Orthodontist fees in French private practice
Assurance Maladie 2025 figures for dentofacial orthopaedics (ODF), with what they leave out.
Orthodontists in private practice in France billed €742,190 in fees on average in 2025, about 2.5 times what a general dentist bills. In France orthodontics is a dental specialty, ODF (orthopédie dento-faciale), held by dental surgeons who completed a qualifying residency. Extra-billing above the social security rate makes up 66.9 % of the total, €496,218 against €245,972 at the regulated rate. There are 2,084 private orthodontists, 3 per 100,000 residents, and the headcount is down 1.5 % over five years. Average fees rose 38.2 % since 2015. No figure is published for 31 départements with fewer than five orthodontists. Practice accounts are thin: UNASA covers only 37 orthodontic practices for 2024, so treat that benchmark as indicative. Non-reimbursed adult treatment is not in any of these averages.
Your fees against the average · orthodontists in Rhône
−19 %
below the average · €740,000 (comparable fees, excluding non-reimbursable work)
Your figure is above the orthodontists average of 31 départements out of 70.
Profit before income tax (BNC) (estimated)
€262,700
per month €21,892
This profit would sit above the top decile of 2021 dentists’ income (DREES).
| Fees per chair | €185,000 |
| Fees per day worked | €3,654 |
| Fees per staff member (FTE) | €185,000 |
| Cost ratioestimated · reference 64.5 % | 64.5 % |
What sets you apart
- Worth watchingYour comparable fees are 19 % below the average in your département (€908,956). That average covers practitioners active all year: part-time work explains a gap.
How this is calculated
2025 Assurance Maladie averages per full-time active practitioner (data.ameli.fr open data). These are averages, not percentiles: the distribution is not published. Non-reimbursable fees are removed before comparing. Reference cost ratio: UNASA 2024, 37 practices, small sample. Method and sources
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Extra-billing: 67 % of fees
Of €742,190 in average 2025 fees, €245,972 is billed at the regulated rate and €496,218 as extra-billing (dépassements). General dentistry runs the other way round, with extra-billing at only 45.6 % of fees. Whatever is charged above the social security base rate counts as extra-billing, and that is where most of the specialty’s billing lies.
This matters when you compare yourself. A practice treating mostly adults can post high receipts and modest Assurance Maladie fees, since adult orthodontics outside the fee schedule is never recorded and no public per-practitioner figure exists for it (DREES health accounts 2024, sheet 09). Tell the calculator what share of receipts that work represents and it is removed before the comparison.
A specialty that is not growing
France had 2,084 private orthodontists in 2025, against 2,116 five years before, while general practice grew 8.5 %. The specialty is older and more female than dentistry overall:
- women: 59.4 %, against 47.7 % among general dentists;
- under 35: 7.9 %; 60 and over: 24.4 %;
- mixed private and salaried work: 14.2 %, 2.6 times the general dentist rate;
- density: 3.0 private orthodontists per 100,000 people.
The age gap with general practice is stark: 29.6 % of general dentists are under 35, against 7.9 % of orthodontists. Assurance Maladie publishes these shares, not an average age at which orthodontists open their practice.
Steady growth since 2015
The average went from €537,118 in 2015 to €742,190 in 2025, up 38.2 % in current euros. The curve is smoother than for general dentists. It fell once, in 2020 (€604,939), and recovered in 2021 (€655,561) without the sharp jump seen elsewhere. Since 2019 the rise is 18.7 %, and 2.4 % in the latest year. So the average climbs while the private headcount edges down.
Orthodontists and general dentists side by side
| Orthodontists | General dentists | |
|---|---|---|
| Average total fees | €742,190 | €302,480 |
| of which at regulated rate | €245,972 | €164,450 |
| of which extra-billing | €496,218 | €138,030 |
| In private practice | 2,084 | 38,065 |
| Per 100,000 residents | 3.0 | 55.0 |
| Different patients in the year | 1,166 | 837 |
| Fee growth since 2015 | 38.2 % | 25.8 % |
The 2.5 multiple between the two averages is a billing gap, not an earnings gap. Orthodontic practices run larger teams and see more patients, and nothing Assurance Maladie publishes turns fees into profit for a given specialty. Only the UNASA accounts further down give an order of magnitude for that step, with real limits.
Wide gaps between départements
| Département | Orthodontists in private practice | Per 100,000 | Average fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saône-et-Loire | 8 | 1.5 | €1,469,192 |
| Isère | 27 | 2.1 | €1,292,944 |
| Eure-et-Loir | 9 | 2.1 | €1,279,848 |
| Calvados | 18 | 2.5 | €1,197,572 |
| Seine-Maritime | 23 | 1.8 | €1,172,639 |
| Hautes-Alpes | 7 | 4.8 | €489,567 |
| Lot | 6 | 3.4 | €487,514 |
| Finistère | 14 | 1.5 | €482,649 |
| Alpes-Maritimes | 68 | 5.9 | €420,595 |
| Corse-du-Sud | 8 | 4.6 | €322,108 |
Saône-et-Loire leads at €1,469,192 and Corse-du-Sud trails at €322,108. Both rest on a handful of people: 8 orthodontists in the first, 8 in the second. With numbers that small, one retirement or one new practice can swing the figure from one year to the next, which helps explain a 4.6 to 1 spread between the extremes. 31 départements have no published average at all, gaps you can see in the full ranking.
Practice accounts: handle with care
UNASA, the federation of approved management bodies, publishes accounts for member orthodontists under code 851EAB. The 2024 sample is 37 practices, down from 103 the year before. Roughly 9 practices per receipts quarter is no benchmark, so the calculator only uses the overall average and flags it as fragile.
| Orthodontists 2023 | Orthodontists 2024 | Dentists 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practices in sample | 103 | 37 | 1,969 |
| Average net receipts | €536,709 | €564,594 | €309,713 |
| Staff | 15.1 % | 15.9 % | 10.8 % |
| Purchases | 13.0 % | 11.1 % | 18.8 % |
| Rent and service charges | 4.7 % | 5.4 % | 4.6 % |
| Own contributions and CSG | 14.8 % | 16.9 % | 15.6 % |
| Profit as share of receipts | 39.4 % | 35.5 % | 34.7 % |
| Average profit | €211,512 | €200,382 | €107,474 |
Two features hold despite the small sample. Payroll takes 15.9 % of receipts against 10.8 % in general practice, so assistants are a bigger line (see the cost of a dental assistant). Purchases take less, 11.1 % against 18.8 %. These are sole practitioners under BNC (bénéfices non commerciaux); if you practise through a company, the SELARL versus BNC guide covers that case.