Many people across the country now struggle to find an NHS dentist and the queues of prospective patients outside new practices in some areas are literally miles long.

This is a far from satisfactory situation and, given that dental pain is one of the worst that can afflict you, the need to have a back-up dental plan in the form of dental insurance UK is becoming ever more urgent.

With dental insurance come many advantages, the most obvious of which is the ability to choose your own dentist and you can make a claim for treatment whether you use an NHS dentist or a private one.

You don’t even have to have a check up before your level of premium is set, so there are no big barriers to taking out the cover. Just remember that you will usually will have to have had the cover for three to six months before you start claiming on your dental insurance.

Bear in mind though that dental insurance will not generally pay out the full cost of any treatment and many will only go up to 75%, with a strict annual limit on what you can claim.

Dental insurance will cover the cost of standard dental treatements such as root canal work, orthodontic treatment like braces, crowns, bridges and laboratory work up to the limits of your policy. After your treatment you pay the dentist and then claim the costs back on your dental plan from the insurer.

For added convenience you could sign up for a capitiation scheme. This will permit you to pay a monthly instalment for your dental insurance rather than settling the bill with the dentist after each appointment. This covers regular check-ups and basic work like fillings and extractions.

The only major disadvantage to capitation schemes is that you can only visit a dentist that has signed up to the scheme, so you could find this a bit of a limitation on the cover afforded by your dental insurance.