Ideally, your child should see the dentist as soon as his or her first teeth emerge. With regular kids dental check-ups, the early signs of decay can be detected and treated. Regular visits to the dentist teach and reinforce good dental hygiene practices, which are essential for your child’s teeth to last a lifetime.
The CDBS provides an allowance of up to $1000 per eligible child to be spent on dental services, over a two-year calendar period. If you do not spend the full amount in the first year it will be carried into the second year. Any funds not used by the end of the second year will be forfeited.
What Kind Of Dental Services Are Covered By The CDBS?
Kids dental benefits under the schedule include routine check-ups and examinations, professional teeth cleaning, fillings and fissure sealing, x rays, tooth extractions, and root canal treatments. These treatments and procedures are available to a maximum amount of $1000 per child.
The CDBS does not cover orthodontic treatment and teeth straightening, cosmetic procedures and procedures that would be performed in a hospital environment. If you are unsure whether the procedures your kids need would be covered, check with your dentist.
Who Is Eligible For Child Dental Benefits?
Medicare will determine whether your child is eligible based on criteria such as:
Their age
Your child should be between the ages of 2 and 17 in the year in question.
Their Medicare status
Your child should qualify for Medicare and funds should be available in your account.
Whether you receive other benefits from the government
Such as Family Tax Benefit Part A, Double Orphan Pension payments, Parenting payments, Carer payments, Youth Allowance, special benefit, disability support pension, assistance under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme or assistance under the Veterans’ Children Education Scheme.
How Does the CDBS Work?
If your child qualifies for kids’ dental benefits, there is generally no waiting period and you can take the next available appointment. Find out whether the provider will accept CDBS when you make your appointment.
If you decide to have the treatment done in a public dental facility, the entire procedure will be covered with no out-of-pocket costs. If you decide to visit a private dentist you may need to cover the costs directly and claim back from the scheme afterwards.
Remember though, that you cannot claim from the CDBS and your private insurance if you have private cover.
Prevention is better than cure and the CDBS empowers parents and children to take a proactive approach to dental care. To find out more about the schedule and its benefits for families, contact us: (02) 8074 3849 .
One of our children needs a lot of dental work and some of this can be claimed through Medicare if we’re eligible. But I was a bit confused about child dental benefits schedule and would like some more info so I thought of doing more homework and was just glad to have found this post. Finally, it all makes sense now. What and how much it will cover is all crystal clear to me. This article is awesome, thank you!
My girls needed some preventative procedures and when I checked on the Medicare site I was surprised to know their coverage was coming to an end. Fortunately I came across this post because initially I find it weird that FTB is all financial year based but the child dental benefit is calendar year based which is confusing for eligibility. But it all makes sense now. Parents are not very cluey and are very old and do not understand the whole dental health process so thank you very much for sharing this.