Dental treatment
If you're on a low income we may be able to help pay towards the cost of dental treatment, especially if it’s urgent.
Important information
- We may not be able to cover the full cost of treatment.
- You may have to pay the money back depending on your situation.
You may be able to get help if you're in serious pain and your dentist has told you that you need to get urgent work done.
We may also be able to help you pay for other essential dental work that needs to be done.
If you need dental treatment because of an injury, you may able to get help through ACC.
We may be able to help if you:
- are 16 or over (if you're 16-18 and have a Youth Service provider, contact Youth Services)
- are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
- normally live in New Zealand and intend to stay here
- have an immediate and essential need.
If you're under 18 you may be able to get free dental treatment
It also depends on:
- how much you and your partner earn
- any money or assets you and your partner have.
Your income will be assessed either weekly or yearly, depending on the kind of help you qualify for. These income and asset limits usually apply:
Income limits
| If you are: | Weekly income before tax is less than | Annual income before tax is less than | Weekly income limit (before tax) from 1 November 2021 until 30 June 2022 | Annual income limit (before tax) from 1 November 2021 until 30 June 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| single, 16-17 years | $514.41 | $26,749.32 | $678.07 | $35,259.64 |
| single, 18+ years | $591.20 | $30,742.40 | $847.59 | $44,074.68 |
| married, civil union or de facto couple (with or without children) | $858.72 | $44,653.44 | $1695.18 | $88,149.36 |
| sole parent (1 child) | $717.40 | $37,304.80 | $1165.44 | $60,602.88 |
| sole parent (2+ children) | $755.82 | $39,302.64 | $1483.29 | $77,131.08 |
Asset limits
These don't include what you need for day-to-day living, eg your home or your car. They do include money in the bank, or things like a caravan or a second property.
| If you are: | Your assets are worth less than |
|---|---|
| single | $1,193.21 |
| married, civil union or de facto couple (with or without children) or sole parent | $1,988.20 |
Urgent dental treatment
If you need help with urgent dental treatment, we generally pay up to $300.
We usually only make payments for urgent dental treatment once a year. You may be able to get help for more than one treatment in a year, or help with treatment over $300, but you may have to pay some of this back.
Essential dental treatment
How much you get depends on your situation.
Community Services Card
If you have a Community Services Card, you may be able to get dental treatment through your local hospital.
Talk to your health practitioner or dentist about this.
You need to contact your dentist to get costs for the treatment you need.
If the cost is under $300 and you haven’t had help from us within the last 12 months, you won’t need to show us evidence of your dental costs. If you’ve had help for other one-off costs in the past 12 months, or the costs are more than $300, you may need to show us evidence of your dental costs. We'll let you know if this is needed.
Call us to book an appointment to come in and see us. We'll tell you what else you need to bring.
If it's approved, we’ll give you a payment card (if you don’t already have one) and load the money onto it.
You have 3 working days to pay the dentist before it expires.
You'll pay the dentist with your payment card (much like an Eftpos card). Check with your dentist to see if they accept them. If they don't, they can register online as a supplier.
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