I was searching the benefit and services for the Careington dental discount plans in California and found they have some good options for the dental plan 507. I am not sure how well the plan would work for the Share of Cost Medi-Cal program since the SOC program generally requires dental insurance but the discount plan should work for many others. CareingtonDental.com web site indicates all of the dental service charges are reduced if performed by a participating general dentist.

That would mean you need to select a plan network dentist but I do not see this as a bad thing since a great majority of people without a dental plan do not go to the dentist anyway so what does it matter which dentist you eventually go too? It doesn’t!

A good item was the 20% discount for charges not listed which could be a lot depending on the office you visit. I found some important disclosures and copied them here for your review – Implants and some whitening procedures will not be discounted by all participating carrington providers.

Implants and some whitening procedures will only be discounted if the participating careington provider has agreed to discount these procedures as part of their contract. These services will be offered, when applicable, at a 15% discount off of the provider’s normal fee. If the General Dentist’s normal fee for any procedure is less than the fee listed on this schedule, the dentist will charge 20% off of their normal fee for that procedure

The disclosures as noted indicate this is a discount program and not an insurance plan as noted above. However it could possibly be used as a supplemental dental plan if the dentist goes along with it… Careington cannot guarantee specialty care in all areas. In cases in which you are referred to a participating specialist, you will generally receive 15% to 20% off their usual and customary fees. Please verify such benefits with each individual provider. Work in progress, after joining the plan, must be completed by the provider who started the work. Any procedures performed by a non-participating provider are not included. They cannot guarantee the continued participation of any provider. If he or she leaves the plan, you will need to select another provider. Not all types of providers may be available in your area.

Some providers may charge for missed or broken appointments if no prior notice is given. It is the member’s responsibility to verify that the provider is a participating provider. This plan does not include all procedures which might be provided. Any procedure delivered which is not listed on the Schedule of Services may cause additional cost to be incurred by the member. The dollar amount specified adjacent to each procedure may not be the only cost incurred for a given treatment because the treatment may require more than one procedure. Note to Utah Residents: This contract is not protected by the Utah Life and Health Guaranty Association. The program and the program administrators have no liability for providing or guaranteeing service and have no liability for the quality of service rendered.

I hope this brief review will help you make an informed dental plan decision. I would recommend purchasing it if you can locate a dentist near you in their network.