Three dental carriers, about twenty plans, plus vision. This page tells you what they actually cost at your age, what they actually cover, and which one fits — then lets you enroll in a few minutes.
Step one
The same questions I'd ask you on the phone. They narrow twenty-odd plans down to one or two that make sense — and tell you why, not just what.
Nothing is submitted. No email required.
Be honest here — it's the single biggest factor in which plan is right.
This one is worth real money. Prior coverage can erase waiting periods entirely.
Orthodontia is the one benefit that's genuinely hard to find on individual plans.
Networks differ a lot. Going out of network can cost you hundreds.
Real numbers
Actual 2026 monthly premiums published by each carrier — not estimates. Change your age and the whole table updates. Add family members for a household total.
| Planand what it covers | Monthlyone person, your age | Householdeveryone added up | Annual maximummost the plan pays per year | Wait for crownsbefore major work is covered |
|---|
Blue Cross Healthy Smiles, Dental Blue Connect and Delta Dental all price per person — the household figure is everyone's individual rate added together. On the ACA-qualified Blue Cross plans you pay for a maximum of three children under 21; a fourth and fifth are free. Ameritas prices by ZIP code rather than age, so its exact rate comes from the carrier's quote tool.
The part nobody explains
Dental insurance isn't really insurance the way health insurance is. Health insurance protects you from catastrophe. Dental insurance is closer to a discount program with a spending cap. Once that sentence lands, every other decision here gets easier.
Carriers use different plan names, but they all sort dental work the same way. The bucket a procedure lands in determines what share you pay and how long you wait.
People assume a cracked tooth is an emergency the plan handles immediately. On most plans a crown sits in Bucket 3 — a 12-month waiting period before the plan pays anything toward it. If you already know you need major work, the waiting period matters more than the premium. Two ways around it: buy a plan with no waiting period (Ameritas, Delta's Clear Plan, or a Blue Cross copay plan), or use prior coverage to get the wait waived.
What you pay monthly whether you visit the dentist or not. The only number most people compare, and the least useful on its own.
What you pay before the plan shares costs. Typically $50–$90 per person per year, and usually not applied to cleanings.
Your share afterward. Coinsurance is a percentage (50% of a crown). A copay is a flat dollar amount ($500 for a crown, full stop).
The most the plan pays in a year, usually $1,000–$2,500. A cap on them, not on you. Anything past it is yours.
How long you hold the plan before certain work is covered. Commonly 6 months basic, 12 months major. The number that trips people up.
A $1,400 crown, in network, on a plan held over a year. Illustration only — your dentist's fee and your plan's allowed amount will differ.
A copay plan is often cheaper on a single big procedure, and it's predictable — you can know the number before you sit down. And even before the plan pays anything, being in network reduces the bill, because network dentists agree to discounted rates.
If you're coming off other dental coverage, say so during enrollment. Carriers will often credit that time and waive your waiting periods — the difference between paying 50% for a crown next month and paying 100% for it for a year.
| Carrier | What waives the waiting period | What you need to provide |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Dental | At least 12 consecutive months of prior dental coverage with no gap longer than 30 days. | Prior carrier name and dates of coverage during enrollment. |
| Ameritas | At least 12 continuous months of prior fully-insured active dental coverage, gap no more than 60 days. Ameritas calls this Credit for Prior Coverage. | Previous policy number and carrier name, entered during enrollment. |
| Blue Cross | Ask before you apply — handled case by case. The copay plans have no waiting periods to begin with, and under-19 ACA plans have none either. | Call your agent and confirm before you submit anything. |
A network dentist has signed a contract agreeing to charge less than their usual fee — often 25–50% less. That discount applies before your plan pays anything, so it lowers both your share and how fast you burn through the annual maximum. Out of network, the dentist bills their full fee, the plan pays a smaller percentage of a smaller allowed amount, and you cover the gap. Look up your dentist before you enroll — every carrier below has a provider search. Ninety seconds now prevents the most common regret.
Side by side
Each is genuinely the right answer for somebody, and the wrong one for somebody else. Here's the honest version.
| Blue Cross of Idaho | Delta Dental of Idaho | Ameritas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network size in Idaho | Most Idaho dentists participate | Largest — roughly 9 of 10 dentists nationwide | Smaller network, deeper discounts where it applies |
| Waiting periods | 6 months basic / 12 months major — except copay plans and under-19 ACA plans, which have none | 6 / 12 months — waived with 12 months of prior coverage. The Clear Plan has none at all | None. Benefits are lower in year one, then step up |
| When coverage starts | 1st of the following month | 1st of the following month | As soon as the next day |
| How it's priced | By age band | By age band | By ZIP code, not age |
| Braces | Medically necessary orthodontia on ACA plans, under-19 only, prior authorization | GrinWell Prime covers adult and child braces — $1,000 lifetime max | Care Boost covers child braces under 19 — $1,000 lifetime max |
| Implants | Covered on several plans; copay plan sets a flat $1,250 implant copay | 50% on Prime and Plus, or a flat $1,250 on the Clear Plan | Covered on Care Boost and Care Complete with its own sub-limit |
| Highest annual maximum | $2,500 (Healthy Smiles Elite) | $2,000 (GrinWell Prime) | $3,500 after year one (Care Complete) |
| Unusual extras | True copay plans where every procedure has a fixed price | Health through Oral Wellness — extra benefits if a risk assessment says you need them | Hearing aid coverage on Care Complete; whitening on Care Boost |
| Best if… | You want a familiar Idaho name, broad dentist access, and a tier for every budget | Keeping your dentist matters most, you're coming off other coverage, or you need braces | You need coverage immediately, you're on Medicare, or you want hearing included |
Enroll in dental
Every enrollment link is coded to the agent selected at the top of this page, so you have someone to call about claims and ID cards later — at no additional cost. Look up your dentist first.
Trusted Idaho name · Broad network · Coverage starts the 1st of next month
Blue Cross gives you the widest spread of price points here. At the low end, Healthy Smiles Preventive covers cleanings and exams for under $25 a month for most adults. At the top, Healthy Smiles Elite carries a $2,500 annual maximum and improves its major-work coverage in each of the first three years you stay on it.
The ones to know about are the copay plans. Instead of paying a percentage and guessing, every procedure has a fixed price: $75 a filling, $500 a crown, $150 an extraction, $1,250 an implant. No waiting periods, and the annual maximum disappears entirely after year one.
Monthly rates at age 45
Resources
9 of 10 dentists nationwide · Waits waived with prior coverage · Enroll any time
If keeping your dentist is the priority, start here. Delta is Idaho's largest dental carrier and its network reaches nearly every practice in the state, plus more than 152,000 dentists nationwide — useful if you travel or have a kid away at college.
GrinWell Prime is the closest thing here to employer-grade coverage: a $2,000 annual maximum, implants, and orthodontia for adults as well as children, which almost no individual plan offers. The Clear Plan takes a different approach — no waiting periods at all and set dollar amounts instead of percentages, so a filling is $90, a crown $500, a root canal $400, an implant $1,250. At the other end, GrinWell Prevent covers preventive care with no copays and no annual maximum for around $22 a month.
Monthly rates at age 45
Resources
Next-day coverage · Priced by ZIP, not age · Dental, vision and hearing
Ameritas solves one problem better than anyone else: you need work done and you can't wait. There are no waiting periods on the PrimeStar plans and coverage can begin as soon as the next day. The trade-off is that benefits start lower in year one and step up after twelve months — a crown covered at 20% now might be covered at 50% a year from now.
Care Lite is the value option, with a $750 maximum doubling to $1,500 after year one. Care Boost adds child orthodontia, implants and whitening, lifting the maximum to $2,500 in year two. Care Complete is the most generous plan on this page — $3,500 after year one, 80% on basic work from day one, plus hearing aid benefits, which makes it a strong companion to Medicare. All three include Preventive Plus: cleanings don't count against the annual maximum.
PrimeStar dental plans
Ameritas rates depend on ZIP code rather than age, so there's no table to publish — the quote tool returns your exact price in about a minute.
Resources
Enroll in vision
Vision is a separate policy, and VSP is the largest vision carrier in the country — the biggest network of independent eye doctors, plus retail locations. No waiting periods, and benefits start the month you enroll.
The lowest premium, and the only one with no association fee. Covers an annual exam and a new pair of glasses.
$13.93 / mo, one personA step up for contact lens wearers — the fitting exam is covered outright instead of discounted.
$17.70 / mo, one personIncludes an $18 annual Healthy Vision Association enrollment fee.
Pick one upgrade every year. Best if you want premium lenses or a bigger frame budget.
$27.51 / mo, one personIncludes an $18 annual Healthy Vision Association enrollment fee.
Do the arithmetic. The Standard plan runs $167.16 a year for one person and returns a covered exam plus a $150 frame allowance — so if you replace your glasses every year, it pays for itself. If you wear the same frames for five years and only need an exam, paying cash is often cheaper. All three plans have a 12-month contract term. Out of network, VSP reimburses up to $45 for the exam, $70 for a frame, $65 for lenses and $105 for contacts.
What happens next
Most people finish in one sitting. Here's the order I'd do it in.
Use the provider search on the carrier's card above. If your dentist isn't in that network, stop and check a different carrier — the most common regret, and completely avoidable.
The carrier's site can't carry your selection over from this page, so you'll re-select it there. Note the exact plan name before you click through — the pop-up on this page shows it to you.
Names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers for everyone covered. Home address and email. Bank account or card for the first premium. If you've had dental coverage in the last year, bring the carrier name, policy number and dates — that's what waives your waiting periods.
Ameritas can start as soon as tomorrow. Blue Cross and Delta start the 1st of the following month. If you're timing around a treatment plan or the end of other coverage, pick deliberately.
Preventive care is covered from day one on nearly every plan — get in early and find out what you're working with. Claim denied, ID card never showed, premium came out twice? That's what your agent is for, at no charge.
Worth knowing
Need $3,000 of work on a $1,500 maximum? Ask your dentist to schedule half in December and half in January. You get two annual maximums instead of one.
The cheapest plan is right if you only want cleanings. If you need a crown, a $22 plan that excludes major work costs you $1,400 more than a $45 plan that covers it.
People leave a job, buy a plan, and never mention the dental they just had. That silence can cost a year of waiting on major work that would have been waived.
Cleanings and X-rays are covered from day one almost everywhere. Get the exam done, find out what you're facing, and plan the major work for when coverage kicks in.
Several plans here raise coverage and maximums after year one, and one Blue Cross plan improves major-work coverage in each of the first three years. Staying put pays.
Individual dental and vision have no enrollment window. Buy in March, in August, or the week after you crack a molar. Medicare's enrollment periods don't apply either.
Questions
Each carrier runs its own enrollment system, and there's no way for this page to pass your choice into theirs. The link takes you to the right carrier with your agent already attached, but the plan selection starts fresh on their site. That's why the pop-up shows you the exact plan name before you leave — write it down or screenshot it.
No. Premiums are filed with the state and are identical whether you buy through an agent, over the phone, or on the carrier's own website. Agent compensation comes from the carrier. What you get for free is somebody who knows the plans and will pick up the phone when there's a problem.
Yes. Individual dental and vision have no open enrollment period — that's a health insurance rule that doesn't apply here. Blue Cross and Delta start you the 1st of the following month; Ameritas can start as soon as tomorrow.
Most plans make you wait twelve months for major work, so this comes down to three real options: Ameritas PrimeStar (no waiting periods, but year-one coverage on major work is lower), Delta's Clear Plan (no waiting periods, flat $500 crown copay), or a Blue Cross copay plan (no waiting periods, flat $500 crown copay).
If you had dental coverage in the last 30–60 days, a fourth option opens up: a standard Delta or Ameritas plan with the waiting period waived, which usually beats all three. Call your agent and work that math out before you buy.
A regular plan pays a percentage — you owe 50% of whatever the crown costs, which you can't know until the dentist quotes it. A copay plan sets a fixed dollar price for each procedure: a crown is $500 whether the dentist charges $1,200 or $1,600. Copay plans suit people who know they need work and want a predictable number. Percentage plans often work out better if you need a lot of small things.
Usually the difference between paying 20% and paying 50%, on top of losing the network discount that would have lowered the bill in the first place. On some plans out-of-network care isn't covered at all. Run your dentist through the provider search before enrolling — and if they're not there, ask which plans they do take. Most offices will tell you straight out.
Rarely, and never generously — this is the hardest benefit to find on individual dental. Two real options: Delta's GrinWell Prime covers braces for adults and children at 50% with a $1,000 lifetime maximum after a six-month wait, and Ameritas Care Boost covers child orthodontia under 19 with a $1,000 lifetime maximum. Blue Cross covers medically necessary orthodontia on its ACA plans for under-19s with prior authorization.
It's a cap on them. If your plan has a $1,500 annual maximum, that's the most the insurance company pays toward your care in a benefit year. After that, everything is your responsibility at full price. This is why splitting a big treatment plan across two benefit years is so useful.
Yes, and many people should. Medicare Parts A and B don't cover routine dental at all, and Medicare Advantage dental benefits vary widely and are often capped low. Medicare's enrollment periods don't apply to dental — you can buy a standalone plan in any month. Ameritas Care Complete is worth a look specifically because it adds hearing aid coverage.
Yes. The Blue Cross ACA-qualified plans (Dental Choice, Choice Plus and Choice Core) are built around pediatric dental and include an out-of-pocket maximum for children — $450 per child, $900 for two or more — which the adult plans don't have. There are also no waiting periods on the under-19 ACA plans.
Generally no. Cosmetic dentistry is excluded from nearly every dental plan. The exception here is Ameritas Care Boost, which includes a benefit toward professional teeth bleaching. Veneers, cosmetic bonding and elective smile work are self-pay almost everywhere.
Terms differ by carrier and some plans have an annual contract commitment, so ask before you enroll if you might only want coverage briefly. Ameritas offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee on its dental and vision plans. Call your agent and they'll tell you what your specific plan allows.
Your agent
Independent insurance agent in Pocatello. We represent every carrier on this page, so there's no reason to steer you toward one over another — only toward the one that fits. None of this costs you anything — not the advice, not the help enrolling, and not the call you make three years from now when a claim gets denied.
Most people can enroll from this page without talking to anyone, and that's the point. But call if any of these apply:
No charge for any of it, and no charge later either.
Important. This page is a summary prepared by Real Benefit Solutions to help you compare options. It is not a contract, a certificate of insurance, or a guarantee of coverage. The policy, certificate and schedule of benefits issued by the insurance carrier control in all cases and contain the complete description of benefits, limitations, exclusions and conditions. Where this page and a carrier document disagree, the carrier document governs.
Rates shown are 2026 individual monthly premiums as published by each carrier and are subject to change. Blue Cross of Idaho and Delta Dental of Idaho dental rates are age-banded and apply to Idaho residents. Ameritas premiums are determined by ZIP code and must be quoted through the carrier's tool. VSP rates shown are the Idaho rates published in the three-plan comparison document linked above, which the carrier notes are subject to change. Plan availability, benefit levels, waiting periods and networks vary and may change.
Blue Cross of Idaho is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Delta Dental, Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. and Vision Service Plan are independent companies. All product names, logos and brands are the property of their respective owners and are used with permission for identification only.
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