The Child Dental Benefits Schedule covers a defined list of general dental services and nothing beyond it — so orthodontics, cosmetic treatment, hospital treatment under general anaesthetic, and anything after the two-year benefit cap is used are all outside it. For eligible children, the services that are covered are bulk-billed at Berala Dental, meaning no out-of-pocket cost for those items. This article sets out what is not included and what those items cost instead.
If you are not sure whether your child is eligible this year, it takes one check to find out.
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What does the CDBS actually cover?
The schedule covers routine general dentistry for eligible children: examinations, X-rays, cleans, fluoride, fissure sealants and fillings.
Benefits are capped per child over a two-year period, and eligibility is reassessed each calendar year based on the family's payments from Services Australia. You can check your child's status through our CDBS eligibility checker, or read our plain-English explanation of how the CDBS works.
One point of language worth being precise about: CDBS treatment is bulk-billed, not free. Medicare pays the practice directly for the covered items. That is why the list of covered items matters — anything off it is not paid.
What is not covered?
Orthodontic treatment
Braces, plates, aligners and orthodontic assessment are excluded from the schedule entirely. This is the most common surprise for parents, because orthodontic need is often first raised at a routine dental check-up that was itself bulk-billed.
Berala Dental does not provide orthodontic treatment and has no orthodontist on site; where treatment is indicated, the practice refers to an orthodontist.
Cosmetic treatment
Whitening, veneers and purely appearance-driven work are outside the schedule. They are also not something offered to patients under 18 at all, which is both a professional advertising requirement and a sensible clinical position while teeth are still developing.
Treatment in hospital, and general anaesthetic
The CDBS applies to services provided outside a hospital setting. Where a young child needs extensive treatment completed under general anaesthetic in hospital, that pathway sits outside the schedule and involves hospital, anaesthetist and dentist costs separately.
For many children this can be avoided. Happy gas is available at Berala Dental at $120 and lets a good deal of children's treatment be completed comfortably in the chair. It is not suitable for every child or every case.
Anything after the cap is used
Once the two-year benefit amount has been used, further treatment in that period is charged privately. This tends to happen where decay is extensive at the first visit rather than gradually.
Children who are not eligible
Eligibility depends on the family receiving a qualifying payment. Plenty of children are simply not eligible in a given year, and their care is charged privately.
Happy to explain what your child's remaining balance covers before anything is booked — just ask.
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What do those items cost at Berala Dental?
These are the private fees for children's treatment where the CDBS does not apply — because the child is not eligible, the cap is used, or the item is not on the schedule.
- Check-up, clean and X-rays, under 10: $150
- Check-up, clean and X-rays, 10 and over: $250
- Filling on a baby tooth: from $250
- Filling on an adult tooth in a child: from $350
- Stainless steel crown (silver cap): $250
- Pulpotomy with a crown: $550 in total
- Fissure sealant: $80 per tooth
- Happy gas: $120
Every figure above assumes your private health fund contributes nothing. In practice a fund with children's general dental cover may pay part or, on some policies, all of an item. A written quote is provided before treatment begins, and a quote can be run against your specific policy first.
For context on the check-up fee: Medicare pays around $204.90 for a child's examination and clean without X-rays, and up to roughly $310.80 where three X-rays are taken. The $250 private fee for a child aged 10 or over sits at or below what Medicare itself pays for the same work.
How can parents keep costs down?
The honest answer is that the schedule is generous for prevention and thin for repair, so the value sits in using it early.
- Use the check-up entitlement every year it exists. Decay found at the white-spot stage may need nothing but fluoride and a change of habit.
- Ask about fissure sealants. They are covered under the schedule and they seal the deep grooves in back molars where a large share of children's decay begins. There is more on how sealants work on our site.
- Do not save the balance. The two-year cap does not roll over indefinitely, and an unused entitlement helps nobody.
- Raise concerns early. A baby molar treated with a filling from $250 becomes a pulpotomy and crown at $550 if the decay reaches the nerve first.
Quick answers
Does the CDBS cover braces?
No. Orthodontic treatment of any kind is excluded from the schedule. So is orthodontic assessment.
Is CDBS treatment free?
It is bulk-billed, which is not quite the same thing. Medicare pays the practice directly for covered items, so there is no out-of-pocket cost to you for those items. Anything outside the covered list, or beyond the cap, is charged normally.
What happens if my child uses the whole benefit?
Further treatment within that two-year period is charged privately at the fees above. You will be told before that point is reached, not after.
Does the CDBS cover treatment under general anaesthetic?
Not where it is provided in a hospital setting. Hospital, anaesthetist and treatment costs apply separately, and health-fund hospital cover becomes relevant. Happy gas in the chair is a lower-cost alternative for many, though not all, children.
Checking where your child stands
Eligibility and the remaining balance can be checked before any appointment, and it is a reasonable thing to ask about first. Official information on the schedule is published by the Department of Health and Aged Care.
Berala Dental sees children every day, and money is never the first conversation.
Call (02) 9649 6468 · Book online · WhatsApp
You can also use the CDBS checker, read about children's dental services, or see how our fees work.
Written and reviewed by Humzah Aly, Oral Health Therapist. This article is general information only and is not a substitute for personalised dental advice. Please see a dental practitioner to discuss what is right for you.
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