Frequently Asked Questions:
Parents Of Orthodontic Patients (tm)
Part
1
Contents:
How Much Does Orthodontic Treatment Cost?,
Why is orthodontic treatment so costly?,
Can I negotiate lower fees with my orthodontist?
Is orthodontics worth the cost?,
Can I pay in installments?,
Can I get insurance to help pay for orthodontic
treatment?,
What are the alternatives if my child needs
orthodontic treatment but I absolutely cannot afford it?
Click here to go to back to the table of
contents
Click here to go to next group of
questions
Click here to go to The Orthodontic
Homepage(tm)
Questions About The Cost Of Orthodontic
Care
- How Much Does Orthodontic Treatment
Cost?
It matters where you live and how complex your child's
case is. If you live in a rural
area, where rents are low and malpractice attorneys rare, orthodontic
treatment can be found for under $3,000. On the other hand, if you
live in an expensive city with lots of malpractice lawyers, the fee
for orthodontic treatment could be $7,000, more for a complex case.
Click here to find
the cost of dental care in your hometown
- Why is orthodontic treatment so costly?
Actually, orthodontic treatment is not so expensive when compared
with other personal services. During the course of a normal orthodontic
treatment, your child will visit the orthodontist about 100 times. If the
treatment costs $3000-$7000, then the cost works out to be $30-$70 per visit.
That is a little more than the cost of going to a beauty parlor, but less than
the cost of going to a car repair shop. A visit to a lawyer costs much
more than a visit to the orthodontist.
Orthodontics only seems expensive
because the Orthodontist tells you what the lifetime costs of straightening
your children's teeth will be. The total bill is less than the total amount
you have to pay for the lifetime maintenance and repairs on your car.
Aren't your children's teeth as important as your car?
- Can I negotiate lower fees with my
orthodontist?
Generally, orthodontists will not cut their fees to individuals.
Orthodontists need to pay for a lot of fancy equipment and to pay their
staff and their rent. The Orthodontists need to pay for all of
their materials and the operation of their sterilizers. Then there is
the cost of malpractice insurance. Most
of an orthodontist's fee goes to paying his fixed cost.
Occasionally an orthodontist will consider lowering his fees for patients
who truly cannot afford to pay. However, those fee reductions are rare.
Suprisingly, many orthodontists are starting to offer lower fees to
dental buying clubs. Click
here to find out about them
- Orthodontic treatment is still costly, is it worth
the cost?
Yes! Think about the cost of not getting braces. It is hard to see into the
future, to tell how the lack of orthodontic treatment will affect your child.
Certainly, a child who needs orthodontic treatment and does not get the
treatment will have problems with their teeth for years to come; so
much so that many adult patients are now going back for orthodontic
treatment.
The health issues, go well beyond good oral hygiene. One
of our employees did not undergo an orthodontic procedure called palatal
expansion when he was young. Now it is too late. The roof of his mouth
has moved up to partially block the air passages in his nose. The result
is a breathing problem which cannot be corrected without major surgery.
Also stomach problems are very common in people who skip
needed orthodontic treatment. If your child cannot chew their food right,
it irritates their stomach, and produces a lifetime problem.
There also is some initial data (unverified) that orthodontic treatment
can lower your childrens chance of cardiovascular disease.
Click here to read
it
We cannot predict whether your child will develop a breathing
problem or a stomach problem if they do not undergo orthodontic
treatment. However, lifetime orthodontic treatment costs no more than the
lifetime maintenance on a car. Isn't it worth investing as much time in
maintaining your children's teeth as you invest in maintaining your car?
- Can I pay for my children's orthodontic
treatment in installments?
You need to talk to your orthodontist to be sure, but most orthodontists
allow you to
pay for your children's treatment in installments. Usually the orthodontist
will ask you to make a substantial initial payment, to cover the costs of
starting up your case. Then the orthodontist will usually let you make
monthly payments for
the balance. The orthodontist cannot finance the entire treatment, because
the orthodontist incurs considerable costs when he or she first starts a new
patient and he needs to recover those initial costs. However, once you pay
for those initial costs, the orthodontist will usually let you pay for the rest
of the treatment in installments.
- Can I get Insurance To Help Pay For
Orthodontic Treatment?
Yes. Click
here for more information
- My child needs orthodontic treatment but
I absolutely cannot afford it. Are there any alternatives?
If you are on medicaid,
the EPSDT program might pay for treatment.
By law, every low income child is required to be provided with dental services
under the EPSDT program. Some states (AK, CT, GA, IA, IL, MA, MO, VA)
include orthodontics when
medically necessary.
If you cannot afford orthodontics, please check with your state's health
department to see if orthodontics are covered in your state.
If not contact your not try a dental school or children's hospital. When orthodontic students are being trained, the
student orthodontists need to practice on real patients. Often a student
orthodontist will do your child's case for a nominal fee. The care will not
be quite as good as with an experienced orthodontist. Still, having
orthodontic treatment done by a orthodontic student is better than no
orthodontic treatment at all.
Click Here To Go Back To The Table Of
Contents For The FAQ For Parents Of Orthodontic Patients(tm)
Click Here To Go To The Next Group Of
Questions
Click Here To Return To The Orthodontic Information
Page(tm)
Click Here To Go To The FAQ For Teenage
Orthodontic Patients(tm)
Click Here To Go To The Dictionary Of
Orthodontic Terms(tm)
|
