Livingston County residents may have discounted dental care by the end of the summer. The county Board of Commissioners approved discounted dental coverage for residents to be administered by a private program.

The Tennessee company, U.S. Dental Care, is the private company to administer the plan which will cost about $62 per household. Discounts under the plan will be between 20 and 40 percent from participating dentists.

“It’s a great thing for the community,” said commission Chairman Bill Rogers.

According to Ted Westmeier who is the county’s Department of Public Health Director, the reason for the discount plan is to allow residents to receive routine preventive dental care especially after they have lost coverage. He also noted that discount plan does not replace traditional insurance.

A 2005 county survey of residents discovered that about 25 percent of county residents did not have any dental coverage. Over the last couple of years that percentage has likely increased.

U.S. Dental Care data suggest that plan participants would save an average of 28 percent on routine dental examinations, 23 percent on root canals, and 30 percent on surgical tooth extraction.

With 20 percent (26 individual practitioners) of the counties dentists currently participating, available plan dentists may be a bit tight. The number of participating practitioners is likely to increase once the program gets started.

The U.S. Dental Care discount dental plan won’t cost the county anything and the county will only be responsible for reviewing any literature for accuracy.

It is expected that participant enrollment will be done via the Internet, over the phone and by mail. County web site pages will have links leading to the enrollment information one the program is live.

This is a significant opportunity for other U.S. counties to model agreements with discount dental plan provides to try and reduce the rising costs of dental expenses and promote good dental health especially for school-age children who are often affected most by poor dental hygiene.