Why Have Dental Insurance?

According to the Surgeon General, 164 million work hours are lost each year due to dental-related illnesses in adults, and kids miss approximately 51 million school hours each year due to oral health issues. Preventive dental care can reduce the occurrence of more costly dental issues. A healthy smile is important – not only to oral health but for overall health, too.

Routine exams help prevent a multitude of health issues and illnesses because dentists can detect 120 signs and symptoms of diseases** before they become major problems. In fact, routine dental exams can detect the first warning signs for 90% of all systemic diseases*, including heart disease, diabetes and even cancer.

Having dental coverage helps members get the care they need to stay healthy. It also can help keep overall health care costs down. After all, good health starts with a healthy smile!

^{_{*Academy of General Dentistry, “Dental Care and Oral Health Information You Need,” web.
**James W. Little et al., Dental Management of the Medically Compromised Patient (St. Louis: Mosby, 2012).}}

Network

About four out of five dentists nationwide participate in one or more of the Delta Dental networks, giving Delta Dental the nation's largest network of participating dentists. Delta Dental has North Carolina's largest dental network which is 31% larger than our closest competitor. 

Experienced

With more than 60 years of experience, our family of companies comprises the nation's largest and most experienced dental benefits carrier. We specialize in delivering the best possible value to our customers for their dental benefits dollars. Delta Dental companies cover more than 80 million Americans nationwide.

Affordable

Delta Dental saves customers and enrollees hundreds of millions of dollars each year by continually finding better, more efficient ways to conduct business. Overall, Delta Dental saved customers and enrollees approximately $6.7 billion in 2020 through our comprehensive networks and efficient business practices—that’s the Delta Dental Difference®.

Quality

Delta Dental of North Carolina delivers unmatched quality and expertise in our programs and services. We offer hassle-free customer service with more than 99.8% of all claims processed within 15 business days with a 99.9% accuracy rate, which leads to a retention rate of 95%. Furthermore, our network dentists go through a rigorous credentialing process to ensure all of our members receive superior dental care.

Innovative

We have an advantage that none of our competitors can come close to matching — the world’s most comprehensive collection of dental claims data, along with a staff of experts dedicated to analyzing and interpreting it. Through our Research and Data Institute, we transform this data into information that reduces our customers’ health care costs and improves our enrollees’ oral health.

^{_{Delta Dental Plans Association Fact Sheet (2021)
Delta Dental of North Carolina Internal Data; December 2021}}