PPO stands for preferred provider organization. It is a list of private practitioners who have agreed to accept predesignated specific fees for specific procedures. This contract is arranged with the dentists by an insurance company. When a patient gets PPO dental insurance (usually as an employee benefit), the patient can choose any dentist he or she desires but will usually find that the dental benefits provided by the insurance plan will stretch farther if "preferred provider organization" dentists are used.
HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization. HMO dentists work at HMO complexes and are paid a salary for their services. As a patient, if you have HMO insurance, your coverage is only good if you use HMO dentists. HMO's tend to offer patients a bargain on orthodontic work as a loss leader, but have a huge turn over in staff dentists and usually end up as sort of transition houses for newly minted DDS/DMD's.
In my Area, PPO's plans have not appeared yet. We have either Fee For Service or HMO plans. When employees are given a choice between Fee for Service and HMO dental insurance plans, they will usually choose Fee for service. Some will select HMO for a year or two in order to take advantage of the orthodontic bargains but will revert back to Fee For Service once the teeth are straight.
