Rating: 9.8 / 10 (Excellent)
157 Customer Reviews - see all comments
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Guardian Direct is a division of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, which is among the largest mutual insurance companies in the nation. Founded in 1860 and headquartered in New York, Guardian offers a wide array of products, including dental insurance. Guardian employs numerous agents across the country and holds a superior rating with the BBB and excellent ratings for financial stability.

Guardian Direct® Dental Insurance - Overview

Guardian Direct's dental insurance is part of a series of comprehensive individual insurance products offered on guardiandirect.com, including accident, critical illness, vision and pet insurance. 

Guardian Direct dental insurance plans can cover regular exams, cleanings, x-rays, root canals, crowns, implants, and braces. Consumers can choose from a number of Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans or a Dental Health Maintenance Organization (DHMO) plan based on their needs, budget, and state.  


 

Qualification

Consumers interested in dental insurance from Guardian Direct can enroll immediately through their fast, safe and secure website guardiandirect.com.  Guardiandirect.com also provides a provider lookup to help find a dentist in the Guardian network or confirm their existing dentist is a part of the network. 

After providing their zip code, applicants are shown the plans that are available for them in their area.  To purchase, they need only enter who needs to be covered, home address, phone number, gender, birthdate and email address along with a valid form of payment.  


Plans

Through Guardian Direct, consumers have access to three tiers of PPO dental insurance plans. The first, Bronze, is for people who are only expecting to get cleanings and the occasional filling. The second, Silver, works best for those who anticipate needing dental work beyond the occasional filling. And the third, Gold, is best suited for people who want the maximum amount of coverage possible. In the states of FL, IL, NY, and TX, DHMO plans are also available. The PPO plan tiers' offering is as follows:

Coverage

Preventive services include the most routine dental services, such as oral exams, cleanings, and X-rays.

Basic services include dental services, such as fillings and simple extractions.

Major services include more complex dental services such as crowns, oral surgery, and implants.

 

GUARDIAN DIRECT PAYS

PLAN BENEFITS

GOLD ADVANTAGE

SILVER ADVANTAGE

BRONZE ADVANTAGE

Preventive Services

100%, No Waiting Period

80%, No Waiting Period

100%, No Waiting Period

Basic Services

70%, After 6 Month Waiting Period

50%, After 6 Month Waiting Period

50%, After 6 Month Waiting Period 

Major Services

50%, After 12 Month Waiting Period

50%, After 12 Month Waiting Period 

0% (Not Covered)

Implants

50%, After 12 Month Waiting Period

50%, After 12 Month Waiting Period

0% (Not Covered)

Child (under 19) Orthodontia

50%, After 12 Month Waiting Period

0% (Not Covered)

0% (Not Covered) 

DEDUCTIBLES

 

 

 

Preventive Services

$0 In-Network

$50 Out-of-Network

$0 In-Network

$50 Out-of-Network

$0 In-Network

$50 Out-of-Network

All Other Dental Services 

$50

$50

$50

MAXIMUM PAYOUTS

 

 

 

Total Benefit Maximum

1st Year Max: $500

2nd Year Max: $750

3rd Year Max: $1,000

4th Year & Beyond Max: $1,500

1st Year Max: $500

2nd Year Max: $750

3rd Year Max: $1,000

4th Year & Beyond Max: $1,000

1st Year Max: $1,000

2nd Year Max: $1,250

3rd Year Max: $1,500

4th Year & Beyond Max: $1,000

Implant Maximum

Lifetime Max: $1,000

Lifetime Max: $700

Not Covered

Child (under 19) Orthodontia Maximum

Yearly Max: $500

Lifetime Max: $1,000

Yearly Max: $500

Lifetime Max: $1,000

Not Covered

Dental Insurance at Guardian Direct

Guardian Direct's easy online enrollment process, comprehensive plan breakdown, and supplementary research material all make for a solid choice of dental insurance. After consumers answer a few questions designed to determine which plans best suit them, they can begin the enrollment process. Since Guardian Direct is highly rated by the BBB, consumers should have confidence that the company can meet their dental insurance needs.


Top Rated
Our Partner

  • No waiting periods on basic care in 37 states; access fillings, simple extractions, cleanings as soon as coverage starts
  • Save up to 35% with over 135,000 in-network dentists at more than 410,000 locations nationwide
  • Comprehensive Dental Insurance Plans (PPO and DHMO available)
  • Coverage for regular exams, cleanings, x-rays, root canals, crowns, implants and braces 
  • Online quote, provider lookup, purchase and service tools make it easy
  • Backed by one of the insurance industry’s most stable companies (rated A++ by AM Best)

Latest Guardian Direct Reviews

brandacce

9/29/2023
this is not the good dental insurance. I must voice out: it is the worst and very unreasonable plan cancellation policy. my policy is monthly, but they request the auto payment I can't cancel from portal. 1. not cover a lot, 2. many dentist office don't accept it 3. auto payment can't be cancelled even the plan is on monthly plan


brandacce

9/29/2023
this is not the good dental insurance. I must voice out: it is the worst and very unreasonable plan cancellation policy. my policy is monthly, but they request the auto payment I can't cancel from portal. 1. not cover a lot, 2. many dentist office accept it 3. auto payment can be cancelled even the plan is on monthly plan


J
J

8/9/2023
Absolutely horrible service. They have cost me so much money it's unbelievable. They've hung up on me. They refuse to pay a claim they said would be covered at 40%. I've been on the phone with them for hours now.. Avoid this insurance company at all costs. The current agent won't transfer me to a manager.


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Mouse1999

7/12/2023
Husband's company changed to Guardian Insurance for dental. They don't give you a card to give your dentist for billing, so I had the card of the prior insurance company in my wallet and gave that to the dentist. Of course, the old company doesn't pay and I leave the bill for my husband. He gets mad and prints out an 11 page handout from is Company website saying Guadian doesn't issue cards. I guess I am supposed to carry 11 pages in my wallet! Anyway, I found a piece of cardboard in the garbage and taped the Guardian name and the group number onto the cardboard for my wallet. This whole simplification of process on their side, wasted my time, my husband's time and my dentist's time.


createlena

4/10/2023
Some of their plans say they cover 100% out of network. What they really cover is 100% of is what they calculate the total cost should be for the dental care, they do not cover 100% of what you are actually billed. Recently paid $120 for a basic dental exam for my daughter and they reimbursed $42.


kboyd1362

4/4/2023
Called to get the status of a patient's claim and was not only given information that didn't make any sense but Logan the rep I spoke to turned around and hung up on me. Now have been on hold to speak to a manager for over 30 minutes. Great customer service!!!! Not


David B

3/28/2023
Guardian Direct has my dentist listed as "in network" on their healthcare.gov page and reported I had coverage for my dentist, even provided a letter to my dentist's practice confirming I was covered. When bills were submitted for payment, I suddenly wasn't covered and my dentist was "out of network." Scummy!


J
Julie R

3/28/2023
Guardian's customer service is difficult to navigate and hard to access. I attempted to email customer service regarding the cancelation of my marketplace plan, because I will be getting new insurance through an employer. The autoreply stated they'd get back to me in 2-4 business days, which i thought was a little ridiculous until I didnt get a reply at all after 6 days. I reached out a second time, sighting my first message and I was told I reached the wrong customer service email. That person strangely directed me to their LIFE insurance branch. And thats just the tip of the iceberg. When i finally got the correct number, the bot kept thinking i was saying CANCER and not dental and hung... Read More


Adrian A

12/1/2022
I was using this insurance by my employer for 3 years and was good until this year since start denying valid claims to increase their profits. I had to send appeals and fight with them for every dollar-another insurance adopted fraud and deceiving members as a successful business model


Kristi P

10/28/2022
Terrible customer service. I have been waiting six months for a claim and customer service is useless. Was on hold for 15 minutes once before just hanging up.


M
Mai

9/7/2022
My Guardian Dental employer PPO plan is outstanding however, Guardian Dental’s customer service department is tragically unknowledgeable, unprofessional, and most of the call center representatives speak very poor English and are difficulties understand. Every time I call I either get misinformation, nasty and unprofessional attitudes, bad connections, or a representative whose English is so bad that I can barely understand anything they say. “Prepare yourself for horrible experiences with this providers.”


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O.C.

8/27/2022
Be careful of this company and check your statement after you cancel their plan. They kept charging me after I changed my dental plan for the new year through healthcare marketplace. Guardian wouldn't refund my money, were rude, and blamed healthcare marketplace for not informing them. I called healthcare marketplace and they said it was canceled and they did inform them. Guardian then only refunded HALF of my money. I called Guardian to refund the rest and they were very rude again! So I called healthcare marketplace and they stepped in, got Guardian to refund the money owed as well as gave me the number for Texas Dept of Insurance to file a complaint as they were astonished how difficult... Read More


tmars123456

8/14/2022
I have guardian dental through my employer and am not happy with them. My dentist submitted the work on my two cracked teeth and I had to wait for months to get started on the procedure which was fine until my dentist did the two new crowns and now they are denying my claim saying my dentist could have filled the teeth. this is a joke because the side of two teeth was out there was no way to put fillings in these teeth. Now I have to fight with them to pay this bill or I am out the money I figured this is what insurance is for. So bye all cost avoid this dental insurance, my employer just switched insurance three years ago and we had another carrier who was much better what a joke Guardian... Read More


markhhunt

6/21/2022
I'm not going to spend any more hours of my time trying to get back into my account with Guardian. It was a working account and then they broke the website AND NOW NOTHING THEY DO WORKS TO GET ME BACK INTO MY ACCOUNT AFTER 5 CALLS AND HOURS ON THE PHONE AND COMPUTER. So I hope that bill gets paid somehow..... Customer service is polite but completely ineffective. This company does not have a Twitter account that I can see.


D
David B

3/17/2022
Absolute worst! Like other comments here they can't even recognize any of the 3 "Member #'s they provide on bills & website AFTER 4 MONTHS OF MEMBERSHIP. Payments set up on their website keep getting cancelled because they don't recognize the ID# then after 4 months of this they cancel the policy!! Even though I paid the 3 payments over the phone when their system rejected. The customer Service agents are idiots and will not even send you to a supervisor for help. Oh and their mailed notices are a month old when you receive them. AND they don't send any email notifications. THE WORST.


kkamath

2/24/2022
Absolute worst. After 5 months and 5 calls and hours of wasted time providing documentation they do not resolve claim and keep asking for same thing. The call center folks are absolute worst as well as there is no online paper trail of all the documents we submit on any claim. I have no idea how such a company can be in business, and even more surprised how companies (like my employer and other credible Fortune 500 companies) can use them for employer provided insurance.


dgrant1983

2/15/2022
Good coverage on paper, but terrible policies that never allow you to use the full value of their benefits. By far the worst dental insurer I have ever been offered through an employer. Slow to pay providers, old crappy website, dental policies from the 1970's when silver fillings were all the rage.


marusja732

2/7/2022
I purchase the Guardian Dental through marketplace and paid first month premium. Few weeks passed but no ID card has been received. I tried to sign to my account online but their system informed me that they do not have me in their database. Since then I've been calling Guardian every other day just to hear that they report my problem to the "back office" and it "will be resolved in 3 to 5 business days". It's been a month already for Christ sake! Few calls back Guardian rep even gave me my "ID number" which still is not recognized by their system. Does mistrial "back office" even exist? If it does what takes it so long to enter my info in the proper database? In the meantime they have no... Read More


rjmaddale

1/30/2022
I believe ConsumerAdvocate and others sites serve badly potential customers. Their reviews are based on company literature, rather than actual experiences. Would we base a car's safety performance on manufacturer's promises? Regardless of ConsumerAdvocatereviews, our experiences have been so far from positive that I've reported Guardian to the BBB and to my state's insurance commission for potentially breaking state mandates. 1) Website quoted us a premium, which their agent confirmed. She called a week later to apology that both quotes were wrong for reasons she could not explain. I'm sorry now that we agreed. Even to this day, Guardian website quotes are less than we... Read More


jasminemurrell

1/13/2022
This company is a scam and advertising for dental services that you will never receive. They take people's money during a vulnerable time when people are seeking medical care and promise something that will never be delivered. For two years I was paying money to this dental insurance company and never being able to reach a dentist in good standing to take care of a tooth. The first dentist was known on the reviews to remove the wrong tooth. It's evil they pry on the poor people trying to take care of themselves and only taking their money and promising to provide a service which they will never give.


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David L

1/11/2022
I have been with Guardian Dental for a few years. My dentist is complaining about having to re-submit claims for work done, provide a lot of additional information, and then when you do pay the check bounces!!!! My company is paying for the coverage so what is the problem and why are you writing bad checks? My dentist tells me that, at a lot of conferences, they have said that Guardian has quit paying the bills since August last year.


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Jeffrey M

11/22/2021
Their website is terrible. Very slow and not user friendly. I have had to call them more than once because they incorrectly denied a claim. Each time they reprocessed and paid the claim.


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Paul

11/19/2021
I started Guardian Direct dental insurance on January 1. 2020 and finally used it on September 9, 2021, for a routine checkup. Not only have they NOT paid anything for that $288 checkup bill, but they refuse to refund me for my November premium, given I canceled my policy on Oct. 31, 2021, and have been on Medicare since Nov. 1st. I told them I canceled my Guardian policy on healthcare.gov, but they told me I had to cancel a few days earlier or by Nov. 5, and I had to call them. I was never warned about this, and I told them I am discontinuing my coverage, don't have any claims for November, so why steal my money? They said it was company policy (to steal money??), that it wasn't... Read More


qledford

10/23/2021
Individual dental plans ALL fall short of expectations. These cannot in any way be compared to employer sponsored group dental plans. Why? Simply because the 'principal of adverse selection' applies. In other words, those usually buying individual dental insurance plans need more than simply preventative dental services. Guardian does meet its contractual obligations. The issue though, is customer understanding. If one's provider is not 'in' network, as is typical of every individual dental plan, one will be paying additional 'out of pocket' costs. As a professional in the field, I personally do not recommend individual dental plans. Even with the best of them, unless... Read More


erictlewis

10/21/2021
Guardian dental insurance sucks, we are supposed to get 2 free cleanings a year, I yet to get anything free. We had to pay and pay and pay and Guardian always has an excuse why they don't pay, they are a rip off