Afford Invisalign and Braces

The cost of traditional braces or Invisalign treatment varies from patient to patient depending on the treatment requirements including total treatment time, complexity of the issues, health of the gums and teeth, and other factors. Patients differ too in terms of their ability to pay for treatment, but luckily, there are lots of options available to patients to make treatment more affordable at OMG Smiles.

Dr. Amy Buchler will discuss the cost of treatment with you during the initial consultation. Once your teeth have been evaluated and you know the costs, you can set up a budget and decide how you’d like to pay for treatment. Many patients have insurance that they use to pay for orthodontic treatment, but insurance companies vary in terms of their policies regarding braces and Invisalign. At OMG Smiles, we have financial coordinators who can do the research for you to determine whether or not your particular insurance plan will cover your teeth straightening treatment. If the insurance company will, in fact, cover the treatment, our coordinators will also file on your behalf with the insurance company to ensure that you receive the highest level of coverage possible for each treatment.

But if your insurance company will not cover treatment with braces or Invisalign, there are still other options to consider. There are a number of payment possibilities available including Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA’s), a Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s), or a credit card designed specifically for healthcare expenditures. These tools allow patients to pay for teeth straightening treatment over time or to use tax-free dollars to pay for treatment which can substantially lower the overall cost.

An FSA is an account that you can use to pay for certain medical, dental, or orthodontic treatments. FSA’s are usually managed by employers. Money is paid into the account throughout the year, typically as a deduction from your paycheck. Then, you can use it to pay for certain health-related treatments including teeth straightening by a qualified orthodontist.

In contrast, an HSA is a special healthcare savings account that’s managed by the patient themselves. These accounts were designed specifically for people with a high-deductible insurance plan. A health savings account can help people pay out-of-pocket for health-related treatments. With an HSA, you would need to save money in advance for Invisalign or for treatment with braces by setting aside the necessary amount in the account. Then, when you use an HSA to pay for braces or Invisalign, some or all of your treatment costs may be tax-exempt (check annual tax laws to be sure that HSA funds are still tax-exempt).

If you don’t already have money saved in an HSA or FSA and you or your child needs treatment with Invisalign or braces right now, a healthcare credit card such as CareCredit is another option to consider. A number of patients at OMG Smiles use healthcare credit cards to finance treatment costs so that they don’t have to pay for the entire balance up front. Contact a reputable healthcare credit card company to see if you qualify for a credit line of this kind.

Invisalign has become more competitive in terms of price over the past few years and these days traditional braces and Invisalign cost about the same amount though these two treatment processes are very different! At OMG Smiles, the average cost for Invisalign is currently $3998. This cost includes the development of a treatment plan, check-ups, and the creation of customized aligner trays that will slowly move your teeth into alignment. Many people prefer Invisalign over traditional braces simply because this treatment method is more discreet. If given a choice, many patients would even be willing to pay a little bit more for Invisalign in order to avoid the aesthetic stigma of wearing metal braces. But traditional braces have come a long way too! These days, you can sometimes opt for transparent brackets that are barely noticeable instead of the silver metal brackets that most people are familiar with.

The cost of traditional braces at OMG Smiles currently starts at $2998. Complex teeth-straightening cases cost more while simpler cases cost less. Of course, if your teeth are just slightly out of alignment, the treatment time will be shorter and the overall cost will be substantially less. But, if some of your teeth need to be turned or if there is crowding or large gaps between the teeth, you can expect to pay more for treatment.

Every patient has a different orthodontic situation, so it isn’t possible to create a one-size-fits-all estimate in terms of cost. Rather, the cost is customized according to the patient’s specific needs. The best way to find out how much the cost of Invisalign treatment will be or the cost of traditional braces is to set up an appointment for an initial consultation with Dr. Buchler at OMG Smiles. At the initial consultation, Dr. Buchler will carefully examine your teeth and your bite to determine the length of time it will take to straighten the teeth, the method of treatment that would be most effective for your given situation, and whether or not traditional braces or Invisalign would be a better treatment option for you. Once you have this information, your insurance company can be contacted to find out whether the treatment would be covered. If it is not covered, you can begin to set aside funds or apply for a health credit card to pay for the cost.

We regularly welcome new patients to OMG Smiles who want to have an initial consultation to learn about the cost of treatment in order to budget for it. Once Dr. Buchler has had the opportunity to fully evaluate your situation, she or the staff would be happy to discuss the cost with you and help you find out whether your insurance will cover your treatment or not. If your insurance won’t cover the cost, our staff can direct you to other possible financing resources to help make your teeth straightening treatment affordable. We would be honored to be part of your teeth-straightening journey. Contact us today!