Dental insurance is an absolute scam. Dental coverage in the USA is beyond abysmal. I am very fortunate (or unfortunate depending on perspective) to live close enough to Mexico to investigate the prices there.
I recently had three, previously crowned, teeth removed and the posts for implants placed. The least expensive I could find in my city of 1 million was $16k out the door. I drove to the Mexico border, walked across and paid $3350 for the implants and they replaced a broken crown. I still need to heal completely before they place the arches (the new teeth) and they are going to charge me $2250 for those.
WTH? Its not like they are using TEMU veneers and implants. Its the same stuff, I could pick between zirconia and porcelain. Same machines, same tools, same training. And as a bonus, the dentists and staff were some of the most caring and thoughtful "dental people" as I suffer from "dental anxiety" like no other.
I think a lot of dental anxiety stems from the cost. Furthermore, the fact that we can't really tell what is going on in our mouths like a strange growth on your face or something, means we have to implicitly trust the dentist. Is a $2000 crown really necessary? We have no real way to actually hold a dentist or their practices accountable. There is just too much friction built into the dental system for a normie to really know what is needed versus the dentist needs to pay off a $15000 bicycle so everyone is getting crowns for a month. lol