How To Find A Medicaid Dental Provider

Getting accepted for medicaid health coverage can be a significant relief when you're struggling to afford a doctor. You may be pleased to know that for many people, medicaid also covers some dental services. If you're in need of seeing a dentist and want to find one that will accept your medical coverage from medicaid, here's what you should do.

Provider Directory

When you signed up for medicaid, you should have been sent a large packet. In this packet was something called the provider directory. It should look a bit like a phone book.

In this directory, you'll find lists of everyone who accepts medicaid, from general physicians to dentists. Skim through it to find the dentist section, and then navigate to your general area. If there are any dentists near you that accept medicaid, they'll be listed there.

Call Around

Of course, there's always a chance that you may have not received your provider directory or accidentally threw it out. In this case, there's no harm in giving a local dentist a call.

You can look up general dentists through your phone book, or the internet. Once you've found someone you like, pick up the phone and call them to ask if they accept medicaid. The worst they can tell you is no, so there's no harm in asking.

In addition, it's a good idea to call around if you're not satisfied with who you see in the provider directory or if there's no one particularly close to you. Some providers start accepting medicaid between provider directory print-outs, which means that some dentists near you may accept it even if they're not listed in your directory.

Make Sure You're Covered

Unfortunately, the federal government doesn't maintain an online list of every provider that you can potentially see, but you should check your state medicaid page before you attempt to see a provider. Each state handles medicaid dental differently. Some states cover general comprehensive care, like getting your teeth cleaned, examined, and x-rayed, but others don't. Emergency care is always covered, however, so if you have a problem like a broken tooth, a filling that fell out, or a severe gum infection, you'll be taken care of.

If you're not sure if you need emergency care or not and that's all that your local medicaid coverage offers, consider talking to a medicaid dentist about payment plans and other options. You may be able to pay for your comprehensive care at a reduced cost while your emergency care will be fully covered.

Taking care of your oral health is very important, so if you've recently been accepted to medicaid, you shouldn't pass up the opportunity to get your teeth taken care of. Reach out to a medicaid dentist, like CHP Dental, and get the help that you need.