Does my medical insurance cover oral appliance therapy for obstructive sleep apnea?
If you have medical insurance, a pre-authorization request can be made for you. Some insurance companies can and will pre-authorize and partially cover an oral appliance, but many will not, at least at this present time. Because it is a new medical procedure with new insurance codes and because it is a dentist treating a medical disorder, there is considerable room for misunderstanding, confusion and controversy resulting in denials. However progress is being made in this area, so it will not hurt to ask. There is no known dental insurance coverage for OAT at this time. Our office has spent many long hours with medical insurance companies on behalf of our patients, mostly to no avail. Unfortunately, we must now operate under the assumption that your insurance company does NOT cover this service and we ask that the patient pay us directly and then be reimbursed later if there should be some medical coverage. Incredibly, this process is most time consuming and can sometimes take weeks an
