Our dentist's office is actually pretty great. We don't use dental insurance; for us to pay for all our kids and my husband and myself for our twice yearly cleanings, we would pay $1500 annually and get 100% of preventative covered (including xrays) and then a percentage of other kinds of word done, depending what it is. Our dental office (husband and wife practice) offered to do the same for $300 less per year, but with this caveat: We got money put into a family share account, good toward any type of procedure, for every all-clear 6-month appointment per person! So, it really got us going every 6 months because it's worth it. It feels almost like a guarantee. We brush, floss, get the twice a year cleanings, xrays, and see our dentist (which we need to do anyway) and the incentive is there to make the kids go back and brush the extra 30 seconds they try and skip, or to floss again around their molars, whatever... or I'll do it my dang self, lol, because that's money back in our family's patient account and if somehow we were to get a cavity, it's pretty guaranteed to be caught early, which is easier and cheaper for them to treat and it often would be covered by what is redeposited in our family patient account, so no out of pocket expense inconvenience.
So far, in almost 5 years:
Youngest daughter had a tiny spot that demineralized on a baby tooth; they watched it to make sure it didn't get worse or develop into a cavity, and subsequently cause issues in her other teeth or the adult tooth underneath. It eventually fell out, no further treatment needed.
We were able to use $400 toward our son's orthodontic treatment, knocking it down that much up front and as we all still go and all still have good visits, we will end up knocking around another $200 or so off the treatment. Two years for around $1400. And because we are regular patients, they accept a payment plan of around $60 a month.
I haven't seen it anywhere else, but at their office. And they do nice things, like offer to buy Halloween candy from kids. We let our kids go nuts for a couple days, then bring it all in... they each make about $5, so they're happy. They say they send the candy to troops, but I think they burn it, lol.
I do realize not everyone can afford those costs annually but if anyone is out there, wondering if they should get the dental insurance or shop around for a dentist's office that has reasonable options like that, I would say it has been worth it for us.