How Much Does Invisalign Cost Without Dental Insurance?
What is an investment? Answering this question from an oral health perspective, an investment is preventing any condition that could affect us later in life and could represent a financial burden. So, in these circumstances, we might then say that it is better to prevent than to cure. Let’s analyze this.
Corrective dental treatment is expensive. For example, cleaning and filling a cavity, clearing a root canal, making fillings, veneers, shaping crowns, and any other curative treatment that, in most cases, seems to occur unexpectedly is expensive, especially if the patient is not insurance-covered.
How Much Does Invisalign Cost Without Insurance
But can we prevent at least some of these problems from happening? The answer is yes. Orthodontic treatment is crucial for several reasons:
- It helps minimize the occurrence of tooth decay and gum disease due to misalignments that limit practicing proper oral hygiene.
- Corrects malocclusions that produce teeth wearing by unwanted friction that leads to chips, cracks, and enamel erosion.
- In some cases, orthodontic treatment helps solve sleep apnea, reducing the propensity of suffering a heart attack.
- Solves craniofacial asymmetries that might be more complex to solve as the patient grows into an adult.
- Favors nutrient absorption by improving the masticatory function, preventing gastrointestinal problems from improper deglutition of foods.
Numerous advantages to orthodontics surpass those mentioned above and, most fundamentally, reduce the possibility of expensive treatments to correct them.
In this article, we address the financial part of orthodontic treatment with Invisalign to clarify some doubts patients often have about entering into treatment by seeing it from a perspective different from a medical investment.
What Determines The Cost Of Invisalign?
Several factors determine the cost of Invisalign treatment. But before we define them, it is essential to know your orthodontist. Dr. Ann Reopelle advocates for not letting financial burdens become an impediment to getting orthodontic treatment and working out payment options.
Our team at Reopelle Orthodontics will review every case during the initial consultation, go through insurance coverage, and discuss your budget before starting the treatment.
Now is the time to get started. First, we must talk about a patient’s skull and jaw development. Traditional Braces and Clear Aligners like Invisalign align the teeth and reposition the jaw. So, the first factor is age. Let’s check out why.
Patients Age
The jaw stops growing approximately by age sixteen in females and eighteen for males, and this means that children who are candidates for interceptive orthodontic treatment and adolescents have active bone growth. But what does it mean?
As bones are still developing, they are malleable, and an orthodontist can move teeth and jaws more efficiently and quicker and heal rapidly.
Once a patient reaches the age of twenty, the bone and teeth structures reach their peak of development, and repositioning them might take longer and be more complex to achieve.
As the level of complexity increases, so does the cost of treatment.
Malocclusion Severity
However, age is not the only factor that determines the complexity of treatment. We might also need to understand the term severity.
A teenager’s malocclusion might be severe; this means that, independently of age, the issue requires a comprehensive approach with additional functional devices, extended treatment times, and in some cases, teeth extractions to make room for overcrowded teeth.
Again, as the severity level increases, so does the cost of treatment.
Amidst the mentioned components determining costs, there are some other influential but still essential factors determining the cost of treatment, and we list them next:
Type of Orthodontic Treatment
Traditional metal braces, clear ceramic braces, and Invisalign.
Treatment Length
Length in most cases depends on the age, complexity, and severity of the case. However, in some cases, patients’ poor compliance and physiological response to strain might also come into play to determine the length of treatment.
Orthodontist Office Location
In some cases, but not all of them, having offices in larger cities might increase the cost, while the opposite occurs with facilities in suburban areas.
Is Invisalign Expensive?
Actually, Invisalign is relatively inexpensive, especially considering its numerous benefits to patients. Invisalign costs range between $4.000 to $8.000.
Most cases treated with Invisalign fall in the upper proximity to the $4.000s, and the most complex requiring nearly thirty clear-custom made plastic trays get closer to the $8.000s.
But why do we consider Invisalign to have the best cost vs. benefit relationship? Here we provide insight into its orthodontic benefits and advantages:
Technology
Advancements in technology cross all of the Invisalign components transversely. Specifically, Invisalign was the first orthodontic system that brought clear alignment trays to the dental industry market.
After several tests, Align Technology, Inc. got this revolutionary orthodontic system certified by the Food and Drug Administration FDA and also has dozens of approved patents in materials development and intraoral scanning. They continue to add improvements to their offer.
Discreteness
Invisalign is almost invisible. Clear aligner trays made of medical grade biocompatible materials are transparent, which means they let pass the light and see teeth through them.
Hygiene
Invisalign is detachable, so patients can remove the aligners before eating and drinking and then practice their routine oral hygiene habits. Invisalign also markets cleaning crystals that help patients sanitize the trays.
Comfort
Invisalign snuggly adapts to the mouth arches. The treatment includes several sets of trays that exert controlled and gentle strain on teeth.
Efficiency
Orthodontists evaluate each malocclusion and design a plan that determines recommendations about the type of appliance a patient can use according to the severity of the malocclusion.
For cases treatable with Invisalign, mild cases might have a duration that could be as fast as six months and a year to a year and a half for moderate to more severe cases.
Guarantee
Invisalign treatment offers the most extensive guarantees of all clear alignment treatments with professional supervision along the extent of the entire treatment.
Also, before entering treatment, the orthodontist recreates the final results of treatment with the Clincheck technology resembling your smile at the end of the journey.
If, after finishing treatment, the patient is not happy with the results, Dr. Ann Reopelle would work out a solution that might include additional trays. But why is this information important?
Today, there are numerous clear alignment systems in the market. On some of them, the patient gets their own impressions and receives the trays via mail. Moreover, mail-sent clear aligners lack professional supervision, and they offer no guarantee of their results.
Does Insurance Cover Invisalign?
Yes, but with certain restrictions in some cases. A Flexible Savings Account FSA, and Health Savings Account HSA, might cover Invisalign treatment. We recommend you get in contact with the benefits manager at your company.
Please note insurance coverage for orthodontic treatments sometimes falls into the medical category instead of a dental plan, and also, sometimes, patients might need to acquire it separately.
Unfortunately, it is improbable for dental insurance plans to cover orthodontic treatment with Invisalign for adults unless deemed necessary for medical reasons.
According to Investopedia, the best insurance providers for 2023 are:
- Delta Dental – Best for Orthodontic Coverage
- Cigna
- Renaissance Dental
- Spirit Dental
- Humana Dental Insurance
- UnitedHealthOne Dental Insurance
How Much is Invisalign Without Insurance
The average cost of invisalign Treatment is $5650. The least expensive of cases might fall at roughly $1.800, while the most severe and complex cases reach up to $9.500.
How Much Is Invisalign Treatment Cost With Insurance?
According to the Invisalign website, patients with dental coverage might qualify for up to $3,000. This would help you determine the treatment cost after insurance kicks in.
Invisalign Financing
At your consultation, our team at Reopelle Orthodontics will discuss with you the extent of your insurance coverage and work out a payment plan that suits your budget. Dr. Ann Reopelle strongly believes no patient might leave Reopelle Orthodontics without a solution to their case.
Schedule an appointment for you and your family, so you can start enjoying the benefits of preventive orthodontic care treatment options and also have a beautiful smile you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
