What is to 'Capitalize'. Capitalize is an accounting method used to delay the recognition of expenses by recording the expense as a long-term asset. In general, capitalizing expenses is beneficial as companies acquiring new assets with a long-term lifespan can spread out the cost.
For orthodontics, most, if not all plans have a lifetime maximum amount that the carrier will pay for treatment. This is typically anywhere from $750 to $4000 and the patient is responsible for the remainder of the orthodontic cost.
Maximum life span (or, for humans, maximum reported age at death) is a measure of the maximum amount of time one or more members of a population have been observed to survive between birth and death. The term can also denote an estimate of the maximum amount of time that a member of a given species could survive between birth and death, provided circumstances that are optimal to that member's longevity.