What Braces and Invisalign Cost in Antioch and Brentwood
Reviewed by Dr. Brent E. Sexton
Orthodontic treatment is priced per case, not per patient type, so a single posted number can’t reflect your case. What we can do is explain exactly what moves the price, what a fair quote contains, and how much of it insurance and payment plans usually absorb. You’ll leave your free exam at Delta Smiles knowing the figure for your own case.
What Moves the Price
Four things account for nearly all the variation between one patient’s fee and another’s.
How far the teeth have to move. Mild crowding on an adult who wants a front-tooth rotation corrected is a different job from a child with a crossbite and an impacted canine. More movement means more appointments, more chair time and more materials.
How long treatment runs. A case measured in months costs less than one measured in years, for the same reason. Timeline and price track each other closely, which is why we give you a fee after we’ve examined you.
Which appliance does the work. Metal braces, clear ceramic braces and clear aligners sit at different price points. The gap between metal and clear is usually smaller than patients expect.
Whether anything else is needed first. An expander, a space maintainer, or coordination with an oral surgeon adds to the total. So does a second phase of treatment years after the first.
Two things that do not change the price here: which of our offices you visit, and whether you were referred by a dentist.
Which Costs More, Braces or Invisalign?
For most cases, they land close together. The stubborn myth is that aligners carry a large premium, and that used to be truer than it is now. Today the appliance is rarely the deciding factor in the fee. Complexity is. A straightforward aligner case can cost less than a difficult braces case, and the reverse is just as common.
Choose the appliance that suits the case and your life, then let the fee follow. See how the two compare on this page.
How to Read an Orthodontic Quote
A complete quote is one number covering the whole course of treatment, not a menu you get billed from as you go. Ours includes:
- Diagnostic records and imaging
- The treatment plan itself
- Braces, aligners or the prescribed appliance
- Every adjustment visit through the end of treatment
- Emergency visits for a loose bracket or a poking wire
- Your first set of retainers when the braces come off
Replacement retainers after that are billed separately, at a price you’ll know before you ever need one. If a quote you’re comparing doesn’t say what’s included, ask. That is where two apparently similar fees usually diverge, and it is the single most useful question you can put to any practice.
What Insurance Covers
Most dental plans that include orthodontic benefits pay a share of comprehensive treatment, usually up to a lifetime maximum per person instead of an annual one. That distinction surprises many families: the orthodontic allowance does not refill each January the way a cleanings-and-fillings allowance does. Child coverage is more common than adult coverage, though adult orthodontic benefits are no longer rare.
We’re in network with Delta Dental, which means treatment is billed at Delta Dental’s contracted rate, and we accept most other insurance plans, including those with orthodontic benefits that cover Invisalign. Our team will check what your plan covers and explain your estimated out-of-pocket cost at your free exam. The full breakdown lives on our insurance and financing page.
Paying for the Balance
Almost nobody writes a check for the whole fee, so the balance goes onto a no-interest in-house payment plan, with $0 down for many families, flexible monthly payments, CareCredit if you want longer terms, and FSA or HSA funds where your plan allows them. How each option works, and what to bring to a benefits check, is set out on our insurance and financing page.
Get Your Own Number, Free
Call (925) 754-3197 in Antioch or (925) 513-9320 in Brentwood, or request an exam. The visit is free, it takes about an hour, and you’ll leave knowing what treatment your case needs, how long it should take and what it costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding the financial side of orthodontic treatment is an important part of the decision-making process. Below are answers to common questions patients ask about Invisalign® costs, insurance coverage, payment options, and planning for treatment.
Why won't you publish a price on this page?
Because a single published figure would be wrong for most of the people reading it, in one direction or the other. We’d rather show you what drives the number and then give you yours, free, after an actual exam.
How do I know whether a quote I've been given is fair?
Compare like with like. Ask what’s included, how long treatment is projected to run, whether retainers are covered and whether emergency visits are billed separately. Comparing what’s included helps you compare quotes fairly.
Does a longer treatment always cost more?
Usually, though not proportionally. Much of the fee covers diagnosis, planning and appliances, not time in the chair, so a case running six months longer doesn’t cost half again as much.
Is a second opinion worth getting?
Often, especially if treatment plans differ between offices. Our exam is complimentary whether or not you start with us, and when we think another plan is a reasonable one, that is what you’ll hear.
Will my child's second phase of treatment be quoted separately?
Yes. Phase one and phase two are separate courses of treatment with separate fees, and we quote each when it’s needed instead of folding a guess about the future into today’s number. Not every child who has a first phase goes on to need a second. More on two-phase treatment.