MED 2 tax relief and dental implants
This page summarises published Revenue rules. It is not tax advice, and it is not a promise that your implant will qualify. Revenue, and the dentist who signs Form MED 2, decide that. Pages checked 3 November 2026.
Relief is not a discount on every implant
Routine dental treatment does not qualify. Revenue's list of routine care includes fillings, scaling or cleaning, tooth extraction, and providing or repairing artificial teeth or dentures. Source: Dental expenses, published 12 June 2026.
Non-routine treatment can qualify. On that same public page, implants are listed under periodontal treatment for gum disease, in the words "implants (including bone grafting and bone augmentation)". The page does not say that every implant qualifies.
The form is more specific than a clinic advert
Form MED 2 is the certificate your dentist completes. Under periodontal treatment, item G, it says implants qualify in this case: "Implants following treatments of periodontal (gum) disease which include bone grafting and bone augmentation." The same sentence is in Revenue's Tax and Duty Manual, Part 15-01-12, Appendix 2.
The form also says the law excludes relief for the extraction, scaling and filling of teeth, and for providing and repairing artificial teeth or dentures. It says those items stay excluded even if there is an underlying medical condition, or even if the treatment in a particular case is considered non-routine.
A clinic page that says "implants are tax deductible at 20%" is the clinic's wording. It is not a Revenue ruling. Several of the price pages checked for this site use that kind of wording. The listing notes point it out. Do not subtract 20% unless the treatment is one your dentist is prepared to certify on Form MED 2.
If it does qualify, the rate is the standard rate
Revenue's health expenses overview says you generally receive tax relief for health expenses at the standard rate of tax, 20%. Nursing home fees are treated differently and can be at your highest rate. Source: Health expenses.
You cannot claim amounts you have already received, or will receive, from an insurer, from the HSE, or from another source. The same overview says that. You also need to have paid enough income tax for the relief to reduce your tax. A claim for a repayment has a four-year limit. Form MED 2 says a claim must be made within four years after the end of the tax year.
How a claim is made
Revenue says you claim non-routine dental expenses inside your health expenses claim, and you must have a Form MED 2 completed by your dentist. The form is a receipt you keep. You do not normally send it with the claim, but Revenue can ask for it. If you claim during the year, the Tax and Duty Manual says the MED 2 has to be uploaded to Receipts Tracker. If treatment runs over more than one year, the dentist completes a separate MED 2 for each year. The amounts on the form should include the qualifying treatment, related diagnostic procedures and the practitioner's charges for that treatment.
How to file is on How do you claim health expenses?
Treatment outside Ireland
Revenue's dental expenses page says you can claim for non-routine dental treatment performed outside Ireland if the dentist is a qualified dentistry practitioner under that country's laws, and the dentist completes Form MED 2. The treatment still has to be a qualifying one. The page does not create a special, wider rule for implants abroad.
Use the calculator only as an illustration
The cost calculator shows €0 of relief unless you say a dentist has told you the treatment is a qualifying MED 2 item. Even then, the 20% line is an illustration of the standard rate, not a calculation of the tax you will get back.