Table of Contents

  • Dental Insurance
  • Do You Need Adult Braces?
  • Invisible Braces
  • What Is An Orthodontist?

      • Dental Insurance

      Most dental insurance plans offer some kind of coverage for orthondontic treatment, which is one way to cut the cost of braces.

      That said, most plans have specific limitations on orthodontic work. A typical limitation is a lifetime maximum, whereby the plan offers a certain amount of orthodontic coverage per patient for that patient's lifetime. Once that limit's been reached, you won't see any more money from the plan.

      Another typical limitation is the percentage of work covered. Even if you plan pays for 100% of routine dental work, it's not unusual for the same plan to cover only 50% of brace-related work.

      When combined with the lifetime maximum previously mentioned, you can see that you'll incur significant out-of-pocket expenses for orthodontics even with the best dental insurance available.

      If your spouse has his or her own dental plan, be sure to investigate whether it covers your own dental work as well. If it does, you may be able to claim some of the costs of your braces against that plan once you've exhausted the coverage offered by your own plan. Since orthodontic coverage doesn't vary much between plans, this is an easy way to effectively double the payback amount for your braces.