Dental Health

Medicare Teen Dental Plan

The Medicare Teen Dental Plan provides financial assistance to families to help keep their teenagers’ teeth in good health and encourage them to continue to look after their teeth once they become independent. The program commenced on 1 July 2008.

The Government is providing dental benefits of up to $166.15 (indexed on 1 January 2013) per calendar year for each eligible teenager to receive a preventative dental check. Most dentists are registered to provide services and dental therapists, dental hygienists and oral health therapists can also provide services under the supervision or oversight of a dentist.

Around 1.3 million teenagers are eligible for the Medicare Teen Dental Plan each year. To be eligible, a teenager must be aged between 12-17 years and meet a means test (as described in the answers to frequently asked questions for families and teenagers below).

The Medicare Teen Dental Plan is administered by the Department of Human Services. A voucher for a preventative dental check will automatically be sent to the eligible teenagers or their families/carers using customer information provided by Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Most people will receive their voucher from mid to late January.

Eligible teenagers can receive their preventative dental check from a private dentist and claim the benefit from a Medicare Service Centre. Alternatively, the dentist can choose to bulk bill the preventative dental check.

Eligible teenagers may also be able to use the voucher at a public dental clinic (including a school-based clinic). Contact your local public dental clinic or State or Territory health department for further information and to find out when it may be possible to schedule an appointment.

Teenagers will need to present their voucher when they have a preventative check.

From 1 January 2014 the Medicare Teen Dental Plan will be replaced with a new scheme, Grow Up Smiling.

Information for families and teenagers:

Answers to frequently asked questions about the Medicare Teen Dental Plan (PDF 25 KB)

Answers to frequently asked questions about the Medicare Teen Dental Plan (Word 37 KB)

Information for dentists:

Fact sheet for dentists (PDF 61 KB)

Fact sheet for dentists (Word 99 KB)

Further information and link to the Department of Human Services

For further information about the administration of the Medicare Teen Dental Plan, please contact Medicare on 132 011 (patients - call charges apply - calls from mobile phones may be charged at a higher rate) or 132 150 (dentists - call charges apply - calls from mobile phones may be charged at a higher rate). Information can also be found on the Department of Human Services website.

Reviews of the Dental Benefits Act 2008

Legislation requires the Minister to review the Dental Benefits Act 2008 periodically. Two reviews have been undertaken:

• Report on the Review of the Dental Benefits Act 2008
• Report on the Second Review of the Dental Benefits Act 2008

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