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Lora Shinn is Investopedia's senior editor of insurance reviews, building on 15 years of experience covering insurance and other personal finance topics as a freelance writer and editor. Her articles have also been published by CNN Money, U.S. News & World Report, and Bankrate, among others.
Updated June 21, 2024 Fact checked by Fact checked by Bobby L. Hickman, FLMI CLUBobby L. Hickman is a longtime business and financial journalist who brings decades of experience in insurance and financial services to his editor role at Investopedia. He has worked with insurance and financial services companies, such as AFLAC, Allstate, Confederation Life, Farm Bureau, SunLife, and others. His editorial clients include the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Advisors magazine.
MetLife was founded in 1868 and has grown into a New York-based international financial services company serving more than 40 global markets. MetLife offers annuities, employee benefits, asset management, dental insurance for individual and institutional customers, and other types of insurance. MetLife offers dental plans through its website and in partnership with NCD.
MetLife offers dental insurance in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. However, the types of dental insurance to choose from differ based on your state.
MetLife’s preferred provider organization (PPO) TakeAlong Dental Insurance offers three options:
Along with covering more types of dental procedures, PPO-HIGH offers higher coverage percentages, lower deductibles, and higher maximum coverage limits. Both Medium and High offer denture coverage.
In partnership with NCD, MetLife broadly offers a few additional PPO plans without waiting periods. Most increase the coverage offered every year for the first few years:
It’s important to note that in the first year, the Essential and Complete plans cover major care at just around 10%.
NCD plans are available in 38 states. In some states, such as Texas, you may have even more options, albeit higher-priced ones. These plans all offer Year 1 coverage at 10% for major services, with only two tiers of increases (Year 1 and Year 2):
MetLife offers a TakeAlong Dental HMO to residents of California, Florida, New York, and Texas. With a dental HMO plan, you select a dentist when you enroll. You can see only that dentist if you want your dental procedures covered.
You’ll typically pay a flat copay for most services, and preventive care is typically free or very low cost. The MetLife Dental HMO has no annual maximums, deductibles, or waiting periods. These plans are offered at two levels:
Notably, both plans cover all levels of care, plus orthodontia for adults.
The MetLife Discount Dental Program is not insurance, and is offered through Careington International. According to MetLife, the discount program is unavailable in Washington, Utah, and Vermont. Monthly pricing is straightforward and low-cost, at around $11.95 per month for coverage for one person. You can use the discount plan’s website to shop for estimated procedure costs from various providers before visiting a dental practice.
To find out how much you’ll pay out of pocket, search for nearby dentists. Many dentists can give you a sample pricing sheet of various common procedures.
MetLife sells pet insurance plans directly to consumers. However, most other MetLife insurance options are only offered through employers, also called “group coverage.” These include:
Here’s a comparison of the MetLife TakeAlong PPO plans broadly available in ZIP code 77084 (Houston, Texas). As you can see, the PPO-HIGH plan offers the highest percentages of coverage for basic care, the lowest deductible, and the highest calendar year maximum coverage limit.
| PPO-LOW | PPO-MEDIUM | PPO-HIGH | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $17.58 | $38.16 | $44.90 |
| Calendar Year Max | $750 | $1,500 | $2,000 |
| Deductible | $75 | $50 | $25 |
| Preventive Care: Plan Pays | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Basic Care: Plan Pays | 50% | 70%, six-month waiting period | 80%, six-month waiting period |
| Major Care: Plan Pays | Not covered | 50%, 12-month waiting period | 50%, 12-month waiting period |
You can also shop for MetLife plans through NCD and in some states, shop for HMO plans.
Adding up the cost of dental insurance includes considering out-of-pocket expenses, too. Depending on your MetLife PPO plan, deductibles generally range from $25 to $75 per year. Annual maximums range from $750 to $2,000. After you spend your annual maximum, you’ll be responsible for the remaining costs. An HMO plan won’t charge a deductible or feature an annual maximum, but you are restricted to your primary dentist.
Remember that if your procedure isn’t covered, you’ll pay the entire cost out of pocket. This is important if you want a service like tooth whitening.
The table below shows an estimate of MetLife’s monthly premiums for the lowest-cost TakeAlong PPO plan that covers preventive, basic, and major care. It’s available in 10 states, which are listed in order of population.
| Cost of MetLife Dental Insurance TakeAlong PPO Plan in 10 States | |
|---|---|
| State | Monthly Premium |
| California (ZIP code 90011) | $43.89 |
| Texas (77084) | $38.16 |
| Florida (34787) | $38.37 |
| New York (10001) | $44.19 |
| Pennsylvania (15006) | $31.00 |
| Illinois (60629) | $41.21 |
| Ohio (43123) | $34.70 |
| Georgia (30349) | $39.69 |
| North Carolina (27610) | $42.45 |
| Michigan (48180) | $42.74 |
We compared MetLife to two other companies by examining each one’s lowest-premium PPO plans that cover preventive, basic, and major dental care. The following table shows the premiums, deductibles, and annual maximum benefit caps for each. However, remember that your out-of-pocket costs may differ significantly. To get a sense, call the insurers and ask how much you’ll pay out of pocket for, say, a filling.
| Company | Avg. Premium (Sample Plan) | Avg. Deductible (Sample Plan) | Avg. Annual Max Benefit (Sample Plan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| MetLife | $38.63 | $50 | $1,500 |
| Delta Dental | $53.59 | $50 | $2,000 |
| Physicians Mutual | $30.50 | $0 | Unlimited |
| Medium | Contact Info |
|---|---|
| Phone | 1-800-942-0854 |
MetLife’s company’s National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) three-year average measuring customer complaints indicated a below-average number of complaints for a company of its size.
In the 2023 J.D. Power U.S. Dental Plan Satisfaction Survey, MetLife’s customer satisfaction index rating came in just below average, at fifth out of eight insurers ranked.
MetLife is among our favorite all-around dental insurance providers, having won spots on five of our lists of top companies. When we compared MetLife’s TakeAlong PPO plan to similar offerings from competitors, we found good coverage levels for all three levels of care at a cheaper premium than many.
MetLife offers a no-surprises plan with slightly better coverage for basic care with its PPO-MEDIUM plan available through the MetLife website. If you want even better coverage, or simply different coverage, you can review numerous offerings on the MetLife website or through its partner, NCD. However, remember you may find different options than your neighbor in the next state.
Finally, take a look at MetLife’s HMO plans if you want a low-cost option with no annual maximum and no waiting periods.
You can get dental insurance in one of several ways:
A dental cleaning in California could cost as much as $278 without insurance, but the total depends on what you have done during your appointment and your location. Depending on your oral health, a cleaning could involve some or many of these services, each of which adds charges:
Acceptance and coverage depend on whether you have an HMO or PPO plan. With a MetLife Dental PPO plan, you can see any dentist you wish, though you’ll pay more if you see someone out of network. If you have a MetLife HMO plan, you can only see a dentist who works within the MetLife network. MetLife states that it offers a network of 146,000 for group plans, likely similar to that for individual plans.
Dental insurance’s value depends on how many procedures you need. MetLife’s lowest-cost PPO plan costs $453.56 for a year of insurance. Getting your teeth cleaned a few times yearly is unlikely to outweigh the cost of those premiums. If you don’t use the insurance at all, it’s certainly not worth the cost. But imagine you need a filling (around $174 each). MetLife covers around 70% of that cost, an estimate of $121 per filling. If you need pain relief and three fillings, your bill will quickly add up to more than $453.56. Adding two routine cleanings throughout the year, along with X-rays, exams, pain relief, and dental insurance is a decent deal.
Depending on your state and insurance company, you may need to file written notice or paperwork to cancel the insurance plan. You may need to do this 30 days in advance. Typically, the insurer will refund any portion of your premium remaining for the year. However, if you paid for a discount plan in advance, you might not be entitled to a refund, as dental discount plans are not insurance. If you cancel your coverage, insurance companies may also prohibit you from re-enrolling for up to 12 months, and you’ll have to repeat the waiting periods.
To determine which dental insurance companies to review, we tapped into both market data and public sentiment. We used business and industry databases to get insights into market share, and user-generated data from Google to understand trends and public interest in stand-alone dental plans. This analysis narrowed our focus to 17 key companies offering dental coverage to individuals, regardless of whether their health insurance was purchased through state or federal marketplaces or independently.
We collected data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), a standard-setting and regulatory support organization that maintains a database of customer complaints. We also gathered data directly from companies via websites, media contacts, and existing partnerships. The data collection process took place between Oct. 9, 2023, and Dec. 23, 2023.
We then developed a quantitative model that scored each dental insurance provider based on 35 criteria that fall into five major categories and are crucial in evaluating the company’s offerings and benefits. We weighted the five categories as follows for this article:
To learn more about our process for finding the best dental insurance companies, read our full methodology.
