Get more out of your dental carriers
April 26, 2023
Your partnership with dental networks and carriers can be as unique as the patients you see every day. Of course, their network should bring your practice patients and revenue, but they can add more value through patient education, modern technology and experts to support your practice.
Dental carriers should share a common goal of educating patients about the importance of regular preventive care. The general public isn't aware of how critical oral care is to their overall health. They may not know that oral health is connected to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's, rheumatic diseases, respiratory diseases, osteoporosis, pregnancy and cancer.1 If they did, maybe it would be easier to convince them to floss and get regular checkups.
A 2017 study found that people over age 70 who had gum disease for 10 years or more were 70% more likely to get dementia than those with healthy gums.¹
Carriers can help educate patients that it's not just cavities they could be preventing with regular dental care. When people take care of their oral health, they're protecting their whole body and mind. The more frequently and the more sources patients hear this message from, the more likely they are to seek regular preventive care.
Patient communication is essential and another way Unum Dental supports dental practices. Through Unum's provider portal, dental offices are able to easily check benefits and coverage — to quickly communicate out-of-pocket costs to your patients. Dental staff can quickly obtain information for more effective patient communication.
Provider portals can further create efficiencies for dental practices by simplifying the process of filing claims and receiving payments. Your practice should be able to use a provider portal to electronically submit claims and documents and choose how your practice gets paid. Additionally, your office staff can track a claim's status from electronic submission until payment is issued. A secure portal and its tools can make your practice more efficient — freeing you and your staff to care for more patients.
While leveraging technology is important, it shouldn't replace the human touch because sometimes you still need to talk to a real person. Unum Dental Network provides a team of experts to help answer questions and advocate for providers. The ideal carrier network will offer both modern technology and old-fashioned human help.
Choose a technology innovator with people at heart
For almost 175 years, we've been working to help people thrive through life's moments — and constantly looking for innovation throughout our entire portfolio of benefit products and solutions. Unum combines our unique blend of benefits support and technology for our customers and our dental network providers. Unum Dental Network covers around a million dental members, and we're growing fast.
When you join the Unum Dental Network, you'll:
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Welcome new patients and grow your practice
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Add your practice to our Dental Directory listing
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Get assistance with patient oral health education
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Easily submit claims and attachments electronically
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Gain a team of dedicated Provider Advocates to support you
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Experience fast claims processing with ACH and other payment options
We combine technology and a human touch to make sure you can focus on what matters most — your patient's oral health.
Connect with one of our dedicated provider relations team members for more information about joining our network, email NetworkRecruiting@Unum.com.
You might already be in the Unum Dental Network
Unum Dental Network includes providers under direct contract and access arrangements with other networks. Search to see if you're part of Unum's dental PPO network.
If you're already a participating provider, please re-register for the new Unum Dental Provider Portal by calling the Provider Relations team at 888-400-9304.
1 National Institutes of Health, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8457130/, 2021, accessed 4/26/2023.
Join our network
Grow your practice, spend more time with patients and less time filing claims. We accept electronic claims and attachments, making it easier for you to file claims.