Anthem Dental Insurance: the 5 Essential Choice Plans, Costs and Coverage (2026)
Independent guide. Real Dental Costs is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthem, Elevance Health or the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Plan data cited from anthem.com, dentalinsurance.com and Forbes Advisor (all 2026). For current quotes, visit anthem.com.
Anthem sells dental insurance under five Essential Choice PPO tiers — Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Incentive — in 14 states. Annual maximums run $1,000 to $2,500, with a $50 deductible on most tiers. Only Platinum and Incentive include orthodontia (child-only, $1,000 lifetime) and implants. Premiums are quoted by ZIP code; Forbes Advisor's 2026 example for a 30-year-old woman in California ranged $25-$61/month (forbes.com, 2026).
What will an Anthem plan actually pay for your procedure?
Anthem publishes coinsurance percentages, not dollar amounts — so knowing you get "50% on major care" does not tell you what a crown will actually cost you. The tool below applies each tier's published deductible and coinsurance share to your own treatment basket, in your state, comparing year one (while waiting periods may still apply, except on Incentive) against later years once a lower tier's wait has passed.
Anthem Essential Choice Tier Picker
Price Bronze → Incentive against your own treatment plan, in your state, year 1 vs later — premiums are your quote (Anthem prices by ZIP), never a guess
Anthem is a trade name of Elevance Health affiliates and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Real Dental Costs is not affiliated with Anthem. Plan rules as published on www.anthem.com, retrieved 2026-08-22.
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Your treatment plan this year
Essential Choice PPO — Bronze
$1,741
All-in year total (premiums + what you pay)
Cash total: $1,631
Plan pays: $190
You pay at the chair: $1,441
Premiums ×12: $300 (example quote)
Waiting period year 1: Composite filling — plan pays $0 on this.
Not covered: Dental crown (not covered on this tier).
Anthem prices by ZIP and county (quote only) — enter your quoted rate.
Essential Choice PPO — Silver
$1,921
All-in year total (premiums + what you pay)
Cash total: $1,631
Plan pays: $190
You pay at the chair: $1,441
Premiums ×12: $480 (example quote)
Waiting period year 1: Composite filling, Dental crown — plan pays $0 on these.
Quote only — enter your quoted rate.
Essential Choice PPO — Gold
$2,053
All-in year total (premiums + what you pay)
Cash total: $1,631
Plan pays: $190
You pay at the chair: $1,441
Premiums ×12: $612 (example quote)
Waiting period year 1: Composite filling, Dental crown — plan pays $0 on these.
Quote only — enter your quoted rate.
Essential Choice PPO — Platinum
$2,173
All-in year total (premiums + what you pay)
Cash total: $1,631
Plan pays: $190
You pay at the chair: $1,441
Premiums ×12: $732 (example quote)
Waiting period year 1: Composite filling, Dental crown — plan pays $0 on these.
Quote only — enter your quoted rate.
Essential Choice PPO — Incentive
$1,672
All-in year total (premiums + what you pay)
Cash total: $1,631
Plan pays: $655
You pay at the chair: $976
Premiums ×12: $696 (example quote)
Quote only — enter your quoted rate.
Lowest worst-case all-in
Dental savings plan (e.g. DentalSave / Careington)
$915–$1,404
All-in year total
No waiting period, no annual cap, nothing reimbursed: you pay the discounted fee plus the membership.
Membership $99/year; typical 20-50 % off the dentist fee schedule, no cap, no waiting (dentalsave.com, retrieved 2026-07-13).
Pay cash, no plan
$1,631
All-in year total
State-average cash prices from the open US Dental Cost Index (Ohio).
How this is calculated. Cash prices are state averages from the open US Dental Cost Index. Each PPO column applies the published in-network member share per class (preventive / basic / major) after the published deductible, zeroes out classes still inside the published waiting period when “first year” is ticked, caps the plan's payout at the published annual maximum, treats orthodontics against its own lifetime maximum, and treats implants as not covered unless the carrier publishes otherwise. Premiums: a published “starting at” figure is a floor, a third-party example quote is only a placeholder, and your own quote replaces both. Dark bar = premiums, colored bar = what you pay at the chair. Columns are ranked by their worst-case figure. Estimates, in-network, one person — not a quote, not insurance advice.
On a $1,200 crown (US Dental Cost Index national average), Bronze pays nothing — you owe the full $1,200. Silver, Gold and Platinum pay 50% after their deductible once the 6-month major-care wait has passed, leaving you about $625. Incentive has no wait but leaves you 70% of the bill in year one (the plan pays 30%), about $855 — more than the lower tiers' post-wait share, but available immediately.
How much does Anthem dental insurance cost?
Anthem prices premiums by ZIP code and county, so the only accurate number is the quote you get at anthem.com. As a published reference point, Forbes Advisor's 2026 example quote for a 30-year-old woman in California shows the spread across tiers:
| Tier | Example premium (Forbes, 30F CA, 2026) | Annual max | Deductible | Basic (your share) | Major (your share) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | $25/mo | $1,000 | $50 | 50% (after 3 mo) | Not covered |
| Silver | $40/mo | $1,000 | $50 | 50% (after 3 mo) | 50% (after 6 mo) |
| Gold | $51/mo | $1,500 | $50 | 20% (after 3 mo) | 50% (after 6 mo) |
| Platinum | $61/mo | $2,000 | $50 | 20% (after 3 mo) | 50% (after 6 mo) |
| Incentive | $58/mo | $2,500 | $50 | You pay 40% year 1, no wait | You pay 70% year 1, no wait |
For context, Forbes Advisor's 2026 same-profile comparison shows how Anthem's top tier stacks up against other carriers' top plans: Ameritas $62/mo, Cigna $47/mo, Guardian $56/mo, Humana $23/mo, UnitedHealthcare $32/mo (forbes.com, 2026). Anthem's Platinum sits mid-to-high on premium among carriers publishing a comparable example quote — the number that matters is what each plan pays on your own procedures, not the sticker premium alone.
Pay 10–60% less at the dentist — starting today
- No waiting period
- No annual cap
- Use it the same day
- Pre-existing conditions OK
A dental savings plan is a membership (not insurance): show your card, pay the discounted rate. No claims, no denials, no annual cap. If you're uninsured or you've hit your plan's maximum, it's usually the cheapest way to pay for exactly the procedure you're pricing on this page.
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Where Anthem dental plans are sold (14 states)
Anthem Essential Choice individual and family dental plans are sold in 14 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin — with parts of Missouri, New York and Virginia excluded from certain plan availability (anthem.com, 2026).
- In California, the plan is sold as Anthem Blue Cross.
- In New York, coverage runs under Anthem BlueCross branding with a modified Incentive waiting period (12 months on complex care instead of none).
- Outside these 14 states, anthem.com redirects shoppers to their local Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee at bcbs.com — Anthem itself does not sell an individual dental plan there.
Waiting periods: 3 and 6 months vs the Incentive plan
Silver, Gold and Platinum apply a 3-month wait on basic services (fillings) and a 6-month wait on major/complex services (crowns, root canals, dentures). The Incentive plan removes both waits (12 months on complex care applies only in New York), but leaves the patient a larger coinsurance share in year one: you pay 40% on basic care and 70% on major care (the plan pays 60% and 30%), versus the 20-50% you pay on the other tiers once their waits have passed (anthem.com, Forbes Advisor 2026).
Run the numbers on the same $1,200 crown: waiting 6 months on Silver, Gold or Platinum and then paying 50% coinsurance costs about $625. Skipping the wait on Incentive and paying 70% coinsurance costs about $855 — a difference of roughly $230 for immediate access. Anthem's published footnote also allows waiting periods to be "waived or reduced with prior [dental] coverage" on the lower tiers, which can close that gap entirely if you are switching plans without a coverage lapse (anthem.com, 2026).
Does Anthem dental cover braces, implants and dentures?
Orthodontics: Only Platinum and Incentive include ortho, and only for children through age 18 (age 20 in Kentucky): a $150 deductible, 50% coinsurance, and a $1,000 lifetime maximum ($500 per year). Anthem's own site states braces typically cost $5,350 to $12,000 nationally, citing Authority Dental (anthem.com/individual-and-family/dental-insurance/other-coverage, 2026) — a figure Anthem publishes on a separate page from its Essential Choice tier table, without connecting the two. In practice, the $1,000 lifetime cap covers roughly 8-19% of a typical orthodontic case. See dental insurance that covers braces for how other carriers' ortho riders compare.
Implants and dentures: Platinum lists implants and dentures under major/complex care at 50% coinsurance after a 6-month wait; Incentive covers the same at 30% with no wait (forbes.com, 2026). Bronze, Silver and Gold do not list implant coverage on their published tier tables. See does dental insurance cover implants for how annual maximums typically fall short of implant costs across carriers.
Anthem Dental Family PPO (pediatric ACA)
Anthem's Dental Family PPO satisfies the ACA's pediatric dental Essential Health Benefit requirement for children on family plans. Key terms (anthem.com, 2026):
- Out-of-pocket maximum: $450 per child, $900 per family (Connecticut: $350/$700).
- No pediatric waiting period — unlike the adult basic/major waits on Essential Choice tiers.
- Sold alongside or bundled with Anthem's individual and family medical plans in eligible states.
Anthem dental insurance reviews: what the public signals say
Third-party sources give a mixed but specific picture. Forbes Advisor (2026) rates Essential Choice Platinum 5.0 stars in its carrier comparison. Investopedia (2026) names Anthem BCBS "Best for No Waiting Periods" for the Incentive plan and notes a customer-complaint record far better than expected for a company of its size, while listing limited state availability and the absence of an HMO option as drawbacks in its 15-company, 43-criteria study. Trustpilot's score for anthem.com sits at 1.5/5 ("Bad") — but that score covers Anthem's health insurance business broadly, not a dental-specific product line, so it should be read as a company-wide signal rather than a rating of the dental plan itself. On Reddit's r/HealthInsurance, a widely read thread describes an out-of-network reimbursement trap: out-of-network care is paid at 50% of the plan's "allowed amount," which can be roughly 25% of what the dentist actually billed — a distinction not spelled out on anthem.com's own coverage pages (reddit.com, individual account, 2026).
Is Anthem dental insurance worth it?
It depends on what you need from the plan:
- Preventive care only: Every Essential Choice tier covers cleanings and exams at 100% with no waiting period, so even Bronze delivers value here at the lowest premium in the lineup.
- A crown or root canal already planned: Compare what you would pay after a 6-month wait on Silver/Gold/Platinum against paying immediately on Incentive using the tier picker above — the gap on a $1,200 crown runs about $230 in Incentive's favor for immediacy, against its favor for lower tiers once the wait has passed.
- A family needing orthodontia: The $1,000 lifetime ortho cap on Platinum or Incentive covers a small share of a $5,350-$12,000 case. Budget the remainder separately, or compare a standalone dental savings plan for the rest of the family's routine care.
Compare with other dental insurers
- Aetna Dental Insurance: Costs & Coverage 2026
- Ameritas Dental Insurance: PrimeStar Plans & Costs 2026
- MetLife Dental Insurance
- Cigna Dental Insurance: Costs & Coverage 2026
- Humana Dental Insurance: Costs & Coverage 2026
- Guardian Dental Insurance
- UnitedHealthcare Dental Insurance
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Dental — Independent Guide
- Dental Insurance Hub — How coverage works
- Dental Insurance With No Waiting Period
- Dental Insurance Waiting Periods Explained
- How Much Is Dental Insurance?
This is independent pricing research, not insurance advice. Coverage percentages, deductibles, annual maximums and premiums vary by state, plan and ZIP code — always verify directly with Anthem before making decisions. Data compiled August 2026 from public plan documents and third-party reviews.
Frequently asked questions
Does Anthem dental have a waiting period?
What is Anthem Essential Choice?
How much does Anthem dental insurance cost per month?
Which states sell Anthem dental plans?
Does Anthem dental insurance cover braces?
Does Anthem dental cover implants?
Is the Anthem Incentive plan worth it?
Is Anthem dental insurance better than Blue Cross Blue Shield in general?
Independent dental pricing research — every series carries a named source, and corrections are logged publicly. Not medical advice.