Many plans such as PPO’s and Indemnity dental insurance plans have waiting periods. Even some HMO plans come with limited waiting periods. However what are waiting periods how how do they effect you? A waiting period is the number of months a plan member must be enrolled in the plan before certain procedures are covered by the insurance company.

Typically, PPO and Indemnity plans will have a 6 month waiting period before basic services are covered and a 12 month waiting period before major services are covered. Although waiting periods will very depending on each plan. When buying plans with waiting periods it is important to understand that there will not be coverage’s for dental services that fall into the waiting periods until you have had that plan for the stated time period. Therefore buying this type of dental insurance when you have a toothache may not be the best fit and you may want to review HMO plans that do not have waiting periods or dental discount plans.