Do I need a dentist?

Whether you need insurance coverage depends entirely on whether or not you can afford the cost of the risk you are insuring. It sounds like you don't have any current dental problems so you just need to ask yourself that if you were to develop them would the cost be debilitating?

Personally I don't have dental coverage, but dental work where I live is much cheaper (a root canal and crown costs significantly less than $1,000 and people fly from the US to do dental work here because it's cheaper even if they include the flight and a vacation) and no matter how bad the dental problem I am realistically going to have (I may need a wisdom tooth extracted soon) the costs are not debilitating.

But it's up to you how you manage that risk. All insurance is overpayment on the risk on average, after all they make money, so whether it makes sense for you comes down to whether or not you can afford the worse case scenarios of risk that it insures against.

So I would think of what the most expensive problem you are likely to face is and think if you want insurance against that amount of cost coming up on you, if you think it would be debilitating and not something you can save for then insurance might make sense. If you think it would hurt but you can easily absorb the financial cost then insurance would represent a theoretical overpayment on the risk.

Personally I would be fine in the US with no dental insurance, but not with no health insurance. But if I had to pay a couple thousand for dental work that might ruin a few months but would not ruin my life, and the risk is something I can afford.

Insurance or no and questions of cost aside, if the question is 'do I need to see a dentist,' the answer's gotta be yes! Oral health is super important and you really don't want to wait for a problem to become a big one before addressing it.

Cycloptichorn

you should see a dentist twice a year.

they can determine if you have cavities or other issues with x-rays, and they do a much better job cleaning than you can do at home.

it's expensive when you don't have dental insurance, but the cost of dealing with medical complications due to improper teeth and gum care would be a lot more expensive.

i skipped going to the dentist for a decade, and had to schedule a ton of extra appointments before i received a clean bill of health.

that was fifteen years ago... to this day, my dentist insists i come in once every three months...

I go three times a year.

Cycloptichorn

Good point, and while I only focused on the "do I need insurance" part of the question I definitely agree. I would also say this is a bit age-related. In that the older you are the more likely you are to need a dentist.

In my personal experience I largely avoided going to the dentist in my 20s and started needing fillings etc around my early 30s and I know plenty of people who did not go to dentists in their 20s, they lived but some of them later wished they had started dental work earlier. I wish I did but also just generally wish I took better care of my teeth in general. Even still the consequences haven't been too bad.

If I had to guess and if you care what a random stranger thinks, I would guess that if you push it off a couple of years the main risk is that you may have current small cavities that end up being bigger and you can go from having less work done sooner to more later. I don't personally think the stakes are too high if you don't go to a dentist in the next year, for what it is worth, but obviously think it is better to and it is up to you whether or not it is worth the cost.

Good dental health impacts your overall health - there is lots of bacteria that develops in your mouth and increases if you have any tarter build up. This in turn means bacteria gets into your entire body.

You may be great at cleaning your teeth but a dental hygienist can get the really deep cleaning and clean off any tarter build up. I would reach out to some local dentists and see what sort of prices they charge - good cleaning can prevent dental problems later and also your over all health.

I believe dental health is very important. I get a cleaning 3x's a year, and still get plaque buildup.

50 - 75% say they floss regularly when asked by the dentist - while in reality 40% do

According to the ADA:

Flossing is another area that could use some improvement, according to the survey. Only four of 10 Americans floss at least once a day, and 20 percent never floss.

www.ada.org/publications/ada-news/.../survey-finds-shortcomings-in-oral-health-habits

I am 50. I would tell everyone in their 20s and 30s to see a dentist 2 times a year. It can save you tens of thousands of dollars later on.

It seems likely that the cost of two cleanings is less than the cost of insurance. Put the money you would put into insurance in an account and see the dentist every six months with that money.

Of course, if your employer pays part of your insurance, take it.

We humans are lazy when it comes to teeth care. I have a water pick and floss right by my sink, and rarely use it. Maybe, tonight. I go to the dentist 3-4 times a year to get it cleaned.

The problem is that for most of human history, our life expectancy was about 40. Our teeth evolved to get us through our thirties, which is all the time you need to pass on your genes to the next generation.

That's probably part of it, but also it's about our diet with too much sugars. A bottle of coke has 52 grams of sugar. Wine has 1.2 grams of sugar. Wine is healthier by far.