Would tricare cover hospital costs for dental care?

My son needs some dental work done and because of his age they are going to do it in a hospital under general anethesia. We have United Concordia, but after they pay their (minimal) part, we still have to pay $750. This is without the hospital charges. They don't yet know how much the hospital will charge, but I was thinking it might be covered under Tricare? Has anyone had a situation like this?

Would tricare cover hospital costs for dental care?
Would it be possible to find a pediatric dentist who does general anesthesia in their office? The dentist I take my daughters to does general anesthesia in the office so there are no hospital fees.





I don't know if tricare would cover it but if you find out they don't, I'd go on the tricare website and look up pediatric dentists and see if it's possible to have it done in the office.





Good luck!





EDIT: Most likely, due to the annual max that tricare covers for dental work, you will end up with a pretty large hospital bill. I think it would be worth it to find the nearest pediatric dentist even if it is 2 hours away. The one I take my daughters to sees children down to your son's age (my daughter is 2 and needs to be put under G.A. for a filling also) and they do the general anesthesia there in the office. They have a whole process they go through where they give your child the medicine and you sit with them in the room until your child falls asleep. Then you have to sit in the waiting room until the dental work is done and they take your child to a recovery room where a nurse watches over them and then when they notice your child beginning to come to, they call you in to be with your child when they actually wake up. It is a very careful process and it is all done in the doctor's office. Like I said, I think it would be worth it to call around even if you have to make a bit of a drive, just call around and ask what their practices are for general anesthesia. I don't know if it's all the same but as dependents in the Marine Corps our max dental benefit is $1200/year. A hospital stay alone will eat that up real quick. Whatever is left of the bill will be 100% your responsibility. Good luck, again.
Reply:it would be covered under the tricare dental plan yes....
Reply:Why are they wanting to do it at a hospital and not the dental office? Check into that. It sounds like they're trying to make more money off of you. I can't think of anything dental related that's not an emergency that would need to be done in the hospital. TRICARE won't cover something that United Concordia won't for dental care for dependents





Go to another United Concordia dentist and get a second opinion.





Good luck to you.
Reply:I doubt it, but all you can do is call TRICARE and ask.