includes it) is a great safety net.  With other dental-insurance companies, if you don’t see a PPO dentist, you pay more – sometimes a lot more – and it’s a big hassle.

Ninety percent of Wisconsin dentists are in a Delta Dental network, so chances are you’ll save money every time you see the dentist — no matter what dentist you see. But think of the extra you’ll save if you see a Delta Dental PPO dentist.

Being a savvy consumer is more important than ever. And while it starts with asking the right questions, it’s evolved into finding the right answers – and with the new website, it’s easier than ever.

One of the signs that people’s oral health is improving is a higher percentage of dental claims stemming from diagnostic and preventive (D&P) procedures – cleanings, exams, X-rays, fluoride treatments, and sealants. The greater the percentage of D&P claims, the better the general oral health of your population.

The good news is that according to Delta Dental’s annual book-of-business norms study, in 2012 the company’s claims included a greater percentage of D&P claims than ever before.

Adding together diagnostic and preventive claims, 46.7 percent of Delta Dental’s claims fell into these categories. Compare that to 2002, when the total was 39.5 percent, or even 2008, when the total was 43.5 percent.

You can really see what’s happening in the graph below. There’s been a small amount of movement — a negative two-tenths of 1 percent — in the percentage of fillings (the green bar) since 2002. The percentage of claims coming from orthodontics (the rose-colored bar) has slipped 1.3 percent. The percentage of cast crowns (the blue bar) has slipped a substantial 3 percent — and D&P (the yellow and orange bars) has picked up the slack:

These movements may not seem huge from year to year; for instance, the 2011 D&P total was 46.4 percent, meaning the year-over-year movement was 0.3 percent. But when you consider that this is a 0.3 percent movement over millions of claims, suddenly the impact becomes clearer: More and more people are seeing their dentist for preventive care, and not the generally more expensive procedures like root canals and gum-disease treatment.

There are several reasons for this shift, according to Dr. Fred Eichmiller, vice president and science officer at Delta Dental of Wisconsin. Namely:

• Dentists are doing a better job getting their patients on a maintenance schedule. Especially during the economic downturn, when demand fell for whitening and other cosmetic procedures, many dentists adapted by getting more of their patients on regular schedules for checkups and cleanings. As the economy improved, the schedules remained.
• People are more aware of the value of oral health. Increased press coverage surrounding the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act has placed the spotlight on oral health and the value of dental benefits.
• Younger workers who have grown up taking advantage of their parents’ dental benefits and understanding the value of oral health are a larger part of the workforce. People are more accustomed to having and using dental benefits. More often than not, they use their benefits on D&P care.
• Dental benefits themselves have guided people toward preventive treatment. Most plan designs are weighted toward D&P coverage, meaning there’s a built-in incentive for seeing the dentist and having these procedures done. This has a spillover effect on the more costly, more involved procedures that aren’t done as a result.

All of which is very good news for health care and dental benefits.

So what is the actual value of good oral health? We live in a time and place that likes to put dollar signs on everything, so let’s try to put a dollar sign on a healthy smile. It’s not too hard.

Value to the Individual

You’ve heard the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, a smile can be worth thousands of dollars. A recent study shows that more than half of respondents said a healthy smile made them more likely to be hired and receive a larger salary offer.

So let’s say the larger salary offer is in the range of 5 percent. AOL puts the average starting salary for 2012 college graduates at $44,259. Five percent of that is more than $2,200. Extrapolating that salary differential over 30 years and accounting for a 3.5 percent raise each year produces a big number.

Payoff to the individual: $114,238 over 30 years.

Value to the Employer

Dental-related work absences account for an annual loss of 164 million hours in productivity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the average hourly wage at $23.58. You can do the math from here.

Payoff to all employers: $3.867 billion annually.

Value to our Future – Children and Communities

Poor oral health among children has been linked to lower academic performance, so let’s suppose that poor oral health keeps two kids per class per year from going to college. The $44,000 annual average salary for college grads drops to $21,000 for high-school grads.

The BLS estimates the income differential between high-school grads and college grads at more than $900,000 over a working lifetime. Take that figure, multiply it by 3 million kids who don’t go to college because of poor oral health, throw in a couple of billion dollars in social costs stemming from lower levels of education, and you begin to understand why Delta Dental of Wisconsin donates hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to improve kids’ oral health.

Payoff to society: $60 billion-plus annually.

Total Value

The total value is, as you might guess, a very large number.

Through its charitable contributions and its innovative employee-benefits plans, Delta Dental of Wisconsin is working hard to help protect the healthy smiles of millions of Wisconsin residents, all across the state. We understand what’s at stake.

So the next time someone tells you that a healthy smile is priceless, you may want to correct them. It’s not exactly priceless, but it is very, very valuable.

Regardless of the industry, every company is in the customer-service business. Every little point of contact with a customer helps build a trusting relationship and makes them glad they’re doing business with you.

At Delta Dental of Wisconsin, we think that using service to gain trust and build our relationship with you are important parts of the “Delta Dental Difference” — whether you’re a broker or agent, dentist or dental-office staff member, representing an employer group or a consumer. We want you to receive great service and be happy that you’ve chosen Delta Dental.

So how do we deliver great service? It’s not just any one thing; a lot of things make the difference, and everyone on the Delta Dental team makes it happen. Here are some examples:

• When you call our corporate office, a real live person answers the phone. You’re greeted by a friendly voice asking how we may direct your call. You’re not forced to navigate an annoying maze of button-pushing or endless menu options to get service. Just let us know who you want to speak with or what your question is about, and we’ll get you to the right person. 
• In our award-winning Benefit Center, we receive more than 1,700 calls per day. Our Benefit Advisors are able to help dental-office staff, consumers and employer representatives. They provide professional service and first-call question resolution 99 percent of the time. Did I mention that our Benefit Center has won awards? Oh, yeah! For five consecutive years, we’ve received national recognition and certification as a Center of Excellence from the BenchmarkPortal at Purdue University. 
• Our Enrollment and Billing team partners with employer groups to ensure the integrity of employee enrollment files and answer billing reconciliation questions. We receive more than 70 percent of enrollment information electronically; that’s a lot of data moving securely back and forth. Our experts make sure that enrollment information is correct, ID cards are promptly sent and billing is timely and accurate. They’re awesome! 
• Two entire teams are dedicated resources for dentists and dental-office staff. Our Professional Relations and Professional Services teams have years of clinical dental experience; they help with processing issues and complex claim questions. If you have a question about a clinical procedure — let’s say, apexification … who knows what that is? The PR/PS teams have the answer and are happy to help you. These teams also provide educational services through seminars for dental offices and health fairs for our employer groups.

We also have lots of folks working behind the scenes in marketing, finance, underwriting, actuarial services, information technology, data entry, mail, and administrative services. Their coordinated efforts and support keep all systems running smoothly.  Everyone works together to make sure that you get great customer service.

We work hard every day to provide the service you want and to earn your trust as the dental-benefits leader. We want you to be happy that you’ve chosen Delta Dental.