Blue Shield offers affordable and comprehensive dental plans available to clients with and without a Blue Shield health plan.* Dental exams can help your clients indentify early signs of serious illness and maintain overall well-being, resulting in better health outcomes.
Highlights:
- Can be sold stand-alone or with a medical plan.
- IFP dental plans are for people of all ages, including seniors
- Off-exchange dental plans can be sold any time of the year.
- Dental plans sold through Covered California can only be purchased when enrolling in a medical plan sold through Covered California or added to an existing on-exchange medical plan during open enrollment.
- Waiting periods for dental services are waived for members who provide proof of prior comprehensive dental coverage that ended within 60 days from their Blue Shield dental effective date. See waiting period details (PDF, 99 KB)
We also offer a dental and vision plan package, Specialty DuoSM†, which includes comprehensive dental and vision coverage.
Our dental provider networks are among the largest in the state. The dental PPO plans include over 55,000 access points‡ and our dental HMO network includes over 22,000 access points‡ in California. Visit Find a Doctor to help your client's find a dentist in their area.
Dental rates for off-exchange PPO plans are increasing by an average of 6.5% in 2027. All other dental plans will get a rate pass this year.
Dental PPO plan benefits
No waiting period for diagnostic or preventive services.
Covered diagnostic and preventive services, such as X-rays and routine cleanings, do not count toward the annual coverage limit for dental PPO and Specialty Duo dental plans, providing more coverage for other services before reaching the annual limit.
A wide range of dental benefits, including most diagnostic and preventive services at no additional cost when using a dental network provider.
Implants coverage available on most plans.
Orthodontic benefits are available on most plans for both children and adults.
$50 - $75 deductible per member, per calendar year.
Choice of a $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 calendar-year benefit maximum per member.
Coverage even when members use a non-network dentist. Our plan reimburses members up to an allowed amount for covered services, and they pay the remaining balance of the total billed charges.
Dental HMO plan benefits
A wide range of dental benefits, including most diagnostic and preventive services at no additional cost
No deductibles and no calendar-year maximums
Orthodontic benefits included
Affordable fixed copayments for basic and major services
Specialty care available with a referral from a primary dentist
Our Specialty Plans at a Glance brochure provides a side-by-side comparison of our dental plans. You can find more detailed information in our dental benefit summaries.
These consumer-facing webpages provide your clients with additional information about our dental plans and explain how the plans work.
NEW! Dental sales webpages are now available (Dental PPO, Dental HMO). These consumer-facing webpages explain how our dental plans work, promote our networks, and are now available starting this open enrollment period.
* Your client must be a California resident at the time of enrollment. If your client had a Blue Shield IFP dental plan or a dental + vision package canceled, they must wait six months from the date of cancellation before they can reapply.
† Underwritten by Blue Shield of California Life & Health Insurance Company (Blue Shield Life).
‡ Access points represent the number of network dentists at each office location where patients are treated. A network dentist who treats patients at two separate office locations constitutes as two access points.