# How do I verify eligibility with Unum dental? > Unum's dental PPO plans are underwritten by Starmount Life Insurance Company — Provident Life and Casualty in New York — and self-insured dental claims are administered by Starmount too. Offices verify through the Unum dental provider portal or on (888) 400-9304. A remittance reading Starmount Life is not an error. _Updated 2026-09-10. Canonical: https://www.kaylie.ai/blog/unum-dental-eligibility-verification_ Unum dental is a distinct product line from the disability and leave products Unum is better known for, and it runs on a different legal entity, a different portal and a different phone number. The name that matters for a biller is Starmount Life. Unum's own employer page, read in September 2026, states it: "Unum Dental PPO plans are underwritten by Starmount Life Insurance Company, Baton Rouge, LA. In New York, underwritten by Provident Life and Casualty Insurance Company, Chattanooga, TN." The same page adds that "Self-insured dental claims are administered by Starmount Life Insurance Company, Baton Rouge, LA" ([*Unum — Dental insurance for employers*](https://www.unum.com/employers/employee-benefits/dental-insurance), 2026). So whether the employer bought insurance or self-funded the benefit, Starmount is the party on the other end. Kaylie has not measured Unum dental verification outcomes and will not print a number we did not measure. What follows is what Unum publishes for dental providers. ## Where you check Unum's dental provider page names two things an office uses and one it does not. The **provider portal** is at [unumdentalpwp.skygenusasystems.com](https://unumdentalpwp.skygenusasystems.com/PWP/Landing). Unum describes it as an "Online Dental Provider Portal to file claims and check claim status" ([*Unum — Dental providers*](https://www.unum.com/dental-providers), 2026). The portal's own landing page publishes the phone number **(888) 400-9304** and states that "A unique ID is needed to create your profile and register" — meaning you cannot self-register on a tax ID alone the way you can with some carriers; the identifier comes from Unum when your office is set up. The **network directory** is at [unum.go2dental.com](https://unum.go2dental.com/member/dental_search/searchprov.cgi). Use it to confirm your own participation status under the exact plan the patient carries, before you quote an in-network fee. What the page does not publish is a dental payer ID or a dental claims mailing address. Unum says only that it has a "Partnership with top clearinghouses to receive electronic claims". Get the payer ID from your clearinghouse's payer list, searching **Starmount** as well as Unum — the entity, not the brand, is often how it is filed. ## What the portal tells you, in its own words The single most useful sentence on the portal's landing page is the disclaimer: > "Not all transactions, balances, or available benefits needed to administer your account > are available through this website." — *Unum Dental Provider Portal*, landing page, 2026 That is the carrier saying, in advance, that the screen is not the whole answer. Treat the portal as the fast path for participation, claim status and payment, and treat anything you are about to put a dollar figure on — a remaining maximum, a frequency history, a waiting period on a crown — as a call on (888) 400-9304 unless the portal actually shows it. ## The shared portal, and why it matters The portal's own footer names four underwriters, and **Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company, Columbia, SC** is one of them, alongside Starmount Life and — in New York — Provident Life and Casualty and The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company. Colonial Life's dental members are supported on the same number, 1-888-400-9304, and Colonial Life's individual dental PPO claim form is served from `forms.unum.com`. The practical consequence: if your office is already set up on the Unum dental provider portal, a Colonial Life dental patient is very likely the same login and the same phone queue rather than a new carrier to onboard. Ask when you call. See [verifying eligibility with Colonial Life dental](/blog/colonial-life-dental-eligibility-verification) for what differs on that side — and it does differ, because Colonial Life sells individual policies where Unum sells employer plans. ## What commonly goes wrong - **The office calls Unum's main service line.** Dental has its own number. (888) 400-9304 is the one printed on the dental provider portal. - **Starmount Life on the check looks like a wrong payer.** It is the insurer named on Unum's own product page. Post it as Unum dental. - **The clearinghouse search finds nothing under "Unum".** Search Starmount. - **The portal is read as a complete benefit breakdown.** It says itself that it is not. - **Participation is assumed from a directory listing under a different Unum plan.** Confirm your status against the plan on the card, not against the network in general — the difference between in and out of network is money the patient owes or does not, and it turns on the specific plan. See [in-network versus out-of-network dental: who pays the difference](/blog/in-network-vs-out-of-network-dental-who-pays-the-difference). ## What to do - Get your office's unique portal ID from Unum once, and keep it with your other portal credentials rather than re-requesting it each time someone leaves. - Verify participation in the directory against the plan name on the card. - Call (888) 400-9304 for the remaining maximum, frequencies and any waiting period you are about to quote against, and note the reference number of the call. - File the payer ID under both Unum and Starmount in your payer list, so the next person finds it. - Record "Unum dental / Starmount Life" as one payer in the practice management system, not two, or your ageing report will split the same money in half. Sources last checked September 2026.