February 7, 2025 • 19 mins
In this special episode, we sit down with Tom Raffio, CEO of Northeast Delta Dental, to explore how their initiatives are shaping bright smiles and healthier futures for kids across New England. Discover how Northeast Delta Dental goes beyond insurance, offering comprehensive dental plans and flexible enrollment options.for children up to age 26.
Learn how the Northeast Delta Dental Foundation fuels community impact through grants in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, empowering local oral health projects.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I'm joined today by CEO of Northeast Delta Dental,
Tom Raphael, who is, uh, celebrating, I don't know if
celebrating's the word, but certainly, uh, becoming aware and talking
today about, uh, oral health and especially Children's Dental Health Month,
which is the month of February. it has it been
(00:20):
has it been Children's Dental Health Month for many years?
I don't know if I remember that when I was
a kid.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, it turned into a weeklong event starting in 1955
before I was born, and in 1981 when I was
just graduated from college, it expanded to a month, but
the actual observance of Children's Dental Health Day began on
February 8, 1949, and then it went to a single.
(00:48):
Week events starting in 1955 and in '81, 1981 it
morphed into the month the way we now the way
we now celebrate it. So it's it's a great topic
because children who get a good start on a lifetime
of healthy teeth and gums as adults will have a
lot better opportunity to keep their teeth until they
(01:12):
Um, go to their reward, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Right until they don't need them anymore, right? Exactly. Now
when I was a kid, I, I have you seen
like over the years, especially being in the business and,
you know, being around, um, dental health and and kids,
have you seen, I mean, it seems like now you
go into dentist offices and it's the most it's like
going in a space shuttle. It's completely high tech. These
(01:35):
guys have all the latest equipment. Have you seen oral
health getting better overall?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Great question. So in my day, and it may be yours,
but going to the dentist resulted in fear and trepidation, right,
and which, and there has been a lot of child
adverse experiences, which is why for adults, many adults, even
who have Delta dental coverage, probably about 20% of adults
(02:04):
still failed to go to the dentist just because it
was so scary.
When they were children, but as you say, between the
people skills that are now that the dentists impart plus
the technology, children are now fond of going to dentist,
and the other, the other huge development is in my
(02:24):
day and even my own kids, you brought your child
to the dentist by age 4 or 5, but now
we know that you should bring your child to the
dentist by age 1 or when the first tooth erupts.
And there's lots of studies now that if if you
wait until your child is 4 or 5 years old,
(02:45):
you're going to have your child is going to have
20 times more opportunities to have cavities on their first
official visit. So my message out there is to the
moms and dads is that it's very it's
Friendly now for children to go to the dentist. The technology,
as Robert mentioned, is super. Um their people skills are
(03:09):
much better, and the science is that you should take
your toddler to the dentist by age one or when
you see that first tooth erupts.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, for sure, and and maybe you can talk a
little bit also about
Um, what Northeast Delta Dental can do, you know, as
far as not just community outreach, but are there any
initiatives that, you know, you're getting out to, I, I wonder,
is there, is there things that you can do because
a lot of times insurance will come with your company
and and
And getting the word out to those younger people or
(03:39):
or young families who may be busy, who may be,
you know, uh uh are you guys doing anything, is
there a way people can either reach you or find
out more, or how does that all work with from
the insurance standpoint?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It's a great question. We want people to go to
the dentist. This is, this is an insurance company that
we love it when people go to the dentist and
we love it to pay claims. You go on our
website NEDelta.com, and there's a lot of resource materials in
New Hampshire. We support a program called My Smile Buddy program,
(04:13):
and that's that was created to prevent tooth decay on
socially vulnerable young children.
During the summer we have the oral health challenge through
the New Hampshire Fisher cats, so we encourage oral health,
good oral habits and
Um, if, if the kids brush and floss in between
visits and you're a Delta Dental subscriber, you earn free
(04:34):
tickets to the Fisher Cats games and then you get
to go onto the field with the uh with the
Tooth Fairy. We're doing in this summer, we're doing a
similar program in Maine with the Portland Sea Dogs, and
we call that the brush and floss Challenge. And then we're,
we've donated about a million dollars to a program in
(04:56):
New Hampshire called Carried Away where we
We are bringing hygienists to local schools in Concord, Pittsfield,
and other school districts because we've we've, believe it or not,
we've found that sometimes there are children out there, you know,
they're in 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade and they haven't
been to the dentist yet, so, uh, we, we actually
(05:17):
bring um dentistry, um, to the schools through this carried
away
program.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What about, uh, switching dentists? I mean even in my age.
You know, I move around some and I'm like, I
keep trying to go back to it I'm living in
Washington now and I and I and I keep going
back to New Hampshire to the dentist, and the dentist
is like, why are you still coming here or whatever?
And I'm like, well, you're the dentist, you know me,
and it's like, I can get up there once every
6 months or a year or whatever. If people are
(05:45):
switching dentists inside, you know, sort of the the warm
umbrella of Northeast Delta Dental, is is it easy? do
you find that that people fall through the cracks when
they're doing that or or
Or is there a way to say, you know what
I mean? Like it seems like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2 (06:00):
we make we make it easy because so many 90%
of our dentists in New Hampshire are in our network,
so it's, it's, it's easy to find a dentist in
the network again, you go on the website NEDelta.com and
you can find a dentist if you happen not to
have dental insurance through your employer. A few years ago,
we established a program where you just go on another website,
(06:22):
Delta Dental covers me.com.
And it's a very inexpensive individual program and you can
find a dentist. So, so switching dentists is easy, but you,
but you are correct. I mean, I think we all
love our dentists. I mean I've been going to the
same dentist since I moved to New Hampshire in '95
for like 30 years. So we all love our dentists
and when he or she retires, it can sometimes make
(06:46):
us disconcerted, but dentists, they're all, they're all well trained
to be if they're in our network.
And of course younger dentists are coming out of, you know,
Tufts dental school and University of New England dental school,
a school that we actually started about 10 or 15
years ago with an initial donation, and these young dentists
(07:06):
coming out have all the great, the greatest technology and techniques. So,
so I would say for adults out there, while you
love your dentist, if he or she retires or if
you move, just, just.
Look on anyDelta.com and you can definitely find another dentist
who will be, uh, you'll be happy with.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What are you finding, um, are some of the biggest
problems that the kids are facing today? Is it, you know,
when I was a kid, it was, you know, Snickers bars, right?
And and different candy and stuff like that. Are there
other things that are, are, uh, are to be worried
about or people should be concerned about today that are
starting to rise in popularity?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Sure, so sports drinks is a big one. athletes, student
athletes believe, well, I'm drinking a sports drink, but sometimes, um,
depending on the sports drink, but sometimes they're filled with
more sugar, you know, than a sort of, uh, you know,
a soft drink that you're aware of, you know, has sugar.
So you just have to be mindful of, of sports drinks. Um,
(08:10):
young moms, um, need to be mindful of what we
call baby bottle syndrome. You don't want to
Uh, put your baby to sleep with a, with a
bottle in their mouth because I will, you know, kind
of not using a technical term here, but I kind
of can rot out their gums. So I think that
we're getting, we're getting that word out on the sports
(08:32):
drinks also, um, obviously the
Um, yeah, older adults or younger teenagers who have potential
addiction issues, obviously, sometimes drugs that are taken, whether they're
the drugs themselves or drugs to prevent you from taking
drugs can have a negative effect on the teeth. So,
(08:54):
so we're seeing that and of course the obvious statement
that tobacco damages not only your overall health but also
Um, you know, your, your teeth and oral health, so, um,
that's my sort of plug for anti-tobacco.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, kind of the same as when I was younger, sugar, sugar, right?
And then, uh, and then smoking and stuff, so kind
of the same things I, I would imagine. Um,
Speaker 2 (09:22):
yeah, I think, and I
think, I think the other thing though, I think that
uh we're much better now about understanding the science behind it,
but also that
If you, if you go to the dentist, but in
between visits is almost more important, you know, brushing, flossing.
In my day we didn't floss as much, but now
I floss religiously. Also, the two going to the dentist
(09:45):
twice a year is really good, a good benchmark, but
that actually began as a
Toothpaste commercial. Brush your teeth with Pepsodent and go to
your dentist twice a year. We now know that some
of us, we have a program in Delta Dental pays
for it where based on when your hygienist is cleaning
your teeth, based on the score you get, you may
(10:07):
be entitled to a 3rd or 4th cleaning in the calendar.
which we which we pay for. So my score enables
and it's all done seamlessly if you go to a
participating dentist. So, so I actually go to the dentist
as an adult 4 times a year. But don't worry,
if you're out there and you have a plan, if
you're not covered by Delta Dental, if you're covered by
(10:28):
another insurance company that only covers twice a year.
Um, that's OK. Don't, don't be alarmed, but, but definitely
go twice a year. But just know that if you
have Delta dental coverage and you and you're part of
the health or wellness program, you might be entitled to
going 3 or 4 times a
year.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It seems like overall, I mean, you mentioned a number
of different programs, um, within Delta Dental, you know, and
and initiatives and those sorts of things, um.
It seems like if if you if you spend a
little time um trying to figure out what Northeast Delta
Dental offers in terms of some of these initiatives, there's
(11:07):
a whole lot of of sort of care, extra care, um,
things that you didn't know about that that you can
take advantage of, um, to make this a lot less
rather than just the, you know, I go twice a year,
my insurance covers it, I go twice a year my
insurance covers it. I would imagine.
That you can prevent a lot of problems by being
a little bit more proactive.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Exactly. Education is the key. You're right on Target, Robert.
So so many resources are available at any delta.com, and
the big one, since this is Children's Oral Health Month
is Grin for Kids. It's an online publication which is
both in English and Spanish, and it will go through
a lot of the information that as a mom or
(11:51):
dad you need, you need to know on how oral
health plays such an integral.
role in our general health and you started at a
young age that as you progress into adulthood, you're going
to be in a much better position, um, to have
good oral health your your whole life.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
And any Delta Dental, I can get information about Maine,
New Hampshire, and Vermont all in one place, right?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
That's correct. AnyDelta.com. And then if you don't have insurance
through your employer, again in all those three states, if
you go on Delta Dental covers me.com and click on Maine,
New Hampshire, and Vermont, you'll be able to find a
very affordable program. I'm not trying to.
insurance, but
Speaker 1 (12:36):
yeah, I I I that's hard for me. Like I
I I a lot of people are gig economy right now,
a lot of people don't have jobs or whatever, and
they're like, ah, I'm not gonna do health insurance you
know it's one thing to get health insurance, but dental
insurance is not that expensive and it does a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Exactly, and you can get it very cost effectively. I've
been told it takes all of 45 seconds. You type
in Delta Dental covers me.com, click NH Maine or Vermont.
You'll find a very cost effective program. And for example,
if you don't need ortho, pick a program without braces,
(13:14):
without orthodontics, um, and you'll find participating dentists pretty easily
because as I mentioned, 90% of the dentists.
In New Hampshire are in our network and over 80%
in Maine and Vermont as well. So, so you're the
bible on dental really is anyDelta.com. And again, since uh
since this is Children's Oral Health Month, go on and
(13:39):
you'll find the resources like grin for kids and it's
it's worth spending an hour or so to understand that
um you know how children who brush and floss um
are really in a much
Better position because you can you can take your child
to the dentist, you know, twice a year, but if
in between visits that you know they're not taking care
(14:00):
of their teeth, then, you know, then there's going to
be a problem. One funny thing I've found over the years,
we've had this oral health challenge since 2011 in New
Hampshire through the New Hampshire Fisher Cats is that the
kids have actually
Who do the program, they encourage their parents to take
better care of their teeth. I've had so many parents
come up to me and said, you know, my, my child,
(14:23):
you know, exactly. So the child is brushing and flossing
and then is yelling at mom and dad and so they,
when they were paraded on the on the field with
the tooth fairy, sometimes a parent will come up to
me and say, you know what, this has been.
Great for my child, but to some extent even even
greater for me because sometimes, and you know this, I
(14:44):
mean sometimes moms and dads put their own lives on
hold while they're while they're raising their children, but they
but they they really do need to be role models
for children's rural
Speaker 1 (14:55):
health. Well, not to keep going back to the insurance thing,
but I do think it's uh it's an interesting because
people do get it mixed up a lot, even
You know, if you leave a job, you have a job,
you have health insurance, you have medical, dental, vision, and
you leave, and now you don't have it. And you're
going out there to get insurance, you can just go,
(15:15):
like it's like a you can just go and get
dental insurance. You just buy it. You don't need to
have health insurance to have dental insurance, right?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Exactly. It's so simple. Delta dental coverage.com. Now through your employer,
obviously you can
Extend your what we call a group program through what's
a lot don't want to be bore the audience, but
through COR you can you can extend that. But we've
just found that people drop off to switch to the
employer and and then and then if they're an independent
consultant now, um, and not affiliated with an employer that
(15:49):
has um group dental, they just go on Delta dentalcoversree.com
and
And buy a cost-effective program, which by the way, does
have the health or wellness program. So even even those
individual programs can allow you to go up to the,
go to the dentist up to 4 times 4 times
a
year.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Which is awesome, and I and I think that does
fall through the cracks a lot. That's why I wanted
to swing back to it because
You know, you, you, if you're an independent, you know,
you're working for yourself or whatever, and a lot of
people are, um, it's one thing to go to, you know,
the government and get, you know, uh, in the healthcare
marketplace and you can you can select health insurance, um,
and you can maybe leave off the dental while you're
(16:29):
in there and then go to any dental, you know,
Northeast Delta Dental and and get your own policy for
something that's right in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and
and and have a dental insurer that caters a little
bit more to you than the government program may, right?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well said. It's like you, it's like you're one of
Northeast employee you are, but you're right. You can, you
can go on healthcare. You can go on healthcare.gov in
New Hampshire and then and then the public exchanges in
Maine and Vermont and buy the medical program. You can
also we also put our Delta Dental on the public.
(17:06):
Exchange, but candidly, the program through Delta Dental Coveragee.com has
way more value because of government standards, the program that's
on the public exchange doesn't have this additional ability to
get the 3rd or 4th cleaning a year where the
Delta Dental covers me.com does. The other thing.
(17:29):
And this is kind of a governmental thing and hopefully
this will change, but if you, if you're on the
public exchange, this is kind of a nice announcement for people,
but if you're on the public exchange where you get
your medical, if you change
Your medical plan, it automatically through a software glitch drops
dentals and you may not even be aware of that.
(17:51):
So I think it's safer to buy your individual program
through Deltadenal Cover.com.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, and get aware, it is February. It is National
Children's Dental Health Month. The CEO of Northeast Delta Dental
is with us, Tom Raphao, and thanks so much for
spending some time.
Uh, today, and, uh, and we'll now there's hundreds of
kids all running to the dentist to brush their teeth. I'm,
I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well, well, that's my goal. When people ask me what
I do, I go, well, I'm the CEO of a
dental insurance company, and some, and they think, oh, it's boring,
but it's exciting, the connection between good oral health and
good over health. It's all now well vetted in science. So,
so I'm hoping that uh children during National Children's Dental
Health Month run to the dentist just as you said,
(18:39):
but
Throughout the whole year and also get their moms and
dads involved. So thank you for allowing me to spread
the Oral Health mission, which is so important to
Speaker 1 (18:47):
our society. The website is NEDelta.com and Tom Raphael is
its CEO. Tom, thanks a million for a nice conversation today.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Thank you, Robert. I enjoyed it as always. Take care.
Take
care.
So I'm joined today by CEO of Northeast Delta Dental,
Tom Raphael, who is, uh, celebrating, I don't know if
celebrating's the word, but certainly, uh, becoming aware and talking
today about, uh, oral health and especially Children's Dental Health Month,
which is the month of February. it has it been
(00:20):
has it been Children's Dental Health Month for many years?
I don't know if I remember that when I was
a kid.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, it turned into a weeklong event starting in 1955
before I was born, and in 1981 when I was
just graduated from college, it expanded to a month, but
the actual observance of Children's Dental Health Day began on
February 8, 1949, and then it went to a single.
(00:48):
Week events starting in 1955 and in '81, 1981 it
morphed into the month the way we now the way
we now celebrate it. So it's it's a great topic
because children who get a good start on a lifetime
of healthy teeth and gums as adults will have a
lot better opportunity to keep their teeth until they
(01:12):
Um, go to their reward, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Right until they don't need them anymore, right? Exactly. Now
when I was a kid, I, I have you seen
like over the years, especially being in the business and,
you know, being around, um, dental health and and kids,
have you seen, I mean, it seems like now you
go into dentist offices and it's the most it's like
going in a space shuttle. It's completely high tech. These
(01:35):
guys have all the latest equipment. Have you seen oral
health getting better overall?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Great question. So in my day, and it may be yours,
but going to the dentist resulted in fear and trepidation, right,
and which, and there has been a lot of child
adverse experiences, which is why for adults, many adults, even
who have Delta dental coverage, probably about 20% of adults
(02:04):
still failed to go to the dentist just because it
was so scary.
When they were children, but as you say, between the
people skills that are now that the dentists impart plus
the technology, children are now fond of going to dentist,
and the other, the other huge development is in my
(02:24):
day and even my own kids, you brought your child
to the dentist by age 4 or 5, but now
we know that you should bring your child to the
dentist by age 1 or when the first tooth erupts.
And there's lots of studies now that if if you
wait until your child is 4 or 5 years old,
(02:45):
you're going to have your child is going to have
20 times more opportunities to have cavities on their first
official visit. So my message out there is to the
moms and dads is that it's very it's
Friendly now for children to go to the dentist. The technology,
as Robert mentioned, is super. Um their people skills are
(03:09):
much better, and the science is that you should take
your toddler to the dentist by age one or when
you see that first tooth erupts.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, for sure, and and maybe you can talk a
little bit also about
Um, what Northeast Delta Dental can do, you know, as
far as not just community outreach, but are there any
initiatives that, you know, you're getting out to, I, I wonder,
is there, is there things that you can do because
a lot of times insurance will come with your company
and and
And getting the word out to those younger people or
(03:39):
or young families who may be busy, who may be,
you know, uh uh are you guys doing anything, is
there a way people can either reach you or find
out more, or how does that all work with from
the insurance standpoint?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
It's a great question. We want people to go to
the dentist. This is, this is an insurance company that
we love it when people go to the dentist and
we love it to pay claims. You go on our
website NEDelta.com, and there's a lot of resource materials in
New Hampshire. We support a program called My Smile Buddy program,
(04:13):
and that's that was created to prevent tooth decay on
socially vulnerable young children.
During the summer we have the oral health challenge through
the New Hampshire Fisher cats, so we encourage oral health,
good oral habits and
Um, if, if the kids brush and floss in between
visits and you're a Delta Dental subscriber, you earn free
(04:34):
tickets to the Fisher Cats games and then you get
to go onto the field with the uh with the
Tooth Fairy. We're doing in this summer, we're doing a
similar program in Maine with the Portland Sea Dogs, and
we call that the brush and floss Challenge. And then we're,
we've donated about a million dollars to a program in
(04:56):
New Hampshire called Carried Away where we
We are bringing hygienists to local schools in Concord, Pittsfield,
and other school districts because we've we've, believe it or not,
we've found that sometimes there are children out there, you know,
they're in 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade and they haven't
been to the dentist yet, so, uh, we, we actually
(05:17):
bring um dentistry, um, to the schools through this carried
away
program.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
What about, uh, switching dentists? I mean even in my age.
You know, I move around some and I'm like, I
keep trying to go back to it I'm living in
Washington now and I and I and I keep going
back to New Hampshire to the dentist, and the dentist
is like, why are you still coming here or whatever?
And I'm like, well, you're the dentist, you know me,
and it's like, I can get up there once every
6 months or a year or whatever. If people are
(05:45):
switching dentists inside, you know, sort of the the warm
umbrella of Northeast Delta Dental, is is it easy? do
you find that that people fall through the cracks when
they're doing that or or
Or is there a way to say, you know what
I mean? Like it seems like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2 (06:00):
we make we make it easy because so many 90%
of our dentists in New Hampshire are in our network,
so it's, it's, it's easy to find a dentist in
the network again, you go on the website NEDelta.com and
you can find a dentist if you happen not to
have dental insurance through your employer. A few years ago,
we established a program where you just go on another website,
(06:22):
Delta Dental covers me.com.
And it's a very inexpensive individual program and you can
find a dentist. So, so switching dentists is easy, but you,
but you are correct. I mean, I think we all
love our dentists. I mean I've been going to the
same dentist since I moved to New Hampshire in '95
for like 30 years. So we all love our dentists
and when he or she retires, it can sometimes make
(06:46):
us disconcerted, but dentists, they're all, they're all well trained
to be if they're in our network.
And of course younger dentists are coming out of, you know,
Tufts dental school and University of New England dental school,
a school that we actually started about 10 or 15
years ago with an initial donation, and these young dentists
(07:06):
coming out have all the great, the greatest technology and techniques. So,
so I would say for adults out there, while you
love your dentist, if he or she retires or if
you move, just, just.
Look on anyDelta.com and you can definitely find another dentist
who will be, uh, you'll be happy with.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
What are you finding, um, are some of the biggest
problems that the kids are facing today? Is it, you know,
when I was a kid, it was, you know, Snickers bars, right?
And and different candy and stuff like that. Are there
other things that are, are, uh, are to be worried
about or people should be concerned about today that are
starting to rise in popularity?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Sure, so sports drinks is a big one. athletes, student
athletes believe, well, I'm drinking a sports drink, but sometimes, um,
depending on the sports drink, but sometimes they're filled with
more sugar, you know, than a sort of, uh, you know,
a soft drink that you're aware of, you know, has sugar.
So you just have to be mindful of, of sports drinks. Um,
(08:10):
young moms, um, need to be mindful of what we
call baby bottle syndrome. You don't want to
Uh, put your baby to sleep with a, with a
bottle in their mouth because I will, you know, kind
of not using a technical term here, but I kind
of can rot out their gums. So I think that
we're getting, we're getting that word out on the sports
(08:32):
drinks also, um, obviously the
Um, yeah, older adults or younger teenagers who have potential
addiction issues, obviously, sometimes drugs that are taken, whether they're
the drugs themselves or drugs to prevent you from taking
drugs can have a negative effect on the teeth. So,
(08:54):
so we're seeing that and of course the obvious statement
that tobacco damages not only your overall health but also
Um, you know, your, your teeth and oral health, so, um,
that's my sort of plug for anti-tobacco.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, kind of the same as when I was younger, sugar, sugar, right?
And then, uh, and then smoking and stuff, so kind
of the same things I, I would imagine. Um,
Speaker 2 (09:22):
yeah, I think, and I
think, I think the other thing though, I think that
uh we're much better now about understanding the science behind it,
but also that
If you, if you go to the dentist, but in
between visits is almost more important, you know, brushing, flossing.
In my day we didn't floss as much, but now
I floss religiously. Also, the two going to the dentist
(09:45):
twice a year is really good, a good benchmark, but
that actually began as a
Toothpaste commercial. Brush your teeth with Pepsodent and go to
your dentist twice a year. We now know that some
of us, we have a program in Delta Dental pays
for it where based on when your hygienist is cleaning
your teeth, based on the score you get, you may
(10:07):
be entitled to a 3rd or 4th cleaning in the calendar.
which we which we pay for. So my score enables
and it's all done seamlessly if you go to a
participating dentist. So, so I actually go to the dentist
as an adult 4 times a year. But don't worry,
if you're out there and you have a plan, if
you're not covered by Delta Dental, if you're covered by
(10:28):
another insurance company that only covers twice a year.
Um, that's OK. Don't, don't be alarmed, but, but definitely
go twice a year. But just know that if you
have Delta dental coverage and you and you're part of
the health or wellness program, you might be entitled to
going 3 or 4 times a
year.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
It seems like overall, I mean, you mentioned a number
of different programs, um, within Delta Dental, you know, and
and initiatives and those sorts of things, um.
It seems like if if you if you spend a
little time um trying to figure out what Northeast Delta
Dental offers in terms of some of these initiatives, there's
(11:07):
a whole lot of of sort of care, extra care, um,
things that you didn't know about that that you can
take advantage of, um, to make this a lot less
rather than just the, you know, I go twice a year,
my insurance covers it, I go twice a year my
insurance covers it. I would imagine.
That you can prevent a lot of problems by being
a little bit more proactive.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Exactly. Education is the key. You're right on Target, Robert.
So so many resources are available at any delta.com, and
the big one, since this is Children's Oral Health Month
is Grin for Kids. It's an online publication which is
both in English and Spanish, and it will go through
a lot of the information that as a mom or
(11:51):
dad you need, you need to know on how oral
health plays such an integral.
role in our general health and you started at a
young age that as you progress into adulthood, you're going
to be in a much better position, um, to have
good oral health your your whole life.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
And any Delta Dental, I can get information about Maine,
New Hampshire, and Vermont all in one place, right?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
That's correct. AnyDelta.com. And then if you don't have insurance
through your employer, again in all those three states, if
you go on Delta Dental covers me.com and click on Maine,
New Hampshire, and Vermont, you'll be able to find a
very affordable program. I'm not trying to.
insurance, but
Speaker 1 (12:36):
yeah, I I I that's hard for me. Like I
I I a lot of people are gig economy right now,
a lot of people don't have jobs or whatever, and
they're like, ah, I'm not gonna do health insurance you
know it's one thing to get health insurance, but dental
insurance is not that expensive and it does a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Exactly, and you can get it very cost effectively. I've
been told it takes all of 45 seconds. You type
in Delta Dental covers me.com, click NH Maine or Vermont.
You'll find a very cost effective program. And for example,
if you don't need ortho, pick a program without braces,
(13:14):
without orthodontics, um, and you'll find participating dentists pretty easily
because as I mentioned, 90% of the dentists.
In New Hampshire are in our network and over 80%
in Maine and Vermont as well. So, so you're the
bible on dental really is anyDelta.com. And again, since uh
since this is Children's Oral Health Month, go on and
(13:39):
you'll find the resources like grin for kids and it's
it's worth spending an hour or so to understand that
um you know how children who brush and floss um
are really in a much
Better position because you can you can take your child
to the dentist, you know, twice a year, but if
in between visits that you know they're not taking care
(14:00):
of their teeth, then, you know, then there's going to
be a problem. One funny thing I've found over the years,
we've had this oral health challenge since 2011 in New
Hampshire through the New Hampshire Fisher Cats is that the
kids have actually
Who do the program, they encourage their parents to take
better care of their teeth. I've had so many parents
come up to me and said, you know, my, my child,
(14:23):
you know, exactly. So the child is brushing and flossing
and then is yelling at mom and dad and so they,
when they were paraded on the on the field with
the tooth fairy, sometimes a parent will come up to
me and say, you know what, this has been.
Great for my child, but to some extent even even
greater for me because sometimes, and you know this, I
(14:44):
mean sometimes moms and dads put their own lives on
hold while they're while they're raising their children, but they
but they they really do need to be role models
for children's rural
Speaker 1 (14:55):
health. Well, not to keep going back to the insurance thing,
but I do think it's uh it's an interesting because
people do get it mixed up a lot, even
You know, if you leave a job, you have a job,
you have health insurance, you have medical, dental, vision, and
you leave, and now you don't have it. And you're
going out there to get insurance, you can just go,
(15:15):
like it's like a you can just go and get
dental insurance. You just buy it. You don't need to
have health insurance to have dental insurance, right?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Exactly. It's so simple. Delta dental coverage.com. Now through your employer,
obviously you can
Extend your what we call a group program through what's
a lot don't want to be bore the audience, but
through COR you can you can extend that. But we've
just found that people drop off to switch to the
employer and and then and then if they're an independent
consultant now, um, and not affiliated with an employer that
(15:49):
has um group dental, they just go on Delta dentalcoversree.com
and
And buy a cost-effective program, which by the way, does
have the health or wellness program. So even even those
individual programs can allow you to go up to the,
go to the dentist up to 4 times 4 times
a
year.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Which is awesome, and I and I think that does
fall through the cracks a lot. That's why I wanted
to swing back to it because
You know, you, you, if you're an independent, you know,
you're working for yourself or whatever, and a lot of
people are, um, it's one thing to go to, you know,
the government and get, you know, uh, in the healthcare
marketplace and you can you can select health insurance, um,
and you can maybe leave off the dental while you're
(16:29):
in there and then go to any dental, you know,
Northeast Delta Dental and and get your own policy for
something that's right in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and
and and have a dental insurer that caters a little
bit more to you than the government program may, right?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well said. It's like you, it's like you're one of
Northeast employee you are, but you're right. You can, you
can go on healthcare. You can go on healthcare.gov in
New Hampshire and then and then the public exchanges in
Maine and Vermont and buy the medical program. You can
also we also put our Delta Dental on the public.
(17:06):
Exchange, but candidly, the program through Delta Dental Coveragee.com has
way more value because of government standards, the program that's
on the public exchange doesn't have this additional ability to
get the 3rd or 4th cleaning a year where the
Delta Dental covers me.com does. The other thing.
(17:29):
And this is kind of a governmental thing and hopefully
this will change, but if you, if you're on the
public exchange, this is kind of a nice announcement for people,
but if you're on the public exchange where you get
your medical, if you change
Your medical plan, it automatically through a software glitch drops
dentals and you may not even be aware of that.
(17:51):
So I think it's safer to buy your individual program
through Deltadenal Cover.com.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, and get aware, it is February. It is National
Children's Dental Health Month. The CEO of Northeast Delta Dental
is with us, Tom Raphao, and thanks so much for
spending some time.
Uh, today, and, uh, and we'll now there's hundreds of
kids all running to the dentist to brush their teeth. I'm,
I'm very excited about that.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Well, well, that's my goal. When people ask me what
I do, I go, well, I'm the CEO of a
dental insurance company, and some, and they think, oh, it's boring,
but it's exciting, the connection between good oral health and
good over health. It's all now well vetted in science. So,
so I'm hoping that uh children during National Children's Dental
Health Month run to the dentist just as you said,
(18:39):
but
Throughout the whole year and also get their moms and
dads involved. So thank you for allowing me to spread
the Oral Health mission, which is so important to
Speaker 1 (18:47):
our society. The website is NEDelta.com and Tom Raphael is
its CEO. Tom, thanks a million for a nice conversation today.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Thank you, Robert. I enjoyed it as always. Take care.
Take
care.
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