According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 100 million Americans are currently living without any form of affordable dental care coverage. That's nearly 1 out of every 3 Americans living without dental care coverage. What makes this fact especially troubling is that a large number of findings that support a link between dental health and overall health. This means that seeing a dentist is now more important than ever.

So, what can individuals and families without dental insurance do to save significant money at the dentist? My recommendation is that you consider purchasing a discount dental plan.

The National Association of Dental Plans(NADP) considers discount dental plans as a viable, cost-effective alternative to traditional dental insurance for individuals and families. In fact, they say on their website, "With an estimated 45 percent of Americans not having any type of dental coverage, and the dental insurance marketplace offering few, affordable dental products for individuals, discount dental plans are an attractive answer to the need to reduce consumer out-of-pocket costs and increase access to care..."

So, what exactly is a discount dental plan, and how does it work?

Discount dental plans are essentially, as the name implies, a discount membership card that you purchase from a company that has contracted with dentists to offer their services to you at significant discounts - often 10%-60% on most procedures. You simply purchase a plan for yourself and/or your family for a very affordable price - starting at $79.95 for individuals, and $99 for families. You can use this card to received discounts on most dental care procedures with each dental visit throughout the year.

With a discount dental plan comes plenty of perks besides just the affordable price. You'll never have to worry about the dreaded claims forms inherent with traditional dental insurance. Nor will you need to worry about unfair health restrictions. Some of you like what you're hearing about discount plans, but wonder how easily accessible dentists are that accept discount dental plans? Well, in short, quite easy. There are probably a number of dentists in your area that accept discount dental plans. Why? Well, there are hundreds of plans, and dentists rely on discount dental plans to bring in new patients. So, the dentist brings in patients while you save a significant amount of money. It's a true win-win.

Cory Kemp is the owner of DentalPlanCards.com, a site dedicated to finding individuals and families high-quality, affordabledental plans in their area.