Nobody selling you a dental plan leads with this, so we will. The plans are mostly the same. Denplan, Practice Plan and a practice's own membership scheme all work the same way: a monthly fee that covers your routine check-ups and hygiene visits, plus a discount on any treatment you need. What differs is not the name on the paperwork. It is the practice the plan is attached to, and what the small print says about joining.
So compare practices, not brands. Below is what varies, and the five questions worth asking before you sign anything, whoever you end up signing it with.
What these things are
Denplan and Practice Plan are administrators. They are companies that run payment plans on behalf of dental practices, handling the direct debit, the paperwork and, depending on the product, some insurance elements. Your dentist is still your dentist. The plan is the billing arrangement wrapped around them.
A practice's own membership scheme, like ours, skips the middle layer and is run by the practice itself. From your side of the desk, the two behave almost identically. You pay monthly, your routine care is included, and you get a discount on treatment.
None of them are insurance in the ordinary sense. A plan spreads the cost of care you already know you will need. Insurance pays out for things you hope never happen. Some plans bundle an insurance element on top, but the core product is budgeting rather than cover, and confusing the two is the most common mistake people make here.
What patients typically report paying
Plan pricing is set per practice, and often per patient. Most plans are banded according to how much care your mouth needs, which is why two people at the same practice can pay different amounts for the same product. So nobody, including us, can honestly tell you what Denplan or Practice Plan would cost you without you asking them directly.
What we can tell you is what patients report. Around £20 a month for a plan covering two check-ups, two hygienist visits and 10% off treatment bills is the figure that comes up again and again in patient discussions. Treat that as a rough benchmark to test your own quote against rather than a quoted price, and confirm anything specific with the provider.
What Pear Tree membership costs
Our own numbers, which we can state as fact:
Essential Maintenance, £10.95 a month. One check-up and one hygienist visit a year.
Routine Care, £15.95 a month. Two check-ups and one hygienist visit.
Complete Care, £19.95 a month. Two check-ups and two hygienist visits.
Complete Care Plus, £25.95 a month. As Complete Care, with worldwide dental insurance on top.
Periodontal Health, £29.95 a month. Two check-ups and four specialist hygienist visits, for patients managing gum disease.
Family Plan, £49.50 a month. Two check-ups and two hygienist visits per person, per year, across the family.
Every plan includes X-rays, 10% off selected treatments, and worldwide dental accident and emergency cover. On Complete Care, the routine care included would cost about £416 bought appointment by appointment, against £239.40 on the plan. So you are roughly £177 a year better off before the treatment discount is counted at all.
The five questions worth asking
Ask these of any plan, ours included. The answers vary far more than the monthly price does, and they are where people come unstuck.
Do I have to finish outstanding treatment before I can join? This is the big one, and it catches out almost everyone coming back after a long gap. Plans are built for maintaining a healthy mouth, not clearing a backlog. Ask before you get your hopes up, and ask what the way in looks like.
Is there a waiting period before I can use the discount or claim? Some plans have one. Find out beforehand rather than afterwards.
What does the discount actually apply to? "10% off treatment" can mean very different things at different practices. Ask which treatments are covered.
What happens if I move house, or the practice stops offering this plan? Ask whether it follows you or simply ends.
Can I get an appointment when I need one? The most underrated question of the lot. A plan at a practice that cannot see you for six weeks while you are in pain is worth less than a slightly dearer plan at one that can.
The bit the comparison sites leave out
Most guides to dental plans are written by affiliate sites that earn a commission on whichever product you choose. They are good at comparing products, because products are what they sell. But the administrator is close to the least important variable in the whole decision.
You are not really buying a payment plan. You are buying a relationship with a dental practice, with a payment plan attached to it. Over ten years, whether the direct debit says Denplan, Practice Plan or Pear Tree will matter to you far less than whether you like the people, whether they explain things properly, whether they can see you when something hurts, and whether they are willing to tell you that you do not need treatment.
Which is an awkward thing for us to write, because it leads somewhere unhelpful for us. If you already have a dentist you trust and they offer Denplan, stay where you are and take their plan. The plan is not a reason to change practice. The practice is.
At Pear Tree, membership and long-term preventive care is led by our principal dentists. Dr Javaad Mirza (MD, BDS, GDC 290378) has a special interest in cosmetic dentistry, including implants, veneers and orthodontics, and will talk you through what is realistic for your teeth at your consultation.
If you want to talk it through
You can see every plan side by side on our membership page, and our honest breakdown of whether a plan is worth having at all is here: is a dental membership plan worth it? To talk it over with no obligation, book an appointment or call us on 0115 931 2935.
FAQ
Q: Is Denplan or Practice Plan better? A: They are administrators running broadly similar products, and pricing is set per practice and per patient, so there is no single answer. The more useful question is which practice you want to be a patient of. The plan attached to it matters much less.
Q: Is a dental plan the same as dental insurance? A: No. A plan spreads the cost of routine care you know you need. Insurance pays out on unexpected events. Some plans bundle an insurance element, and every Pear Tree plan includes worldwide dental accident and emergency cover, but the core product is budgeting rather than cover.
Q: How much is dental membership at Pear Tree Dental? A: From £10.95 a month for Essential Maintenance up to £29.95 for Periodontal Health, with a Family Plan at £49.50. Every plan includes X-rays, 10% off selected treatments and worldwide dental accident and emergency cover.
Q: I need work doing. Can I join a plan and get it done cheaply? A: Ask first. Plans generally cover maintaining a healthy mouth rather than clearing a backlog, so there may be work to finish before you join. This applies to most plans, not only ours, and it is the single most common thing people are caught out by.
Q: Can I switch plans or cancel? A: Ask the provider directly, and get the answer before you sign. Terms differ between plans, and it is a fair question that any reputable practice will answer plainly.
Clinically reviewed by Javaad Mirza (MD, BDS), Principal Dentist at Pear Tree Dental, GDC No. 290378. Last reviewed July 2026. Pear Tree prices are correct at the time of review. Denplan and Practice Plan are independent products whose pricing is set per practice. Figures attributed to them here are those commonly reported by patients, not quoted prices, and you should confirm any figure directly with the provider. See our membership plans.