citybanklondon

Could someone comment if braces for a 10 yr old child in NZ are provided free of cost or if permanent residency holders are required to pay a fee? what is the key to acquiring free/ subsidized dental care?

Tango1

No free dental here unless you get emergency dental care at A&E. If you have no insurance you pay, it cost me about $4500 per child but that's it any future work like repairs, taking out, putting back in is all covered in that payment.

MrsFychan

not even people born here get free dental/medical care.
kiwi friend of ours just got her daughter braces and its a couple of thousand from my understanding and she managed to get a good discount

paddy234

How can dental work be so expensive in New Zealand?? I'm getting a root canal done here in a couple of week's and it will be £120. I checked online how much on average would it cost in New Zealand and apparently it's about $1000 They'd better be some good brace's at that price

jmh

There is free dental care for children up to age of 18. This does not include orthodontics. Details here: http://www.health.govt.nz/your-healt...e/your-service

Woodlea

I agree with this figure rather than the others - at least this is what is cost for my daughter.

MrsFychan

kids do get a dental check up at school by dental nurse. Unfortunately not sure how good they are as one parent got told her daughter would need work doing so she booked an appointment with her own dentist who said that her teeth were fine - go figure

jmh

Most NZ schools don't have dental nurses these days - it is free to see a dentist for children under 18. There is a contact number in the link you can contact to find one near you.

MrsFychan

ah ok as they do at kids school sorry assumed most schools had them. shall look on the link.
shame its not the kids that need dentist but MrF and it cost lots in the UK so can imagine how expensive it will be over here.

BEVS

There is a roving dental bus that does the rounds of assorted schools around here.

Moomoo

Braces can cost up to around $7500. One of our kids had braces when we came out and to finish the treatment was around $3500. Luckily, oldest one had braces taken out before we arrived. It is quite expensive.

Bo-Jangles

Just the same here in Aucks Bevs, all primary kids have access to a school dentist albeit that depending on which school it is, it would be at either at permanent / purpose built place on site or a visiting mobile unit.

It's bit different for older kids - they can choose to go to one of the many private dental clinics that participate in the 'free' adolescent program - although as mentioned above the public purse does not extend to funding of orthodontic work.

MrsFychan, it does seem that a lot of school dentists have a bit of a reputation for unnecessary 'drilling and filling'.

citybanklondon

Amazing, it seems people need to take bank loans to get dental treatment! where are the taxes going if people have to fork out thousands for dental/orthodontic work??

BEVS

Yes. It is expensive. There is no subsidy. Most folk have to balance dental care against cost because of income.



Govt Budget

Bo-Jangles

Not just dental work either, there are likely to be costs involved for any non-life threatening medical attention and minor surgeries.

You'll find there are lots more things you have to pay for, especially general wear and tear stuff; unless you can prove that it was caused by a fairly recent accident or incident. In this instance GPs are however apt to encouraging a certain amount of economy with the truth.

If you want general maintenance and checks on problems that require therapies like dermatologists, lumps, bumps, moles and warts removed, chiropody, in-grown toenails and other such concerns that would not be dealt with in an accident or emergency situation, then you probably will have to pay someone a few hundred bucks to deal with them.

In the case of accidents or sports injuries ACC will only partially fund courses of aftercare or therapy treatments and you will be expected to top up with 'co-payments' which can be anywhere between $20 to $40 per session for rehab, such as with physiotherapists.