I have come to the realization that I am in the wrong business. I went to the dentist to get a root canal yesterday. He was a nice guy… and it took him all of 30 minutes and $1,200 to end my dental misery. $1,200 for 30 minutes of work! That’s the kind of gig I want.

I am sure there is some logical reason why dental procedures are so expensive. After all dentist have to pay off hundreds of thousand in student loans, buy all kind of fancy dental equipment, pay the salaries of the office assistant. Regardless of why it costs so much, my pockets hurt no less. On the upside… my tooth was saved and I got to feel the Whoo Hoo by using WaMu. But it surely woulda felt better if I coulda feel the whoo hoo with dental insurance.

Oh yeah, and by the way… it doesn’t end there… I still have to get the same tooth crowned next week. That’s another $700 bucks. $700! And I won’t even get one of those cute little stickers and free tooth brush.

I have heard some of the reasons why dental insurance is not worth the cost. But if you ever have to spend $1,900 to have one tooth repaired… your perception of things can quickly change.

Anyway after I left the dentist’s office, I went straight away to the HR folks at my job to find out what dental insurance options were available to me. (Yeah, that’s right. I went from the dentist and right back to work. I figured with $1,200 of work, I woulda at least got doped up enough to put me out for the rest of the day. But nope, I didn’t even get the good, knock you out kinda stuff.)

But back to the dental insurance… my job offers pretty decent group coverage. The premium for a family plan is only $60 a month. While it’s true that each person is limited to $1,500 in benefits per year, it’s still worth it. The annual premium works out to $720, but a family of four can get $6,000 worth of benefits in return. And with the skyrocketing cost of dental procedures, you’ll get to $6,000 in no time. So, that’s a profit of over $5,200.

And one good thing about the plan at my job is that there is no waiting period and I have complete indemnity. I hear that’s the norm with group policies but individual policies are not usually set up this way. The sweet thing is that I can combine my dental insurance with the dental discount that comes as a part of my health insurance. (Yeah, $1,900 includes a 20% discount!)

I think that anyone who’s planning to have major work should look into the dental insurance options that are available to them. If you don’t have a group policy at work, there are many individual policy plans available. But make sure, you read the fine print so that you fully understand what’s covered. For example, cosmetic procedures, such as teeth whitening, are generally not covered.

And finally, don’t underestimate the importance of good dental health. Shoving off dental services can be detrimental to your overall health. An investment in dental insurance is an investment in prolonging and improving your quality of life.