If you have been putting off braces or clear aligners because you are not sure what they cost, you are in good company. Cost is the single most common question families ask when they call our Highland office, and it is usually the thing that keeps people sitting on the fence for months or even years.
Here is the honest answer: there is no single price for orthodontic treatment, and any practice that quotes you a flat number before looking at your teeth is guessing. What we can do is explain exactly what goes into the number, what your fee actually covers at Van Vliet & Ganz Orthodontics, and how families in Highland and across the Hudson Valley make treatment fit a real household budget.
Why Orthodontic Costs Vary From Patient to Patient
Two people can walk into the same office, both wanting straighter teeth, and leave with very different treatment plans and very different fees. That is not arbitrary. Cost tracks the amount of work your case requires.
- How complex your case is. Mild crowding that needs a little alignment is a smaller job than a significant bite problem, an impacted tooth, or a jaw discrepancy that has to be corrected in stages.
- How long treatment takes. A case that finishes in under a year involves fewer appointments, fewer appliances and less chair time than one that runs well past two years.
- Which appliance you choose. Metal braces, ceramic brackets, lingual braces placed behind the teeth and Invisalign clear aligners all carry different material and lab costs.
- Whether you are treating a child or an adult. Growing patients can sometimes be guided with shorter, simpler early treatment. Adult bone has stopped growing, so some adult corrections take more time or more appliances.
- What your insurance covers. Two patients with identical treatment plans can pay very different out-of-pocket amounts depending on their orthodontic benefit.
This is also why a consultation matters more than a phone quote. Until we have looked at your teeth, your bite and your X-rays, any number is a guess — and guesses are usually either discouragingly high or unrealistically low.
What Is Actually Included in Your Treatment Fee
When families compare prices between offices, they often compare two very different things. Some practices quote a low starting fee and then bill separately for records, retainers, broken brackets or follow-up visits. Those add-ons are where a “cheaper” quote quietly becomes the more expensive one.
At our practice, your investment covers the full arc of treatment:
| All of your appointments | Every scheduled adjustment visit through the end of treatment, including emergency visits if a bracket or wire needs attention |
| Your appliance | Your braces or clear aligners, including the appliances used along the way |
| Retainers | Post-treatment retainers to hold your new smile in place |
| Follow-up care | Post-treatment follow-up visits after your braces or aligners come off |
| An oral hygiene starter pack | The tools you need to keep teeth and gums healthy while you are in treatment |
When you are weighing two quotes, ask each office what happens if a bracket breaks, what retainers cost, and whether the initial records and imaging are included. The answers usually explain the gap.
Does Dental Insurance Cover Braces?
Often, yes — at least in part. Many dental plans now include an orthodontic benefit, and plans for children are more likely to include one than plans for adults. The details vary widely: some plans cover a percentage of treatment, some have a lifetime maximum for orthodontics, and some only apply to patients under a certain age.
Insurance language is genuinely confusing, and most people have no idea what their orthodontic benefit looks like until someone reads the plan for them. That is a normal place to be, and it is not something you have to figure out alone.
We work with all insurance plans. Our team contacts your provider directly, confirms what your benefit covers, files the paperwork on your behalf and applies the benefit to your treatment so you are not fronting money and waiting on a reimbursement check. If you are not sure whether you even have orthodontic coverage, bring your insurance card to your consultation and we will find out for you.
Payment Options for Hudson Valley Families
Very few families pay for orthodontic treatment in one lump sum, and no one should assume that is the only option. Treatment runs over many months, and the way you pay for it can run over many months too.
- Interest-free in-office payment plans. We offer financing arranged directly through our office, spread across your treatment, with no interest charges added on top.
- Insurance benefits applied for you. Whatever your plan covers comes off the total, and we handle the filing.
- HSA and FSA dollars. If you have a health savings account or a flexible spending account, orthodontic treatment is typically an eligible expense — which means you are paying with pre-tax dollars.
- Multiple payment methods. Credit and debit cards, personal checks, Apple Pay, and online payments through our secure patient portal.
If a monthly number is what determines whether treatment happens this year, say so at the consultation. It is a completely reasonable thing to lead with, and it is far easier for us to build a plan around a budget than to hand you a plan you have to walk away from.
Is Orthodontic Treatment Worth the Investment?
It is fair to ask. Straight teeth photograph well, but the case for treatment is not mainly cosmetic.
Teeth that do not line up wear unevenly, and that wear does not reverse. Crowded teeth are harder to clean, which raises the long-term risk of decay and gum problems. A bite that does not fit together properly can make chewing uncomfortable and strain the jaw joint. In children, the way the jaws develop is tied to how well they breathe and sleep, which is why we look at airway orthodontics as part of the whole picture rather than as a separate specialty.
Orthodontic treatment is a one-time investment in a problem that otherwise tends to get more expensive to manage over decades. Restorative dentistry to repair years of uneven wear generally costs more than aligning the bite did.
How to Get a Real Number for Your Case
The only way to know what your treatment costs is to have it examined. Your consultation at our Highland office is free, and it is not a sales appointment — it is a diagnostic one.
Here is what happens:
- We examine your teeth and bite and take the digital records we need, using our iTero scanner instead of the old goopy impression trays.
- Our board-certified orthodontists, Dr. Martin F. Van Vliet and Dr. Bradford W. Ganz, review what they see and explain it to you in plain language.
- You get your treatment options, including whether a faster path such as accelerated treatment is realistic for your case.
- You get your exact fee, what insurance is expected to cover, and what a monthly payment would look like — in writing, before you commit to anything.
You are allowed to take that home and think about it. Most people do.
Frequently Asked Questions About Orthodontic Costs
Can you tell me what braces cost over the phone?
Not accurately, and we would rather not guess. What we can do is book you a free consultation, look at the actual case, and give you a real fee with a real payment plan attached to it.
Do clear aligners cost more than braces?
Not automatically. Fees depend more on how much correction your case needs than on which appliance you choose. For some patients the two options come in close to each other; for others there is a meaningful difference. Your consultation is where that gets sorted out.
What if my insurance does not cover orthodontics at all?
Plenty of our patients are in exactly that position. That is what our interest-free in-office payment plans are for — treatment is spread across monthly payments rather than due upfront.
Is early treatment for my child cheaper than waiting?
Sometimes. Early evaluation does not mean early braces, but guiding jaw development while a child is still growing can occasionally prevent a more involved correction later. The American Association of Orthodontists recommends a first orthodontic evaluation by age seven, and that visit costs you nothing here.
Do you charge for consultations or records?
Consultations are free. Diagnostic records taken as part of starting treatment are part of your treatment fee, not a separate bill.
Talk to Us About Your Budget, Not Just Your Teeth
Van Vliet & Ganz Orthodontics has been caring for Hudson Valley families since 1978, and more than 10,000 patients have finished treatment with us. A good portion of those families started exactly where you are: interested, but unsure what it would cost.
Our office is at 19 Woodside Place in Highland, NY. New patients can call (845) 834-9580, and current patients can call or text (845) 691-8330. We are open Monday through Thursday from 8:00am to 5:00pm and Friday from 9:00am to 2:00pm.
Schedule your free consultation and get a number you can actually plan around.
