Virginia Dental Club is an in-office membership program — not insurance — that covers your cleanings and exams and discounts every other treatment in this office. If you do not have dental insurance through work, this is almost certainly the most cost-effective way for your family to stay on a regular dental schedule.
Here is how it works, what it costs, and the math for a typical Churchville family.
What you pay, what you get
You pay an annual membership fee. As of 2026, that runs roughly $350–$500 per adult, with reduced pricing for children and a slightly higher tier for patients on a periodontal (deeper gum care) maintenance plan. The exact number depends on which tier fits you.
In return, your preventive care for the year is included: two cleanings, your routine exams, and any necessary digital X-rays. Digital sensors mean a fraction of the radiation of old film and an image on the screen the moment it is taken — so when Dr. Agrawal walks you through what he sees, you are looking at the same picture he is. There is also a courtesy emergency visit included if you ever need one between recall appointments.
On top of the preventive care, you get a flat discount on every other treatment performed in this office — fillings, crowns, bridges, dentures, root canals, cosmetic work, the whole list.
There is no deductible. No annual maximum. No claim forms. No "this is covered after 6 months" waiting period. The membership starts the day you join.
A real-world example: a family of four
Say your family is two adults and two children. Without insurance, paying out of pocket at standard fees, a year of preventive care looks something like this:
- 4 routine cleanings × 2 adults = 8 cleanings
- 4 routine cleanings × 2 kids = 8 cleanings
- 4 exams per adult and per child
- One set of bitewing X-rays per person, per year
At standard regional fees, that totals well into four figures before a single filling is placed. Under Virginia Dental Club, those visits are included in the annual membership. For most families of four, the savings on preventive care alone cover the membership cost — and any restorative work that comes up during the year is then discounted on top of that.
If one of your children chips a front tooth on the playground and needs a bonded composite, you pay the discounted membership rate, not the standard fee. If your spouse needs a crown, same. If you have been putting off a denture reline (refreshing the underside of an existing denture so it fits the changed gum again), the membership rate applies there too.
The math is straightforward, and it favors families who actually use their dental coverage instead of paying premiums to a plan they never max out.
Who Virginia Dental Club is built for
Membership dentistry is the right fit if any of these describe you:
- No dental insurance through work. Maybe your employer offers a plan, but the math hasn't worked since the annual maximum was raised to $1,500 in 1980 and has not moved since.
- Self-employed. Buying an individual dental plan on the marketplace is rarely cost-effective, especially when most plans cap restorative coverage in the first year.
- Between jobs. COBRA dental coverage is almost never worth what it costs.
- Retired. Medicare does not cover routine dental, and the supplemental plans that do are often more expensive than the membership.
- Your insurance has a low annual maximum. If your current plan caps at $1,000 or $1,500 a year and a single crown burns through it, membership math usually beats premium math.
We see this pattern across western Augusta County — Bath County resort workers whose seasonal employment doesn't include dental, Staunton service-economy households, Buffalo Gap and Deerfield small-business owners. Membership dentistry was built for exactly these situations.
Who it isn't for
If you have strong dental insurance that fully covers your preventive care and a meaningful portion of restorative work, stay on it. We will continue to accept your plan. Membership and insurance are alternatives, not stackable — you do not need both, and we will help you do the math.
How it compares to marketplace discount plans
There are dental "discount plans" sold online for $99 to $150 a year. They are not insurance either, and they are sometimes mistaken for the same thing. The structure is different:
A marketplace discount plan is a broker. You pay them; they negotiate a discount with a network of dentists; you pay the dentist that discounted rate. Your cleaning is not included — it is just discounted. The marketplace keeps the spread.
Virginia Dental Club is run directly through the practice. There is no broker between you and your dentist. Your preventive care is included outright, not discounted. For a patient who actually uses two cleanings a year, the in-office plan almost always comes out ahead.
How to join
You can sign up directly through Virginia Dental Club on your first visit, or we can have the paperwork ready in advance. Call 540-337-6004 (Monday–Friday, 8 AM–5 PM) and tell the front desk you would like to enroll, or request a visit online. Most of our new members are enrolled within five minutes of arrival.
We are at 21 Scenic Hwy in Churchville, on US-250, and we would love to meet you.