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Guardian Direct® Dental Insurance Review


ConsumersAdvocate.org Rating: 4.9 / 5 (Excellent)
157 Customer Comments & 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.


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157 Customer Comments & Reviews

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mawmawjiffy
9/15/2021
Horrible very misleading especially on coverage and I’m paying for the so called best? If your lucky enough to find a dentist your waiting period is way too long and your not gonna get anyone who’s any good! I’ve been having to go to the ER for excruciating pain because I need extractions and NO Oral surgeon within 100miles takes my insurance! It’s gonna cost over $4K and I won’t even reach my $2K yearly maximum, it really sucks being poor and on a fixed income we finally get dental back what for????


N
Nicole
9/1/2021
Since we were purchased by a new company we had to switch to Guardian. Our coverage offers 4 cleanings a year, which sounded like a great selling point and we thought that we might have even better coverage than before.. but that’s about where their “great” coverage stops. I’ve been having an issue with an existing crown for over a year (documented during all of my visits) and in the last few months the pain got really bad (causing headaches if I don’t take Tylenol or advil throughout the day.) My dental office has now submitted a claim to Guardian on 3 separate occasions, with additional documentation and photos/x-ray each time. I even had them refer me to an endodontist and have... Read More


B
Bonnie
8/30/2021
This company sucks! Customer service has no idea what they are doing. I got a different answer every time. My dentist jumped thru hoops to try to get approval for a medically necessary procedure. 1st request I have made in 20 years! My dentist said he never had any other insurance turn down this procedure.


welcow0521
8/20/2021
This company gives mixed information when we had to go to dentist recently. One rep (previous appointment) did not mention nonpayment, but to just update address and we could be covered "next appointment" then another (the following appointment) said it was inactive and "did not know why". One rep, on the same day of several calls, said we owe 3 months of back pay in order to restart benefits, we couldn't get covered and yet there was "no nonpayment issue, just address update"... They seem dishonest or at most, really incompetent. Use caution, or better, another insurance.


donald.allen118
8/17/2021
Just got off the phone with Guardian Dental and I am so hot under the collar! The gentleman talked as if he was a robot and I had to interrupt him to get a simple question in. I informed him I was signing up for insurance through my company and needed to know if my current Dentist was in their PPO network. I told him my dentist name but he came back with ...."I need to know his location." So I told him the city and he stated he could not locate the dentist without knowing his zip code! I told him I don't know the zip code if he could look it up on his end. He said he could not help me and if I wanted to know this info I needed to help him by providing that zip code. I asked him if... Read More


C
Carol M
8/14/2021
How does Guardian post a 4.9 rating when ALL of the comments on their page say how terrible they are? They deserve a 1 only because less than that is not an option. I am going to add my comment saying that I am convinced that: -Guardian customer service is trained to get the customer off the phone. -Outside of cleanings, ALL claims are denied by their "licensed dentist" as an unnecessary procedure. -Promises for a supervisor or the licensed dentist to call back are never kept. -There is no such person as a "licensed dentist" on staff. -Guardian supposedly has an outside group, PNR, that they use to blame claim denials. What to do? Document, document, document. Keep a journal or... Read More


xan.nick
8/3/2021
Guardian Dental is basically committing fraud via the public health care exchange. If you read the Summary of Benefits for their plan it will say they cover cleanings, exams, and x-rays at 100% even for out-of-network. If you go to an out-of-network dentist for a cleaning expect them to cover less than half. Of a $279 dental bill (just cleaning no x-rays) they only considered $99 of it as a covered expense minus my deductible ($75) of course, so they paid $24 and I ended up paying $255. This is after I pay them my premium each month. It's cheaper for me to pay cash directly to the dentist than have their insurance. What a joke!


E
Eric R
8/3/2021
Horrible customer service and looking for any excuse to deny claims. Multiple dentists examined my tooth and determined a crown was the only course of action. After the crown was in place Guardian repeatedly denied the tooth (which was probably over half missing at the time of the procedure) showed any signs of injury or decay. Obviously too late for additional x-rays or photos at that point. Would not even pay the covered cost for a filling. Appeals process is a joke. Clearly did not even read the statements - just labeled subsequent appeals as "duplicates".


amhuffstetler
5/28/2021
The customer service for this company is awful! I talked to JD on the phone, and he was RUDE! I was asking questions to help me better understand a claim, and he repeatedly told me that Guardian was correct and he didn't understand why I couldn't understand that. He never did explain to me the claims, he just kept saying that Guardian was right.


Jim S
5/14/2021
Customer support is worse than bad. Southern California coverage and support is non-existant.



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