Why do I have to pay before my appointment?

Quick answer: Your payment holds your appointment, and it is a big part of how we keep our prices where they are.

Your payment sits in your Dental 99 account as credit against the appointment. It is not spent until your treatment is done. There is nothing extra to pay on the day and no bill arriving afterwards.

If you cancel with more than 24 hours notice, the full amount returns to your account credit.

Why we do it this way

Dental 99 exists to make dentistry accessible for ALL in Australia, and keeping our prices low is how we do that. Paying at the time of booking is one of the things that makes it possible.

When appointments go unused, that cost has to come from somewhere, and most practices cover it by adding a little onto everyone's fees. That means the patients who turn up end up paying for the ones who did not. We would rather not do that, because the people it prices out are exactly the people we built this for.

Booking with payment also means our team spends less time chasing confirmations and filling gaps, and more time looking after patients. All of that goes back into the price.

If money is tight right now

Paying upfront is harder for some people than others, and that is exactly the group we do not want to price out. Afterpay, Zip and payment plans are all available. See our article on options for spreading the cost.