Cigna enhances UK dental plans

Cigna UK HealthCare Benefits (UKHB) has introduced two new benefits on group dental plans from 1st January 2015. Cigna dental plans provide easy and cost-effective care. The plans support employees with treatment costs and help employers to reduce employee absence and promote a healthy workforce.

The first new benefit is cover for child orthodontic treatment¹. This is now available on Cigna's DentaCare plans levels 2 to 4. The demand for this type of treatment is increasing as more people become aware of oral health issues. Around one in three children has crooked teeth and needs orthodontic treatment to straighten them. According to the British Orthodontic Society, nearly 1 million people in the UK started orthodontic treatment last year². Recognising this need, Cigna has updated their plans to include the benefit as part of a wider set of plan enhancements.

The second new benefit is cover for dental implant treatment¹. This has been introduced on both of Cigna's dental plans. Customers with Cigna's DentaCare plans levels 2 to 4 and OralHealth plans levels 2 to 5 will all be eligible for dental implant cover. Similar to orthodontics, the demand for dental implant treatment is increasing. This is driven by many factors, including increasing awareness amongst patients, improved success rates of the treatment and more dentists becoming qualified to provide implant treatment.

Cigna UKHB Managing Director, James Parker commented: "At Cigna we recognise our dental plan designs need to evolve in line with customer needs and dental care practice. UK consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the different options available to them to maintain or enhance their oral health. Therefore, it is important our dental plans cover what matters to them. We're confident the introduction of these new orthodontic and implant benefits will be welcomed by our members."

These latest enhancements on Cigna dental plans are in addition to the introduction of the Healthy Discounts benefit announced last year. Any plan members using a Cigna Healthy Discounts dentist for their implant or orthodontic treatment will be eligible for a 20% discount. Healthy Discounts dentists are available nationwide and details can be found on Cigna's website at www.cigna.co.uk.

¹Terms and conditions apply. Please contact Cigna for further details.

²Source: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/dentalhealth/Pages/braces.aspx

For more information, please contact Nicola Thomson, Cigna's Marketing Communications Manager nicola.thomson@cigna.com