Costs

The cost of braces can vary depending on several factors. Some of them are:

• How crooked your child's teeth are (crowding)
• How bad your child's bite is (malocclusion)
• If your child is missing any teeth
• If your child has any impacted teeth
• The length of your child's treatment

At your child's first appointment, Dr. Mazzocco will examine you child's teeth and give you an estimate of the time and cost of the required orthodontic treatment. There is no charge for this initial appointment. When you child is ready for braces, they will come in for a records appointment (where x-rays, photos, and molds of their teeth are obtained). There will be a fee for this records appointment, which will be applied to the total cost of the subsequent treatment. After your childs' records appointment Dr. Mazzocco will be able to make a complete diagnosis and present the actual cost of the treatment to you.

Payment Plans

Typically, the total fee is broken down into a downpayment and monthly payment which are extended into the future. Our financial coordinator will work out the terms of payment with you-we try to be very flexible and accommodating. We will provide you with a coupon book for your monthly payments.

Insurance

If you have any insurance coverage for orthodontics, the front desk will already have taken your information and checked on the exact amount of your coverage over the phone. We will let you know the amount of this coverage at this time, before any treatment is started. Our office will gladly fill out any necessary paperwork to insure you receive the appropriate benefits. Essentially, the total amount of your orthodontic insurance coverage will be subtracted from the total cost of the orthodontic treatment. The remaining balance will usually be divided into a downpayment and monthly payments, extended into the future. These figures will all be worked out with you by our financial coordinator before the treatment begins.

Payment in Full

If you decide to pay the total fee at once, we will reduce the fee by a certain percentage. Please ask our financial coordinator for more details on this option.

Third Party Financing

Typically payments are not extended beyond the estimated treatment time. However, this can be arranged (allowing for smaller down payments and monthly payments) through a program called Orthodontic Fee Plan (OFP). Please ask our financial coordinator for more details on this option.

Multiple Children Treated in the Office

After your first child has started orthodontic treatment in our office, we will typically offer a special fee for subsequent children who start orthodontic treatment. If you have more than one child in treatment at once, you do not necessarily have to have double ( for 2 children) or triple (for 3 children) payments all at once. We are very flexible and will gladly arrange a special payment plan to suit your needs.

Appointments and School

We understand how important school attendance is for children. Once braces are on the teeth, most of the children's appointments can be after school and are relatively quick. Unfortunately, before the braces go on, there are several appointments that require that the children come into the office during the morning, which usually means they will miss some school. We will do our best to minimize these morning appointments. We also ask the children to do their best and take good care of their braces-if they are careless and break them, we will need to repair them in the morning, when we have more time available, and they will miss more school.

Cancelling and Missing Appointments

Ideally, orthodontic treatment progresses smoothly when all appointments are kept and the children are seen at consistent intervals-monthly, for example. When appointments are missed or cancelled frequently, the length of time of treatment and the results can be affected adversely. We understand that occasionally circumstances arise that require one to change appointments. However, we would appreciate being notified as early as possible. Also please remember that when you make your appointment for next month, you can typically have your choice of day and time. But as that day approaches, if you have to change your appointment, you choices will probably be limited due to the schedule filling up. In that case, to keep your child's overall treatment on time, we may have to schedule you at an inconvenient time. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation regarding these scheduling matters.