Life is hard for any family in this economy. It's a struggle sometimes to just pay the rent and put food on the table, let alone maintain a 6-9 month emergency savings account. Often the most likely thing to throw the best laid plans into upheaval are necessary medical expenses that aren't covered by insurance. You throw your back out and that $____ bill from the chiroprator chips away at your savings. Junior needs braces and your daughter has a few cavities and before you know it, your savings is gone and you're on a payment plan with the orthodontist. What options do you have to regain control?

It used to be that anyone with a halfway decent full time job had complete great quality health coverage including dental and vision- the works! Today, you are lucky to have HMO insurance with no extras. If you are single, you may choose to shrug it off- after all you are young and healthy, who really cares? You brush and floss daily with nary a cavity-- and you never get really sick either... However, once a spouse and kids come along, the story changes entirely.

You can purchase your own dental or vision family insurance plan. Most large reputable insurance companies offer competitive rates. However, this is definitely extremely costly. What other options do you have? Let's consider dental for a moment. For those who qualify, most states offer low-cost or no-cost health insurance programs. My family and I currently live in NJ and here it's called NJ FamilyCare. NJ FamilyCare is not a welfare program, but rather the State of New Jersey's way of providing affordable health coverage for kids and certain low-income parents/guardians. These comprehensive health insurance programs usually provide a wide range of services, such as: Doctor visits, Eyeglasses, Hospitalization, Lab tests, X-rays, Prescriptions, regular checkups, Mental health and Dental (for children). It's definitely worth looking into sometimes, you assume that you won't qualify, but you might!

Feb. 4, 2011 marked the 9th anniversary of the nationally recognized dental-access program "Give Kids a Smile."

The whole nation participates, but on a local level here in NJ, more than 1,300 volunteer dental professionals at 103 locations in New Jersey participated in providing dental care to low-income, underprivileged children age 12 and under at no charge.

The pediatric dental office my own kids go to participated in this event. "Our goal is to eliminate cavities in New Jersey's children. 'Give Kids a Smile' day is one of the ways in which the New Jersey Dental Association dentists are moving toward this goal," said Brunsden, who is the statewide chair of GKAS. "Tooth decay is the number one chronic childhood disease in America and is 100 percent preventable.

The more we keep pushing this message out to the public and to those who can help us reach this goal, the faster we can put our children on the road to becoming cavity and pain-free."

Companies such as Crest donate dental supplies. For more information and to see if you qualify, visit the American Dental Association at http://www.ada.org.

Thirdly, there is another option that is available for those of you that do not have any type of dental coverage. This program can save the average consumer up to 80% off on their dental costs. Some call this an ameriplan scam. However, if you would like to save on your dental costs and research the company that provides these savings, feel free to visit ameriplanscam.com