Health and medical / deduction

Dental and optical expenses: what qualifies

Non-routine dental treatment such as crowns, root canal, orthodontics, veneers and surgical extractions qualifies for 20% relief, supported by a Med 2 form from your dentist. Routine dental care and ordinary glasses or contact lenses do not qualify; surgery to correct eyesight may.

Written by PAYEWise editorial team, plain-English tax writers working from Revenue sources. Tax review: pending appointment of a named tax-qualified reviewer. Reviewed 28 October 2026.

Who qualifies

Treatment is on Revenue's list of non-routine dental treatments.
Your dentist completes Form Med 2.

Exclusions and pitfalls

Check-ups, scaling, fillings and extractions (non-surgical) are routine.
Glasses, contact lenses and eye tests are excluded.

How to claim, step by step

Enter under Health expenses in your Income Tax Return and keep the Med 2.

This checker provides guidance from your answers. Revenue decides whether a claim is accepted. You can claim directly for free using myAccount.

Documents to keep

Form Med 2 from the dentist

Worked examples

Orthodontic treatment qualifies

Braces costing 3,500 euro; relief 700 euro.

Crown qualifies

Crown 900 euro; relief 180 euro.

Routine filling does not qualify

Fillings are routine and excluded.

All examples use hypothetical people and figures.

Terms used here

Tax relief

Next steps

This guide is part of a later content wave and will be expanded with more detail after reviewer sign-off.

Sources and review

R11Health expensesofficialchecked 2026-10-28

Last reviewed 2026-10-28 (awaiting sign-off by a named tax-qualified reviewer). Every factual tax rule on this page is backed by a dated Revenue source. Spotted an error? Use the contact page.

Do it

Claim through Revenue (free)

Priority P1. Reviewed 2026-10-28.