Washington Dental Service, a member of the Delta Dental Plans Association, offers a broad range of dental plans — including a fee-for-service plan, two preferred provider (PPO) plans, a managed care plan and a dental access product — giving you a number of network options to help you grow your patient base. To help you choose which network(s) you would like to join, we have summarized below each of the networks and the plans they support.

Delta Dental Premier® — This traditional fee-for-service plan is Washington Dental Service’s most widely purchased program. By virtue of becoming a member of Washington Dental Service, you are automatically part of this network — the largest dentist network in Washington state, covering approximately 2 million people. You have joined the nine out of 10 licensed dentists in Washington who participate in this plan. Nationwide, three out of four licensed dentists belong to the Delta Dental network and provide care to more than 46 million people.

Membership in the Washington Dental Service’s Delta Dental Premier plan is required for a dentist to participate in any or all of the other network options described here.

If you would like to apply for new membership in our Delta Dental Premier network, click here.
If you are already a Washington Dental Service member dentist and you would like to apply for membership at additional location, click here.

Delta Dental PPO — This preferred provider organization (PPO) plan is Washington Dental Service’s fastest growing dental plan and now covers nearly 1 million people. Delta Dental PPO is by far the largest preferred provider plan in Washington in terms of both dentists in the network and covered enrollees, and will continue to grow over the next several years. Delta Dental PPO is a point-of-service plan, meaning that patients can choose any dentist at the time of treatment. They do, however, have an incentive to choose dentists who are part of the PPO network because they will typically have higher benefit levels and lower out-of-pocket costs if they do so. Participating PPO dentists agree to an underlying fee schedule. Offices that elect to participate in this plan end up with a two-tiered fee schedule, one for Delta Dental Premier and the other for Delta Dental PPO. Once the initial PPO fees are set, they can be updated only by WDS. PPO fees are posted to the National Provider File and accepted nationally by other Delta plans.


SimpleAccess™ — This network supports both the SimpleChoice™ plan and the new Delta Dental Patient Direct™ program.

SimpleChoice® — This newer preferred provider organization (PPO) plan was designed in response to employers’ requests for an economical product for their employees. SimpleChoice offers the unmatched level of service member dentists have come to expect from Washington Dental Service and is designed to be easy for dental offices to administer. WDS member dentists who participate in this plan are reimbursed based on a geographical area-specific fee schedule. The plan features co-pays, maximums and standard deductions and limitations.

Patients enrolled in the SimpleChoice plan can choose any dentist – in or out of the network; however, they are likely to have lower out-of-pocket costs if they choose a SimpleChoice network dentist. The SimpleChoice plan is popular with small-to-medium-sized companies (five to 499 employees) and should attract new Washington Dental Service patients to your practice.

WDS member dentists who participate in the SimpleAccess network automatically participate in the Delta Dental Patient Direct program (described below).

Delta Dental Patient Direct — This new dental program for individuals and their family members is not an insurance plan. With Delta Dental Patient Direct, enrollees have access to Washington Dental Service’s SimpleAccess network of participating providers and their negotiated fees. Dentists who participate in this program collect payment directly from patients and have no claim forms to deal with, incur no administration costs, and do not have to verify maximums and/or deductibles. What’s more, there are no waiting periods. Fees charged are based on the established SimpleChoice fee schedule.

Delta Care — This is Washington Dental Service’s managed care dental plan. Delta Care program subscribers select primary care dentists from the Delta Care network and seek treatment from their selected dentists. Dentists who participate in the managed care network are paid a fixed monthly fee per enrolled to provide a defined scope of treatment. Primary care dentists coordinate all of the patients’ dental care needs, including referrals to specialists. Patients are obligated to make copayments for services covered by this plan.

NOTE: Washington Dental Service offers its Delta Dental Premier, Delta Dental PPO and Delta Care plans both locally and nationwide through our affiliation with the Delta Dental Plans Association. All WDS member dentists automatically participate in the nationwide Delta Dental Premier plan as a provision of the Washington Dental Service Member Dentist Agreement. WDS member dentists who participate in the Delta Dental PPO and Delta Care plans also automatically participate in the nationwide PPO and Delta Care plans.

For information about any of these networks or plans, please call Washington Dental Service’s Provider Maintenance team at (206) 528-7394 or (800) 238-3439.