Accessing super for dental treatment (2025)

Accessing Your Superannuation to Pay for Dental Treatment: What You Need to Know (2025)

Patients can access their superannuation to pay for dental treatment under certain circumstances.

Australians are dipping into their superannuation more than ever to pay for health care. In 2024–25 more than $1.4 billion was released on compassionate grounds.

Here we will discuss how accessing superannuation to pay for dental treatment works in Australia in 2025. Keep in mind that the rules and regulations often change.

What is “compassionate release of super” for dental?

The ATO can approve the early release of funds from your super to pay for certain expenses, including medical or dental treatment  for you or a dependant, when all of these criteria are met:

1. The treatment is medically necessary to:

   • relieve acute or chronic pain, or

   • treat a life-threatening illness or injury, or

   • alleviate acute or chronic mental illness.

2. You can’t pay in any other way (savings, payment plan, credit, private health).

3. You can provide quotes/invoices and medical reports. In most dental cases, two practitioners must certify the need.

If the ATO approves, it sends an approval letter to you and your super fund. Then your fund releases the money to you or straight to the provider, depending on the fund’s rules.

Why is it getting so popular?

Cost-of-living pressure and big dental bills. Complex dental work (implants, grafting, All-On-4 dental implants, extensive dental treatment) can run into the many thousands, and people often don’t have that cash sitting around. Long public waits and limited Medicare coverage. Because dentistry is largely private in Australia, people who can’t wait or who have pain go looking for other funding routes.

The advantages

1. Access to treatment now, not later. If you’re in genuine pain, can’t chew, or have an infection risk, getting treatment done immediately is a real health benefit.

2. Prevents conditions from getting more expensive. Untreated dental issues often snowball, infections, tooth loss, bite collapse.

3. You control where you go. You can choose your dentist/oral surgeon, not just whoever’s cheapest.

4. Clear ATO framework. Unlike “borrowing from super”, this pathway is specifically allowed in the law when the criteria are met.

The controversy and pifalls

1. Super is for retirement. Pulling out $8,000–$20,000 in your 30s or 40s can mean tens of thousands less at 67 because of compound growth. Accessing super to pay for dental treatment should be a last resort. Talk to a financial adviser if you’re pulling out a big amount, as it affects retirement.

2. Over-treatment risk. AHPRA, the Dental Board and the ATO have all said they’re seeing treatment plans written to “fit” the super rules — i.e. to make something sound urgent or medically necessary when it’s really elective or cosmetic. That can land practitioners, and occasionally patients, in trouble.

3. Dodgy intermediaries. Some businesses charge high fees just to “help you access your super” or, worse, submit applications via your myGov without proper consent.

4. More scrutiny in 2025. Because dental applications have roughly doubled, ATO and Ahpra have said they’ll look harder at practitioner reports. Expect more rejections and requests for extra evidence.

What you must have before you apply

1. Treatment plan and quote from us Adelaide Tooth Removals & Dental Implants

2. Two medical/dental reports:

   • one from us (Adelaide Tooth Removals & Dental Implants)

   • one from another registered medical or dental practitioner, often using the ATO’s “Report by registered medical practitioner” form (NAT 74927).

3. Your super fund details (which fund, member number).

4. Your ID and an active myGov linked to the ATO (for online).

How to apply online (myGov → ATO)

This is the quickest and the way the ATO prefers. Steps below reflect the current 2025 ATO flow:

1. Gather your documents

   • Itemised dental quote/invoice from us (Adelaide Tooth Removals & Dental Implants)

   • Practitioner reports (ideally on ATO NAT 74927 or similar).

   • Any supporting scans/photos/letters your dentist gave you.

2. Log in to myGov and make sure the ATO service is linked. If it isn’t, link it first using your TFN and personal details. myGov

3. In myGov, go to “Australian Taxation Office” → “Super” → “Manage” → “Compassionate release”. (If you can’t see it, use the search bar for “compassionate”.)

4. Start a new application. Choose “Medical treatment / Dental treatment / Medical transport” as the reason.

5. Enter the treatment details:

   • what the dental condition is (e.g. “chronic dental infection requiring extraction and implants”),

   • why it causes acute or chronic pain or affects chewing, speech, mental health, or infection risk,

   • when the treatment is planned,

   • who will provide it (practice name, provider number if available).

6. Upload your evidence:

   • dental quote

   • practitioner/dentist report (1)

   • second practitioner report (2)

   • any imaging or supporting letters.The clearer and more clinical this is, the less likely the ATO is to come back with questions. Australian Taxation Office

7. Tell the ATO how much you need. You can only ask for the actual amount on the quote, plus sometimes a small buffer for associated costs if justified.

8. Submit. You’ll get a confirmation in myGov.

9. Wait for the ATO decision. If approved, you receive an approval letter/notice in myGov. This is what you give to your super fund. (The ATO also notifies the fund directly.)

10. Contact your super fund (online portal or phone) to arrange payment/release. Some funds will ask you to upload the ATO letter; some will pay the provider directly. Follow your fund’s extra form if they have one.

How to apply with a paper application

The ATO says to apply online where possible, but you can do paper useful for people who:

• don’t have myGov,

• have trouble uploading large docs,

• are applying for someone else (a child, dependant), or

• are doing it from a clinic that still uses paper packs.

Here’s the usual paper pathway:

1. Call the ATO (13 10 20) and ask for a “compassionate release of super – medical/dental” paper application, or download the latest version from their site (name/number can change, so get the current one).

2. Fill in the applicant details (you, or the person you’re applying for): name, TFN, address, date of birth, super fund, how much you’re asking for.

3. Complete the medical sections:

   • There is a section for you to describe the dental condition and the impact (pain, inability to eat, infection risk, mental health impact).

   • There is usually a separate “Report by registered medical practitioner” section to be completed by a doctor/dentist. Print it and take it to them.

4. Get the second practitioner report. AHPRA/Boards in 2025 are stressing that two independent practitioners must confirm the need. Attach both.

5. Attach quotes/invoices from the dental practice, clearly showing:

   • patient’s name

   • provider name and ABN

   • itemised treatment and cost

   • date the treatment is planned

   • that payment is required before/at the time of treatment.

6. Attach certified ID if the form asks for it (often a certified copy of driver’s licence or passport).

7. Double-check signatures. Incomplete signatures are a common reason for delay.

8. Post to the address on the form (it changes — use the address on your version). Keep a copy.

9. Watch for a letter from the ATO. If approved, take/send that letter to your super fund so they can release the money.

10. Complete any fund-specific form. Many funds (Australian Retirement Trust, Aware, CFS, etc.) require their release form after ATO approval. Some of those forms are also downloadable as PDFs.

Good-practice tips

• Make sure the treatment really fits the ATO criteria — relief of pain, seriously affecting quality of life, or averting bigger health problems.

• Ask your dentist to be clinical, not salesy in their report. Regulators have said they’re watching for upselling.

• Beware paid “super release” agents that promise approval. If they’re telling you they can “guarantee” it, walk away.

• Talk to a financial adviser (one actually licensed to give advice) if you’re pulling out a big amount, as it affects retirement.

• Keep everything — letters, reports, invoices — in case the ATO asks later.

Final word

Early access to super for dental is a lifeline when you’re in real pain and can’t find the money. It’s also a temptation when you just want that big treatment plan done. But beware of dentists 'upselling' or encouraging you to access your super to pay for dental treatment.

The ATO and AHPRA are cracking down on the use of super to pay for dental treatment. They aren’t saying “no” — they’re saying “use it the way it was intended”. If you follow the steps above, have proper clinical evidence, and avoid the shonky intermediaries, you’re much more likely to be approved.

At Adelaide Tooth Removals & Dental Implants, we are experienced in helping our patients access their super to pay for dental treatment when it's appropriate.