Orthodontic treatment - getting financial help

Hi there,

I need some help. I had started on orthodontic treatment in India and I was at the end of the treatment when I had to come to munich for my PhD.

Now here I see that the treatment is very expensive and is not covered by medical insurance if you are above 18 years old.

now i need some options what to do to meet this expense, as i want to complete the treatment. In India, I could have this treatment at very low costs if i went to a dental hospital where students are specialising in orthodontics. is there something like that possible here?

or is there some kind of financial help i can get from somewhere...

Please help me with your suggestions.

Regards,
Smiley

There is a branch of Orthodontics at the Dental Clinic in the Uni on Goethestr. Its graduate Dental students doing their training. The women how runs the clinic is Fr. Dr. R(something)- Jansen (I know this as I worked for her ex husband). I would suggest calling them and setting up a consultation appointment. The costs are not as high as a regular office. But its still not cheap here in Germany. Or maybe one of the undergrad students can treat you... but you need to be screened by the clinic diagnosis.

I've just moved to Germany and my wife has a similar problem. The only options are: very expensive treatment in Poland or extremely expensive treatment in Germany. Whatever we will choose, I would never advise her to be operated / treated by students. This can be the worst mistake of your life, since you might spend more for "correcting" this at real professionals than the initial savings would be worth.
Of course, it is always you who make a decision.
All the best,
Ivo

oh, -ve karma your way there MR.!

Students always do all their work under the direction of trained professionals. God, you would rather travel to Poland (not a land known for its health care professionals!) than see a Uni student here that are in their 'training' phase. Graduate students are trained dentists that are training to be a Orthodontist, or the Undergrad students are those in their training phase to be a dentists- Neither actually make the decides the treatement, all the treatment is always under the supervision of the supervising dentist!

I work in a large dental clinic here, where in my opinion, the Docs are the best in the land! and they all do rotations at different Unis here in Germany- Munich, Freiberg, Berlin and Münster.

You can get private insurance to cover part of the costs, but presumably not for an existing condition. Your teeth will be with you for the rest of your life - hopefully - they also affect other health aspects of your body - like what you chew goes right through you (!) - and are well worth investing in.

hey people,

Thanks a lot for all that information. i shall try the option suggested by Carm. Coz I know even in India that works. Students getting trained does not mean they are not skilled... and right now my treatment is almost done... i am at the very last stage... removing the braces... placing some retainers... which are the things that are costing a lot. so i shall give this a try.

thanks to all anyway for your suggestions.

Consider going to another country for private dental treatment. Dentists in the Czech Republic, for example are around the one-third to half the cost for equivalent German treatment, and reputed (by a recent "Stiftung Warentest" - the German consumer magazine) to be equally as good. The border to the Czech Republic is less than 2 hours drive/train from Munich, so easy to hop into... Clearly a recommendation for a dentist there helps...

YL6

I have private health insurance from DBV Winterthur and it covers about 90% of all my orthodontic costs. I got the policy 3.5 years ago so don't know if anything has changed in the last few years...

Dear Hartlepoollad,

But i guess you might have started the treatment after getting this insurance. i cannot go to the DBV Winterthur and say, hey I would like to take the insurance, as you might pay my orthodontic bills. They may not pay for a condition that was already there, before signing for this insurance... atleast thats what i have heard.

or is it possible? I might by seriously uninformed in this aspect... Please let me know about this. I am not sure if i could call DBV Winterthur and ask them if they would pay my orthodontic bills if i took their health insurance... sounds stupid thing to do for me... Aaaaahhhh I dont know if i am thinking too much all the time...

Thank you for all these suggestions. I had almost thought that there can be no options for me... and here i get so many possibilities...

Regards
Smiley