2023 South Carolina Dental Insurance Plans

Price Trends

The average premium for dental coverage was $44.53 across the more than two dozen plans we researched. More than half the plans had premiums below this average. The lowest cost PPO dental plan in the group was the Hollywood Smile Premier 1500. A discount dental plan, the Careington 500 Series Dental Savings Plan was less expensive, but this is a cost-reduction plan as opposed to traditional insurance. The one indemnity dental plan in the group was Nationwide Classic 2000 + VSP Premium, that combined dental and vision benefits in a single plan. This was also the most expensive plan at $92.78 a month.

92.6 percent of the South Carolina dental plans surveyed covered preventive, basic, and major treatments. Most of the plans reviewed paid for a percentage of a dentist service bill, as opposed to charging the enrollee a flat fee copayment. For example, on average these plans covered 61.5 percent of the cost of fillings and 51.5 percent of the cost of teeth extractions.

Every dental plan other than the dental discount program had an annual limit on what the insurer would paid for covered dental care. The limits ranged from $500 to $10,000 a year, with the average being $1,940. Within the details of these plans, this annual limit is often referred to as the “maximum benefit.”

Another financial consideration for these dental plans is the deductible. The deductible is the amount of money the enrollee must pay for his or her own dental care before the plan begins contributing to the cost of treatment. All but one plan had a deductible. The lowest deductible was $25 a year per enrollee and the highest was $150. In the case of the $150 deductible, the deductible was paid one-time for as long as the enrollee stayed enrolled in the plan. Most deductibles reset every year. For the 27 plans with deductibles, the average was $64.81.

Finding the Best Value for You

Dental insurance rates can vary across a state. To see how dental plan costs compare in your region, use our tool to get dental insurance quotes for the available plans. You can also see what plans are popular in the state by reviewing the below list of the bestselling South Carolina plans on DentalInsurance.com.

Chart of SC Dental Plan Details for this Study