What Braces Actually Cost in the Bay Area, and Why the Number Moves

Medically reviewed by Dr. Shen, DMD | Updated October 5, 2026

By the time most families call us, they have already searched this. They have found a national average somewhere between four and seven thousand dollars, which is true in roughly the same way that saying a car costs money is true. It does not help anyone plan.

So here is ours. Orthodontic treatment at OrthoWorks runs from $3,295 to $8,700. That is published on our own site, not quoted to you over the phone after a pitch. The spread is wide on purpose, because what is being priced is not a product sitting on a shelf. It is a plan built around one particular mouth.

Where you land inside that range has almost nothing to do with which of our eight offices you walk into. It comes down to four things.

How far the teeth have to travel. Mild crowding on an otherwise healthy bite is a shorter case. An open bite, a crossbite, or a jaw that grew unevenly is a longer one, and length is the single biggest cost driver in orthodontics. More months means more appointments, more materials, and more chair time with a specialist.

Whether we are also correcting the bite. Straight teeth and a working bite are not the same job. Teeth can photograph beautifully and still wear unevenly, chip, or ache at the joint. Changing how the upper and lower teeth meet takes more planning than lining up the front six.

Whether you take it all at once. This is the one nobody expects, and for a lot of families it turns out to be the answer. Aligner treatment can often be taken in stages. Many patients can start with a shorter first course that takes care of what bothers them most. The final aligner can then temporarily maintain the result, under your orthodontist’s supervision, until you are ready for the next stage. When you are ready to finish, you come back and add the next course, quoted on its own at that point. Nobody is asked to buy the whole result on day one.

Your age and stage. A child with baby teeth and adult teeth both present may be a candidate for a short early phase that prevents a much longer and costlier problem later. An adult whose growth is finished has different mechanics, different timing, and a different number.

Worth knowing before you compare that range to anything else: our fee covers the course of treatment. Your visits, your adjustments, your progress scans, and your retainers at the end. If a bracket comes loose on a Tuesday, you come in, and we fix it. That is not a separate invoice.

The consultation is free, and free here means a full examination by an orthodontic specialist plus a digital iTero scan, the one with no impression material and no gagging. You see your own teeth modeled in three dimensions before you have spent a dollar. That is also where you find out whether your bite suits a staged approach, because not every case does.

Which brings up the question people actually mean when they ask what it costs. They mean: What does it cost this month?

That is a much easier conversation. Your orthodontic insurance benefit, your FSA or HSA dollars, and Sunbit financing all apply to the same fee and stack on top of each other. The Sunbit application takes about 30 seconds, uses no hard credit check, and starts as low as $30 down. Sunbit reports approving about 90 percent of applicants. Approval is subject to creditworthiness, so it is never guaranteed, but finding out where you stand costs nothing. CareCredit is there as a second option if it suits you better.

Most families who came in assuming they were a year away from starting learn they can start today. Every one of our eight Bay Area locations can begin treatment the same day as the consultation.

One last thing about who is quoting you. OrthoWorks is the Bay Area’s longest-running privately owned orthodontic practice. Founded in 1920 by William Sylvester Smith, the practice has served generations of Bay Area families for more than a century. Today, OrthoWorks is led by Dr. David Shen, continuing its long tradition of personalized, high-quality orthodontic care while embracing the latest advances in modern orthodontics. We publish our prices because after 100 years, we do not need to get anyone through the door by being vague about them.

So come get your number. Not a range, not a national average. Your number, for your bite, from a specialist who has looked in your mouth. Book a free consultation at any OrthoWorks office, and you will leave knowing the fee, the timeline, and the monthly payment, without having agreed to a thing.

About OrthoWorks

OrthoWorks was founded in 1920 by William Sylvester Smith and has operated continuously in the San Francisco Bay Area ever since. Separately, the orthodontists practicing at OrthoWorks today carry more than 100 years of combined clinical experience between them. The practice is led by Dr. David Shen, who has spent over 30 years in the exclusive practice of orthodontics. He earned his degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, served on the faculty at UCSF, lectures internationally, and chairs the advisory board at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. The practice has grown from its original three locations to eight and has served over 60,000 orthodontic patients. Every doctor at OrthoWorks is an orthodontic specialist. There is no general dentist here doing orthodontics on the side.