After medical coverage, dental coverage is the benefit most requested by employees. With our affordable dental plans and access to some of the largest dental provider networks in the country¹, you'll add value to your employees' benefits package and help them better manage their oral and overall health. And offering access to preventive oral care can help keep employees happier and more productive at work.

What we offer

Our dental plans are available with or without a Blue Shield medical plan. We have one of the largest PPO provider networks in California and the second largest HMO network. We offer a variety of benefit levels, plan flexibility, no waiting periods² and one-source administration. For added flexibility, our voluntary dental plans require no minimum employer contribution.

Dental PPO Smile^SM plans

With our dental PPO plans, you and your employees have access to a nationwide dental network of more than 46,500 providers in California and 338,000 PPO providers nationwide.¹

Your employees save money and get the most out of their benefits by choosing a provider from our large network of general and specialty dentists. They can also receive care from any licensed dentist of their choice, covered as a non-network benefit.

• No waiting periods so employees have access to benefits on the first day of coverage
• 100% coverage for diagnostic and preventive services from network providers
• Enhanced dental services for pregnant women
• Orthodontic coverage options for children and adults with some plans, with up to a $1,000 orthodontic benefit per member, per year. To learn more, see A guide to orthodontic coverage (PDF, 152KB)
• Choices for low annual deductibles and calendar-year maximums

Dental Smile Rollover Rewards program for Small Business (1-100)

Your employees have another way to achieve savings while maintaining their health through the Dental Smile Rollover Rewards program. It’s automatically a part of their dental PPO or dental INO plan.

It’s easy

All your employees need to do is visit their dentist at least once a year and, if at the end of the year, their paid dental claims are below the claim threshold, they’ll receive their rewards. And if they see a dentist in their PPO network⁴ versus a non-network dentist, they’ll receive an additional boost to their rewards amount.

The reward amount is based on the dental plan’s calendar-year maximum and the program’s annual claim threshold for your employee plan(s). Any rewards your employee earns will roll over in the form of calendar-year maximum funds and raise their calendar-year maximum for the next benefit year.

Here’s how it works

1. Your employees visit their dentist at least once during the benefit year.
2. At the end of the benefit year, if their claims are less than their annual claim threshold, they’ll earn their annual reward.
3. If their claims were for network dentists, they will earn an additional $100 reward.
4. Your employees’ annual reward, up to the program’s reward maximum, will be added to their calendar-year maximum for the next benefit year.

Learn more about the Dental Smile Rollover Rewards Program:

English flier (PDF, 51KB)

Spanish flier (PDF, 62KB)

Dental INO Smile plans for Small Business (1-100)

The Smile^SM In-Network Only (INO) dental plan portfolio³ pays benefits on a coinsurance basis, but with no out-of-network coverage¹. The INO network includes all the same providers as the dental PPO network. Members can access covered services from any provider in the INO network, giving members access to more than 46,500 providers in California and 338,000 nationwide¹. The INO plan lets you tailor dental coverage for your employees by selecting options from these three key components:

• Voluntary or contributory
• Endodontics and periodontics coverage level (either a 50% or 80% coinsurance level)
• Orthodontia coverage (can be included or excluded)

Additional features:

• $1,500 annual benefit maximum
• Orthodontic coverage of $1,000 per calendar year available, for children and adults
• Oral cancer screening covered as a diagnostic and preventive service
• Covered diagnostic and preventive services covered at 100%

Dental HMO plans

Dental HMO plans help your employees and their dependents take control of their dental costs with the network dental provider of their choice. We're now introducing four new dental HMO plans to offer coverage for basic and major services, while delivering lower out-of-pocket costs for employees. 

Our dental HMO features include:

• More than 24,000 HMO providers in California¹
• $5 office visit copayments
• No deductibles, claim forms or calendar-year maximums
• No charge for diagnostic and preventive services
• Select plans have orthodontia benefits for adults and children

Dual Option Dental

Give your employees a choice between any two dental plans, including voluntary plans.

For Small Business employers, you also have the option to offer Triple Option Dental in any of these combinations:

• 3 HMOs
• 2 HMOs and 1 PPO
• 2 HMOs and 1 INO
• 2 PPOs and 1 HMO⁵
• 2 INOs and 1 HMO⁵
• 1 PPO, 1 INO and 1 HMO⁵

Find a provider or call member services at (888) 702-4171 for dental PPO/INO plans, or at (800) 585-8111 for dental HMO plans. Call center hours are Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time.

Recommend a dentist

If your employee's dentist is not in the provider network, they can nominate a dentist (PDF, 239KB) to join the network.

¹ Dental providers in and out of California are available through a contracted dental plan administrator.
² Voluntary dental PPO and INO plans have a 12-month waiting period for major services.
³ Underwritten by Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company (Blue Shield Life) and pending regulatory approval
⁴ In Network Only (INO) plan members will automatically receive the in-network reward. INO plans do not cover out-of-network charges unless they are for emergency services. Emergency services do not count toward the reward.
⁵ Must be purchased with Blue Shield medical coverage