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Guest DB36BB

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Hi we will hopefully moving to Melbourne next year and have a 11 year old daughter who needs braces . Any ideas how to go on and how much it will cost me thanks

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Ask around for a good orthodontist in your neighbourhood and start saving. It's going to cost you $5 - 6K at least and you should be able to pay in instalments or if you pay upfront you may get a bit of a discount and you can claim some of it back on your income tax as it will take you over the medical expenses threshold. If you took out private health insurance with dental cover when you get here then you would have to wait a year I think for major dental work (you would need to check that out with the insurance company).

 

As to finding a good orthodontist - the best way is to probably ask around - the kids will know who is the best/worst. You may find that the recommendation will be for braces a little later than 11 though, they tend to be more a 13/14 year old thing.

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Ask around for a good orthodontist in your neighbourhood and start saving. It's going to cost you $5 - 6K at least and you should be able to pay in instalments or if you pay upfront you may get a bit of a discount and you can claim some of it back on your income tax as it will take you over the medical expenses threshold. If you took out private health insurance with dental cover when you get here then you would have to wait a year I think for major dental work (you would need to check that out with the insurance company).

 

As to finding a good orthodontist - the best way is to probably ask around - the kids will know who is the best/worst. You may find that the recommendation will be for braces a little later than 11 though, they tend to be more a 13/14 year old thing.

 

 

Is it possible to get dental cover then? Any links to a good source of info? One of my greatest worries about our life in Oz is the enormous cost of dental care. Our son has just one tooth which is growing out of alignment and we have been told that he will probably need a little orthodontic work, and my teeth are in a shocking state (all up to date but loads of fillings and crowns so $$$$$$).

 

We had done a bit of searching on line for something like Denplan and found nothing. You have just given me a ray of hope!!

 

 

I have a cousin in Sydney who is a Dental Surgeon but I have only met him once so don't feel able to call him in to help! And we are going to be in Queensland anyway.

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Hi we are in Melbourne, my friend's son has just had braces fitted he is 12 and they cost six and half thousand dollars, she can pay in parts for them, over 12 months and also I think she mentioned she can get somthing back through the tax return, but her other son also now needs braces so another huge bill. I would say to people coming over make sure you get to the dentist and have everything you can done, especially if you have kids. She looked at the insurance route but not much was offered.

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You dont get much back from private health cover but all private health insurance companies offer dental, optical and ancillary therapies as well as private hospital cover. If you are going to be earning over about $125k as a family you will be slugged for a medicare surcharge anyway if you dont have private cover.

 

I believe some people have managed to transfer their BUPA cover over to BUPA Aus so that may be something you could check out before hand

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Guest eurosyl

The cost of any dental procedure in Oz is shockingly high! I arrived here only a few weeks ago and I broke a tooth, and unfortunately it needs the full works (root canal) and the quote I received from the dentist was over 1200 AUD (and I shopped around for dentists with a good resume and reasonable prices). Not covered by Medicare, private health plans have 12 month waiting period for major dental works and cover up to maximum 800AUD for this type of procedure.

 

BLEH! in NL it is almost fully covered in my health plan. I paid 145 EUR 2 years back for a similar procedure and I did periodic checks so everything is up to date. Shocking, and I can only advice to do things you can do "at home" if you are financially covered in a better way.

 

There are some plans around that "supposedly" will prevent you from high rates, but during my "shopping around" I found that the prices they list as their fee are equivalent to the average dentist. So know what you buy and what is covered before you pay into any membership / insurance and so on. I will give an example of a site with some prices listed , as it is interesting to see what the maximum prices for procedures are, and please see their listed prices as 'average' or 'equivalent' but by no means as 'low'! (and remember plans like this cost even more as you do need to pay for a membership!). I will not link as they do not deserve cheap advertising :) ... EDIT: lol.. I am supposed to be knowledgeable in IT but no idea how to simply keep a text as text instead of a link in these forums :D anyways.. just browse for nobledentist dot com dot au and have a look at their prices (remember they're average, equivalent not low)

Cheers,

Sylvia

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Guest siamsusie
You dont get much back from private health cover but all private health insurance companies offer dental, optical and ancillary therapies as well as private hospital cover. If you are going to be earning over about $125k as a family you will be slugged for a medicare surcharge anyway if you dont have private cover.

 

I believe some people have managed to transfer their BUPA cover over to BUPA Aus so that may be something you could check out before hand

My husband recently had work done Quoll the bill was $800 and yesterday a cheque came back for $740 from Medibank private which I thought was pretty good.

Dental costs I find in the Uk are prohibitive, and my little family have always seen a Japanese dental surgeon in Phuket for the past 11 years who also trained in Melbourne, for a fraction of the cost we enjoy a yearly holiday and dental care. Oral health for me is so important and I cannot understand why its become a luxury to visit a dentist:wubclub:

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The cost of any dental procedure in Oz is shockingly high! I arrived here only a few weeks ago and I broke a tooth, and unfortunately it needs the full works (root canal) and the quote I received from the dentist was over 1200 AUD (and I shopped around for dentists with a good resume and reasonable prices). Not covered by Medicare, private health plans have 12 month waiting period for major dental works and cover up to maximum 800AUD for this type of procedure.

 

BLEH! in NL it is almost fully covered in my health plan. I paid 145 EUR 2 years back for a similar procedure and I did periodic checks so everything is up to date. Shocking, and I can only advice to do things you can do "at home" if you are financially covered in a better way.

 

There are some plans around that "supposedly" will prevent you from high rates, but during my "shopping around" I found that the prices they list as their fee are equivalent to the average dentist. So know what you buy and what is covered before you pay into any membership / insurance and so on. I will give an example of a site with some prices listed , as it is interesting to see what the maximum prices for procedures are, and please see their listed prices as 'average' or 'equivalent' but by no means as 'low'! (and remember plans like this cost even more as you do need to pay for a membership!). I will not link as they do not deserve cheap advertising :) ... EDIT: lol.. I am supposed to be knowledgeable in IT but no idea how to simply keep a text as text instead of a link in these forums :D anyways.. just browse for nobledentist dot com dot au and have a look at their prices (remember they're average, equivalent not low)

Cheers,

Sylvia

 

So $400 gap in oz vs $240 dollars in NL?

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Guest eurosyl

Yups.. that is if it would be the gap.. but right now I cannot claim that as there is a 12 month waiting period for any dental major dental works (even when you had your full checks and are up to date, this is waived sometimes but only for the more extended plans). So right now it is not covered and I have to pay the full amount.

 

Of course the choice of a private health insurance is a personal choice (and wise if you are in a higher income range as stated before) but if you look at the pitty amounts that are sometimes refunded *sigh* I am not that optimistic. I know you are supposed to insure yourself and hope you never need it, but my most likely expenses are in dental (as that are my only medical expenses in the last 10 years). So if I have a private health insurance that covers dental and as minimum as possible for everything else then you pay in more than you can claim before you can claim (if that makes any sense). I guess that is how they secure their businesses but why not allowing claim once a period instead of extreme waiting times when a contract is in place and premium payments are ensured. I know that a lot of people here shop around and change providers often, so I guess this is how things work in Australia. I am just not used to it.

 

Also some covers have a lifetime maximum for some procedures. Just be very wary before you buy and know what you can claim.

 

Also note that the premium for the mandatory health insurance in NL is quite high compared to most of the Australian private health insurances. But as the base health insurance in NL is covered by that premium (like Medicare here) I expected more from a private health insurance company.

 

Cheers,

Sylvia

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Guest guest17301

My daughter saw the school dentist, teeth are fine but they gave us a referal letter for an orthodontist. We haven't been yet as I'm wondering if it's best to wait till we are PR and then take out cover? We certainly can't afford to pay out 5-6k for dental care.

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Hi,

My 11 year old daughter has just got plates first they cost $2000.00 and this covers all follow up checks etc in the one fee. We have then been quoted around $7000.00 for the braces. These quotes were in July this year. Personally i have found it is cheaper not too have private health insurance as there are two price lists, one for with insurance and one for without. We have chose to not have private insurance and just pay for what we need. So far we are in front! Hope it stays that way.

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Guest brooksey

We,ve just been quoted $6,000 for my son to have braces. Does anyone know if he can fly to England and have them done for free as it would be cheaper.

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Guest siamsusie

If at first you don't succeed , Cheat... I love that Brooksey lol

 

If you maintain a UK address why not, but wouldnt an Australian dentist have to readjust periodically ? Wonder how much that would cost? mmm

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If at first you don't succeed , Cheat... I love that Brooksey lol

 

If you maintain a UK address why not, but wouldnt an Australian dentist have to readjust periodically ? Wonder how much that would cost? mmm

 

That's a very good point - we have heard of Aus orthodontists who take off braces put on by other orthos in UK and start all over again.

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Our daughter, aged 11, needs dental work, but rather than rushing straight into braces we decided to give Nobrace a try. We have an appointment on Monday in the city for her to be assessed for suitability. The waiting time for the appointment was about 6 months. They boast that they can align the teeth without the need for extractions using a custom made soft brace that the child wears for a set amount of time per day. The consultation fee is $120 but we figured it's worth it, even if to just get an opinion on the state of her teeth. I'm not sure of the actual cost of the overall treatment. It depends on the individual child and the state of their teeth.

 

We looked into having a brace fitted in England before we came out, but our dentist there said that there can be problems with follow on treatment in Australia. We were quoted a price of about £2,000 two years ago. Braces are not free in the UK anymore. Would have hated to have paid that much and then have to pay again if they had to be removed over here.

 

T x

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