Free Braces for Kids – Can I get a free brace for children? This is certainly a pleasant opportunity asked by many parents in the United States. As you know, the cost of dental care is pretty expensive and many of the families –especially those that have a low income– consider that they simply cannot afford it. What’s more, a typical overall dental brace costs between $1,700 and $6,000, which means that even your typical dental insurance can only cover a portion of it (because the dental insurance annual benefit limit is somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000).
Dental brace is basically a procedure to correct crooked teeth, underbites, and overbites. Some may consider it as a cosmetic procedure, but it can really help people with those conditions. For your information, people who have severe overbites or underbites often feel jaw pain over the years. Once the teeth are fixed, your child will have even more confidence in life.
Free Braces Program for Kids Opportunities
When it comes to cheap or free of charge braces for kids, there are several opportunities that you can try, including:
Free Braces for Children from the Government
The Federal Government decided to make the dental benefits of the Medicaid program to be optional. While most of the state government still provides dental benefit for kids, but most of them don’t support braces because they consider and focus on other procedures that have more direct health effects. When it is deemed medically necessary, your state government may or may not cover it in its Medicaid program or the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program. It is best to contact your state’s Medicaid office and inquire about this possibility.
This is a program that provides braces for children whose age is between 11 and 18 for a lower cost than normal. It is important to remember that this is a program aimed for children coming from low-income families in the United States. The teeth of the kids applying for the program should also be healthy because the program only provides a single phase treatment. You still have to pay for a portion of the treatment, but it is much more affordable. The typical cost of the affordable brace treatment for kids is around $500, and it could be less than that. The organization is based in Kansas City, but children from across the country can still apply. The accepted applicants are typically coming from a family with 200 percent below the poverty line, and the child has a severely crooked tooth or a misaligned jaw.
Dental Schools
If you do not have an insurance company and wondering how to get cheap or free braces for children, you may want to consider the dental school. Although they may not be able to provide totally free braces, you can bet that you can get a discount here; especially the child comes from low-income families. The downside of this choice is the time needed for the treatment. Since your children will be taken care of by new orthodontists (under supervision, of course), it takes a longer time for the braces treatment.
As you can see, it is pretty difficult to find free braces programs for kids, but there are some opportunities available.
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