Do you know the origin of the quote, “The only guarantees in life are death and taxes”? Ben Franklin popularized it in a letter to a French scientist just a year before his death. He was speaking of the Constitution, which had just been ratified. He wrote that “our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” Even today, his words hit home when you’re sorting out how essential expenses like dental treatment impact your taxes. With tax season eternally looming, a natural question you may wonder is: Are dental expenses tax-deductible?
The short answer is, yes! There are actually ways to save on taxes this year by deducting dental expenses. But there are a lot of moving parts involved. When committing to orthodontic treatment, it’s important to understand how you might write it off.
How Are Dental Expenses Tax Deductible?
It’s true: dental expenses like braces, Invisalign®, and retainers are tax deductible, but that’s only the first part of this conversation. To see tax savings this year, you need to understand how tax deductions for dental expenses work in practice.
The IRS has a long list of medical and dental expenses you may deduct from your taxes. Braces and orthodontic care fall under “dental treatments.”
When you itemize eligible medical expenses, you reduce your taxable income, which means you owe less in taxes. It’s a practical way to keep more of your hard-earned money during tax season!
But whether you can deduct your health expenses from taxes this year depends on a number of other tax rules.
Deducting Dental Expenses From Taxes in the 2025 Tax Year
What does the process look like to deduct your orthodontic care from your taxes this upcoming tax season? According to the IRS, you can deduct dental treatment expenses from your income if you:
- Itemize your deductions: When you file your taxes for 2025, you must itemize your deductions instead of choosing the standard deduction.
- Meet the income threshold: The total of your estimated medical and dental expenses for that year must be greater than 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).
- Paid for the dental care that year: You can only include the care you paid for in 2025.
To put it into practice, suppose your AGI for the year is $50,000. If the total amount of all your medical expenses for the year is more than $3,750—which is 7.5% of your $50,000 income—you can write off your health-related expenses, including orthodontic treatment, for the 2025 tax year.
This is only an overview of what goes into medical tax deductions. With so much at play, your best bet is to speak directly with a tax professional. But you can get an idea of whether your expenses are eligible to be itemized by using the IRS’s online interactive tax assistant.
Indirect Savings With Early Intervention
When you itemize tax deductions, you’ll directly save on taxes, reducing what counts as taxable income. But you can also indirectly save money over time with early orthodontic treatment.
Early intervention for your child can help prevent dental issues (and potentially costly treatments) in the future. By helping your child access early treatment, you’ll make it easier for them to keep their teeth clean. They’ll have an easier time preventing cavities and gum disease. In turn, they’ll be less likely to need restorative dentistry, like fillings or root canal therapy, later on.
By acting earlier, you’re also taking advantage of the malleable period in their jaw, making treatment less invasive and more effective in fewer steps. In some cases, early intervention with phase 1 orthodontics may prevent the need for more comprehensive phase 2 orthodontics. So, with early intervention, you could reduce the overall cost of your child’s orthodontic treatment.
Intervention tends to become more invasive as the jaw becomes less malleable with age. Adults might need oral surgery to correct something that early treatment could have solved. In the long run, you could prevent more expensive and uncomfortable treatments down the line.
Schedule a Free Consultation Today
Taxes are still a guarantee in life, but you might not have to pay as much as you think. With enough planning, you can soften the financial investment of orthodontics by leveraging tax deductions. And with early intervention for your child, you might reduce or avoid future orthodontic treatments and expenses altogether. At the Orthodontists Associates of WNY, we are passionate about the benefits of early intervention, and indirect cost savings are just one of them.
We don’t charge patients until treatment begins, so schedule a free consultation at any of our many offices across the region. With locations in Buffalo, Hamburg, Olean, Orchard Park, Dunkirk, Lancaster, Niagara Falls, and East Aurora, we’re happy to serve you.
