MetLife has created two free resources for employers and benefits professionals that offer tips for evaluating the value of dental provider networks.

MetLife provides dental plan administration for nearly 20 million people. The company created a guide, "Taking a Deeper Look at Dental Networks," and a video, "Building Blocks of Dental Benefit Plans," in order to help benefits professionals look at more than simply size and discounts when evaluating a dental provider.

"While accessibility, disruption, and discount reports can provide valuable information when evaluating a carrier network, it is important to recognize each report's inherent limitations," said Dr. David Guarrera, DDS, vice president, MetLife Dental Products. "The new resources help one learn the value and proper use of these reports as well as a new metric, effective discounts. In fact, this metric may be the best indication of the overall impact on benefit plan costs and participant out-of-pocket expenses."