How to save money on dental treatment

• We accept CDBS gap free.
• The Medicare scheme provides eligible children with $1000 over 2 calendar years on a good range of dental services, including check ups, cleans, fillings, extractions and more.
• Although 3 million Australian children are eligible, it is estimated that only 30% are making use of the scheme.
• Check eligibility by contacting Medicare, or you can call us and providing your medicare number and we can check for you.

The CDBS is for children aged 2 to 17 who are eligible for Medicare and who also receive at least one of the following benefits:

• Family Tax Benefit Part A
• Carer Payment
• Disability Support Pension
• Parenting Payment
• Special Benefit
• Youth Allowance
• help under the Veterans’ Children Education Scheme (VCES) if the child is 16 to 17 years
• help under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme if the child is 16 to 17 years

In some cases, CDBS payments are made to parents, guardians or approved care organisations.

• For more information about the scheme: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/medicare/child-dental-benefits-schedule

• We are partnered with several health funds, but accept all health funds.
• Most health funds are calendar year (a few are financial year, it is important to know which one yours is). If your health fund runs calendar year, this means that your limits will reset at the start of each year and any unused limits will expire at the end of December.
• Know your limits and know how dentistry is categorized. I wish this was as straightforward as it sounds, but unfortunately every health fund is slightly different. Here, I will write generalized information.
• You will have a total dental limit. But that limit would be spread across the categories that dental is split up into:
• General Dental (Check ups, cleans, fillings, simple extractions, etc)
• Major Dental (Crowns, Implants, Dentures, root canal)
• Orthodontics (braces -  most funds have a lifetime limit)
• I would recommend that you know what your dental limit is for the year, when it resets and how it is split. Why?
• Let’s say it’s December, you have just had your second check-up and clean for the year and you’ve used up your general dental limit but you haven’t used any major dental. It has been recommended you get a crown on a back tooth, but you’d also like to replace some stained fillings on a front tooth you don’t like the look of. To get the most of your health fund, you should do your crown in December to use your major dental limit before it expires, and the fillings in January – if you get the filling in December you won’t get any rebate as you have no remaining general dental limit left.
• But you can’t plan if you don’t know! We want to work with you and help explain health funds to you, so I would recommend that you bring with you the answers to:
• What is my general dental limit
• What is my major dental limit
• Do I have orthodontic cover (if this is something you are interested in)
• Do I have any waiting periods on any of my cover

We will note this in your chart and make our treatment plan, for which you can get a quote from your health fund.

• From our end, we have partnered with a few of the healthfunds: Bupa, HCF and Westfund, to get you the best rebates.
• Bupa patients: We are Bupa preferred provider on all dental treatments – this means we charge their fees, not ours, and are contractually not allowed to charge more. In return, Bupa give our patients a premium rebate meaning they pay more of your treatment.
• HCF patients. We are a HCF Preventative Provider: 2x checkups, 2x cleans, 1x fluoride, 2x xrays and other preventative dental treatments such as mouthguards are FULLY COVERED by HCF.
• Westfund preventative provider. Same as abovem 2 check up and cleans and xrays (we only take if required) fully covered by your healthfund. So no excuses!