One of the nasty situations that the current economic recession has placed many people in is that of having to choose which expenses to cut from their regular monthly budget. Of course, you can only cut so many places before you begin to feel the pain - and one place that you surely don't want to feel any pain is in your mouth, and especially in regards to your teeth.

The question is, in an era of spiraling health care and dental care costs, how does one hang on to such an important budget item like dental care - especially if they get laid off or their dental insurance plan gets cut back?

One of the first things you need to realize is that you're not stuck if you don't have a dental plan through your work. There are many dental plans available through dozens of insurance companies, ranging from insurance plans to dental savings plans. The idea behind both of these is to save you money over the long term for your dental care, and if you're going to the dentist regularly for checkups (or heaven forbid you have a serious issues with your teeth or gums) they can save you a significant portion of the total cost of treatment.

Discount dental plans are growing in popularity as a solution to not being able to afford dental insurance or a full dental plan. These dental plans are designed for people who want to save money on their dental costs, but for whatever reason don't have access to insurance. The idea behind them is pretty straight-forward - dental service providers agree to accept a discounted rate from members of the discount dental plan. Essentially it's just like shopping at Costco or Sam's Club - the discount goes to the dental plan member.

The cost savings of using a discount dental plan can be significant - anywhere from 10% - 60% can be saved off of most dental procedures. There's generally no restrictions like there is with insurance either; since it's just a discount you don't have to worry about things like deductibles or meeting certain requirements. You just make your appointment with the dentist that is a member of your dental plan, and you get the discount. Simple.

The best site I could find helping choose dental plans is this one:

Get Help Finding a Discount Dental Plan with DentalPlans.com

There's hundreds of different plans there in detail, but you enter your zip code in to see which one will suit you best. This way you can easily narrow down the local choices and perhaps even find a dental plan that supports your existing dentist!

If you're just looking for teeth whitening, by the way, Kim Kardashian and her sisters just launched Kardashian Smile which is a teeth whitening product that they use. You can check it out here:

Teeth Whitening with Kardashian Smile

Good luck with your mouth and teeth and hopefully you can find a dental plan that works for you!