Do Unused Dental Benefits Expire at the End of the Year?
When it comes to dental benefit plans, millions of people each year are ringing in the New Year leaving money on the table. According to the National Association of Dental Plans, only 2.8% of people with PPO dental plan participants reached or exceeded their plans annual maximum. Many people also have Flexible Spending Accounts, which help pay for dental and medical care with pre-tax dollars.
For most dental plans, yes. Your annual maximum resets when the plan year ends, often December 31, and unused benefits usually do not roll over. Money in a health flexible spending account (FSA) is also lost at the end of the plan year unless your employer offers a carryover of up to $680 for 2026 plan years or a grace period of up to two and a half months. Check your own plan's dates, and let your dental needs, not the calendar, decide what treatment you have.
When does my dental plan year end?
Many dental plans run on the calendar year, but some follow a different 12-month cycle tied to your employer's benefits year. Your plan document, your benefits office or the member services number on your insurance card can tell you:
when your plan year ends
how much of your annual maximum you have used
whether any treatment has a waiting period or frequency limit
How can I make the most of my dental plan?
Keep up with checkups and cleanings. Many plans cover routine exams and cleanings at a higher level than other treatment. Check your plan for the exact coverage.
Plan in the summer or early fall. If a checkup shows that you need treatment, ask about timing then. Appointments fill quickly in November and December.
Let the clinical need set the schedule. Some treatment can safely be staged across two plan years, and some should not wait. I will tell you which is which. A benefit deadline is never a good reason to start treatment you do not need.
How do FSAs work for dental care?
A health FSA is an account you set up through your employer. You choose an amount during open enrollment, and it is taken from your paychecks before taxes. For plan years beginning in 2026, the IRS limit is $3,400 per employee.
FSA money can generally be used for dental care that treats or prevents disease, such as exams, cleanings, fillings, crowns, dentures and orthodontic care needed for dental health. Purely cosmetic procedures, such as teeth whitening, generally do not qualify. Your FSA administrator has the final list of eligible expenses.
What happens to unused FSA money?
Generally, you must use FSA money within the plan year. Your employer may offer one of two options, but not both, and is not required to offer either:
A carryover. You can carry unused money into the next plan year. For 2026 plan years, the maximum carryover is $680.
A grace period. You get up to two and a half extra months after the plan year ends to use the money.
Anything left after the deadline is forfeited. Your employer or FSA administrator can tell you which option, if any, your plan offers.
Does our office work with my dental insurance?
We are an out-of-network practice. We can help you understand how to use your benefits. You are responsible for amounts your plan does not pay. To learn how out-of-network benefits are usually calculated, read what patients should know about out-of-network dental insurance. If you are planning around retirement or a change in coverage, see retirement and dental insurance.
Planning care before the year ends
If you have not had a checkup this year, or you have treatment you have been putting off, now is a good time to ask about scheduling. New patients start with a comprehensive dental exam. You can reach our Jacksonville office through our contact page or at 904-398-1549.
Sources
Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (health FSA limit $3,400 and maximum carryover $680 for plan years beginning in 2026). Retrieved October 6, 2026.
Internal Revenue Service. IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 (IR-2025-103, October 9, 2025). Retrieved October 6, 2026.
HealthCare.gov. Using a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) (grace period of up to 2½ months, or a carryover, but not both). Retrieved October 6, 2026.
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses (teeth whitening not includible).
About the author. CJ Henley, DMD, is a general dentist in Jacksonville whose practice focuses on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, dental implants and dental care around head and neck cancer. Meet Dr. Henley.
CJ Henley, DMD, PA · 3675 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32207 · 904-398-1549
Updated October 2026.
How Dr. Henley Approaches Dental Anxiety
Treating anxious patients is nothing new to dentists. However, I have always been astonished by how much a patient’s anxiety affected me while treating them. Despite my best efforts, it is difficult to separate my anxiety from their’s when a patient is rude, short, squirming, or crying while under going treatment. I believe that part of our humanity is in our ability to be empathetic. Because of this I would imagine (and hope) that many clinicians feel their own anxiety as we treat scared and fearful patients. As dentists we need to have a strong understanding of what anxiety is, how a patient’s anxiety can affect us and the efficacy of our treatment, how it can affect our practice economically, and how it can impact our own stress level.
If the dentist makes you nervous, tell us when you call and again when you arrive. I'll explain what I'm going to do before I do it, we'll agree on a way for you to pause me at any point, and we'll plan treatment at a pace you can manage. You stay in control of the visit. I wrote about this for other dentists in 2016, and that article is reproduced below.
What can anxious patients expect at our office?
Your first visit is a conversation as much as an examination. New-patient visits are scheduled for two hours, normally an hour with me and an hour in hygiene, so there's time to talk about past experiences and what worries you before anything happens in your mouth.
During treatment I'll:
Tell you what each step involves and roughly how long it will take
Check in with you as we go
Stop when you signal, and start again only when you're ready
Explain the sensations you may feel, such as pressure or vibration, so they aren't a surprise
Anxiety causes real physical changes, like a racing heart or tense muscles. Those are normal reactions, and recognizing them for what they are often makes them easier to manage.
What can you ask for?
You can ask for any of these:
A stop signal. We'll agree on one before we start, such as raising your hand.
Breaks. Short pauses are fine during longer procedures.
A step-by-step explanation, or less detail if you'd rather not know.
Shorter appointments, with treatment spread over more visits where that's sensible.
Time to check that you're numb before any work begins.
Your own headphones and music if that helps you relax.
A conversation about medication to help you relax. Whether it's appropriate depends on your health, your medications and the treatment planned. We'll talk it through in advance, and it isn't the right choice for everyone.
It also helps to tell us what has gone badly before. A gag reflex, a hard time getting numb or a bad experience as a child are all useful to know.
Where can you start in Jacksonville?
Our office is at 3675 Hendricks Avenue, near San Marco. Read what to expect as a new patient, see how stress can affect your teeth and gums, or contact the office at 904-398-1549 and mention that you're nervous when you call. More of my writing is collected on Dr. Henley's published articles.
The original article (Today's FDA, 2016)
As published in Today's FDA, Vol. 28, No. 6, September/October 2016. Written for dentists.
Treating Anxious Patients
Treating anxious patients is nothing new to dentists. However, I have always been astonished by how much a patient's anxiety affected me while treating them. Despite my best efforts, it is difficult to separate my anxiety from theirs when a patient is rude, short, squirming, or crying while undergoing treatment. I believe that part of our humanity is in our ability to be empathetic. Because of this I would imagine (and hope) that many clinicians feel their own anxiety as we treat scared and fearful patients. As dentists we need to have a strong understanding of what anxiety is, how a patient's anxiety can affect us and the efficacy of our treatment, how it can affect our practice economically, and how it can impact our own stress level.
Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. While anxiety is a normal and valuable emotion, with some dental patients, anxiety regarding dental procedures can become an excessive and persistent fear about routine procedures. As a result, many patients cope with this anxiety through avoidance behavior. Dental fear or phobia, that leads to avoidance of treatment, affects from 5-10 percent of the population. Avoidance behavior can increase cancelations of appointments, thus having a detrimental impact on production.
Nearly 60 percent of patients have moderate to severe anxiety about certain dental procedures, and perhaps more importantly, nearly all of the patients that proceeded with treatment had low anxiety. In order for patients to accept treatment they need to have little fear regarding the proposed treatment. This is essential to understanding case acceptance in practice. Assessing a patient's anxiety level can help dentists understand how to present treatment to patients in an appropriate manner. Likewise, managing a patient's anxiety can increase their trust and confidence in the practitioner. Trust and confidence in the dentist and his/her staff is critical. Patients that trust their dentist are more likely to be pleased with treatment regardless if there were any complications.
A study completed in 1981 investigated the effects of fear and anxiety on the productivity of dental practice. The findings showed that patients with significant fear required about 20 percent more chair time than low fear patients. The time required to prepare the teeth was basically the same for both groups, as measured by drilling time, but the fear group was shown to have more frequent interruptions during treatment. This additional time required to manage an anxious patient ultimately results in increased stress and anxiety for the dentist as our schedule gets behind and productivity drops.
Because we work in a field that involves so many anxious patients, it is imperative that we, as clinicians, spend time understanding how patient's anxiety can cause us to be anxious. Psychologists refer to this as mirroring. Mirroring is the behavior in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. In most situations, mirroring is a beneficial reaction that can help people relate to one another in social situations. However, in the situation of a nervous or frustrated patient, mirroring can be disastrous. It can be difficult to overcome our "pre-programmed" need to mirror others.
It is paramount that dentists focus on their own stress level during treatment; failure to do so can contribute to the patient's anxiety. The inability to understand when a patient is suffering from severe anxiety before, during, or after treatment and failure to address the problem can allow the patient to incorrectly believe that chaos is about to unfold.
Two critical considerations must be addressed when treating patients with significant dental anxiety, these are:
Reminding patients that they are in control of the situation and/or symptoms.
Helping patients interpret their symptoms as nervousness, or a normal and explainable physiologic change that should be present.
Helping patients with significant dental anxiety develop cognitive-behavioral measures such as relaxation and cognitive-restructuring techniques can help reduce patient's anxiety to a manageable level. Reducing patient's anxiety level can reduce the anxiety level of the dentists and ultimately provide greater job satisfaction.
When we care about our patients and the quality of treatment we provide, dentistry can be both extremely rewarding and an extremely stressful profession. Steps should be taken to mitigate both the stress of the clinician and the stress of the patient as the emotional states of both parties can be interdependent. Taking the time to assess the anxiety level of patients and yourself can make a dental practice more productive, improve the satisfaction of patients, and improve your quality of life.
Sources
Henley CJ. Treating anxious patients. Today's FDA. 2016;28(6). Florida Dental Association. Reproduced here by the author.
About the author. CJ Henley, DMD, is a general dentist in Jacksonville whose practice focuses on cosmetic and restorative dentistry, dental implants and dental care around head and neck cancer. Meet Dr. Henley.
CJ Henley, DMD, PA · 3675 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32207 · 904-398-1549
Updated October 2026.