Braces vs Clear Aligners in China: Price Differences (2026)

In Beijing and Shanghai public hospitals, orthodontic treatment is billed in two parts: a course fee with a government ceiling, and the appliance itself, which is priced as a product. In Beijing the ceiling for a full course in permanent teeth is ¥19,000–26,000 for a regular case and ¥29,900–39,000 for a complex one, and every patient over 18 counts as complex^[1]. The course fee is the same for braces and clear aligners. What differs is the product: one Beijing public stomatology hospital lists metal bracket sets from ¥493 and clear-aligner sets at ¥10,000–16,200^[2][3]. International departments, VIP clinics and private clinics outside the medical-insurance network set their own prices^[7][23].

This guide explains the price rules and the gaps between appliance types as of October 2026. For how treatment works and who it suits, see orthodontics in China; for dental travel in general, see dental tourism in China.

How an orthodontic bill is built

China's national dental price guideline, issued in February 2025, sorts orthodontic fees by stage: primary teeth (generally ages 2–6), mixed teeth (6–12) and permanent teeth (12 and over). From the mixed stage on, it also sorts them by bite class (Angle Class I, II or III), each with a "regular" and a "complex" price^[4]. Each province or city then sets the amounts. A public-hospital bill usually has four layers:

1. Records and treatment plan. In Beijing this is a ¥1,000 item. It excludes X-rays and is deducted from the course fee if you are treated at the same hospital^[1].
2. The course fee. One price "from the start to the end" of treatment. It covers plan design, fitting, adjustment and activation visits, and removal of the appliance^[1].
3. The appliance. Brackets, wires and aligners are charged as products. For custom-made appliances and retainers, the national guideline replaced step-by-step charges (impressions, design, milling, fitting) with a single product price, a "一口价"^[5]. In Beijing, appliances and retainers that a hospital makes or designs itself are priced by the hospital from material and processing costs^[1]; brackets, wires and factory-made aligners that it buys in are charged as consumables^[2], which Shanghai's list says must be sold at the actual purchase price with no mark-up^[9].
4. Extras. Mini-screws, extractions, retainers and re-treatment are separate items.

Beijing and Shanghai: public-hospital ceilings

Beijing's new dental price list (京医保发〔2025〕23号) took effect on 11 July 2026, after first being announced for 27 June^[6][7]. Its figures are maximum guide prices: hospitals may charge less, never more. They bind the city's public and non-profit institutions and those designated by medical insurance^[7]. Shanghai published its own list on 28 October 2026. Its maximum prices for public institutions apply from 20 November 2026; for orthodontic items they are the same at tier-3, tier-2 and tier-1 hospitals^[8][9].

Item (public hospitals)	Beijing, since 11 July 2026[1]	Shanghai, from 20 November 2026[9]
Permanent teeth, Class I: regular / complex	¥19,000 / ¥29,900	¥18,000 / ¥21,600
Permanent teeth, Class II: regular / complex	¥26,000 / ¥39,000	¥27,000 / ¥32,400
Permanent teeth, Class III: regular / complex	¥26,000 / ¥38,000	¥28,000 / ¥33,600
Mixed teeth (early treatment), by class and complexity	¥9,000–18,000	¥8,000–12,000
Limited treatment, per quadrant	¥8,000	¥7,000
Records and treatment plan	¥1,000, deducted if treated there	¥260, not charged with treatment at the same hospital
Fixed retainer, per arch	¥600 to fit, ¥300 to remove	¥430 to fit
Paid by local basic medical insurance?	No (category C, 丙类)[10]	No[9]

What counts as "complex" is written down. In permanent teeth, any one of these makes a case complex: age over 18, open bite, a grade III deep bite, closing spaces after molar extraction, moving molars or a whole arch backwards, impacted teeth, a craniofacial deformity, a jaw-joint (TMJ) disorder, combined orthodontics and jaw surgery, or lingual (behind-the-teeth) braces. Class II and III cases add extraction treatment of a protruding upper or lower jaw, and Class III a crossbite of three or more back teeth. One condition is enough, and conditions are not charged twice^[1][9]. In practice, every adult pays the complex price. The regulator's own example: a 14-year-old with a Class II bite moves to the complex price if there is also a grade III deep bite, an impacted tooth or a marked upper-jaw protrusion^[4].

Neither city's basic insurance pays for these items: category C items are outside reimbursement in Beijing^[6][10], and Shanghai marks orthodontic items as not paid^[9]. Locals and visitors face the same out-of-pocket prices.

Other cities run their own lists. Guangzhou sets its own maximum prices for public hospitals under Guangdong's provincial rules; its new dental prices have applied since 30 June 2026, but they are published only as spreadsheet attachments, which we have not summarised here^[11]. Changchun's 2026 list marks every orthodontic item as market-regulated (市场调节), so hospitals set the price^[12]. Check your city's current list, or ask the hospital for its price, before you commit.

Braces vs aligners: where the price gap comes from

China's National Healthcare Security Administration says appliance costs generally rank, from highest to lowest: lingual appliances, clear aligners, ceramic brackets, metal brackets. Before the reform it put typical course costs at ¥10,000–30,000 for conventional fixed braces (mostly metal) and mostly above ¥30,000 for "invisible" orthodontics (lingual appliances and clear aligners), reaching ¥40,000–50,000 in some regions^[4]. Under the new lists, neither Beijing nor Shanghai has a separate service item for aligner treatment, so the same course price applies to braces and aligners and the gap sits mainly in the product. Lingual braces are the exception: they put a case in the "complex" band^[1][9].

What the appliance costs: published examples

The first column comes from the online price list of Beijing Stomatological Hospital (Capital Medical University), a city-run public hospital; the second from the 2023 alliance procurement list described below.

Appliance (product only)	Beijing Stomatological Hospital list, October 2026[2][3]	2023 alliance procurement, selected prices[13]
Metal brackets, per set	¥493–2,372	¥28.35–283.50
Self-ligating metal brackets, per set	¥1,150–3,840	¥264–1,951.20; two other products at ¥5,276.37 and ¥8,125.12
Ceramic brackets, per set	¥1,900–4,800	¥126–1,806
Self-ligating ceramic brackets, per set	¥4,640–7,961	¥1,050–3,087.50
Lingual brackets (custom-made), per set	¥17,100–26,600 (four versions); a "lingual orthodontic appliance" is also listed at ¥36,800	Not included
Clear aligners	¥10,000–16,200 per set (six products, four listed as Invisalign at ¥13,500–16,200)	¥3,360–12,600 per product

Hospital-listed sets do not all cover the same teeth (alliance bracket prices are per set of 20 brackets^[13]), and tubes, bands and wires are extra^[23]. The alliance prices come from a procurement run in December 2022 by 16 provinces and regions led by Shaanxi, including Henan, Liaoning, Hainan and Qinghai; Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong were not members^[14]. Qinghai, for example, began applying the selected prices on 1 July 2023^[26]. Selected products were on average 43% cheaper^[4]. Those agreements have ended. A renewed round, which again leaves out retainers and lingual appliances, was under way in autumn 2026^[15][16].

Hospital lists can also name products. Dalian Stomatological Hospital (Liaoning was an alliance member) lists two domestic aligner products at ¥9,200 and ¥9,900 per set, the same as their 2023 alliance prices; a product listed as "Invisalign Aligners" at ¥14,000 per set; and a custom retainer set at ¥3,500^[17][13]. We did not find a published aligner price from a Shanghai public hospital.

Example: the two biggest line items

Example — an adult with a Class I bite at a Beijing public hospital's ordinary clinic. Course-fee ceiling ¥29,900^[1], plus one hospital's listed appliance price^[3]: with a ¥690 metal bracket set, ¥30,590; with a ¥12,000 aligner set, ¥41,900. This is not a total. X-rays, extractions, mini-screws, bands and tubes, retainers and any extra aligners come on top, and a hospital may charge less than the ceiling.

Bracket and aligner types in brief

• Metal braces: stainless-steel brackets on each tooth, connected by a wire; the most common type and typically the more affordable option^[18].
• Ceramic braces: tooth-coloured or clear brackets that work like metal ones; they may need more careful maintenance and may not suit every problem^[18].
• Self-ligating brackets (自锁托槽): a 2020 meta-analysis of randomised and split-mouth trials found wire changes were quicker, but no significant difference from conventional brackets in treatment duration, number of visits or most other outcomes^[19].
• Lingual braces: custom-made and fixed to the inner surfaces of the teeth; harder to clean and usually more expensive^[18].
• Clear aligners: a series of near-invisible plastic trays, designed to be worn at least 22 hours a day^[18].

Which appliance can achieve your planned tooth movements is a clinical decision; make it with your orthodontist after records and an examination.

Retainers and other extras

• Fixed retainers: Beijing ¥600 per arch to fit and ¥300 to remove; Shanghai ¥430 per arch to fit^[1][9].
• Removable retainers are custom products priced by each hospital^[5][1]; Dalian's list shows a set at ¥3,500^[17].
• Mini-screws (TADs): Beijing caps insertion at ¥400 per screw^[1]; the screw itself is extra (¥230, ¥366 or ¥620 per screw in one hospital's list)^[2][3].
• Re-treatment after relapse at the same hospital costs 50% of the course fee in both cities^[1][9]; at another hospital it is a new course.
• X-rays, extractions and retention check-ups are not part of the course price, which ends with removal of the appliance^[1]. Ask how they are charged.

Time and visits: why one trip is not enough

Fixed braces usually stay on for one to two years, with an adjustment every six to eight weeks and retainers afterwards^[20]; aligners must be worn at least 22 hours a day^[18]. One university stomatology hospital in Wenzhou priced its 2023 VIP packages on about 25 follow-up visits over roughly two years for a teenager in fixed braces, about 33 over two and a half years for an adult, and about 23 over roughly three years for a full aligner course^[21]. The British Orthodontic Society notes that switching orthodontists mid-treatment adds about six months on average^[22]. Plan treatment in China only if you live there or can return regularly; orthodontics in China explains the visit schedule and the limits of remote follow-up.

Ordinary clinic, international department or private clinic

The ceilings are set per item and institution, not per patient. Foreign visitors in a public hospital's ordinary clinic pay the same item prices but cannot use mainland medical insurance (see insurance for treatment abroad), which for orthodontics does not pay for residents either^[7][6]. International departments and VIP (特需) clinics set their own prices, as do private clinics outside the medical-insurance network; in Beijing the ceilings also bind non-profit and insurance-designated institutions^[7]. Beijing Stomatological Hospital, for example, lists its international-service (国疗) price for limited orthodontics at ¥30,000 per quadrant, against the city's ¥8,000 ceiling, and ¥1,200 per arch to fit a fixed retainer, against ¥600^[23][1]. You can use the ordinary clinic with a passport: see your first hospital visit without a Chinese ID and international departments explained.

How prices compare abroad

• England: braces are often free on the NHS for under-18s who qualify; adults usually pay privately^[20]. Where an adult does get NHS orthodontic treatment, it is a Band 3 course at £332.10^[24]. The British Orthodontic Society says private fees vary with complexity, location and the clinician, and that aligner systems and lingual braces cost more^[22].
• United States, one published fee list: the University of Iowa College of Dentistry charges $5,000 in its resident clinic and a base fee of $6,500 (adolescents) or $6,700 (adults) with faculty. Branded aligners and ceramic brackets cost extra, and retainers are $200 (clear) or $360 (Hawley) per arch^[25].

Prices stay in their own currencies here. A lower course fee only helps if you can attend every adjustment visit; for a general method, see costs and price comparison.

What a written quote should include

Ask for an itemised quote after the first examination:

• the course item (stage, class, regular or complex) and how its price compares with the city ceiling;
• whether the records-and-plan fee is deducted if you start treatment there;
• the appliance: product name, what one "set" covers and its price; for aligners, how many refinement sets are included and what extra sets cost;
• extras: X-rays, extractions, mini-screws, bands and tubes, repairs of broken brackets;
• retainers: type, price per arch, replacements; the British Orthodontic Society suggests asking whether the total includes breakages and retainers^[22];
• the price tier (ordinary clinic, international department or VIP clinic) and the payment schedule;
• which records you receive, and what happens to the fee if you must stop or move.

Our bilingual inquiry letter helps you ask these questions in Chinese and English.

Next steps

• Read orthodontics in China for the treatment process, and dental tourism in China for the wider picture.
• Choose a provider with finding a dentist in China, or browse hospitals offering orthodontics in Beijing and Shanghai.
• Compare other dental prices: implant brands and crown materials.
• Send your records with the inquiry letter tool, then let the planner map a long stay or repeat trips.