How do I itemize medical and dental expenses?

You can deduct only the part of your medical and dental expenses that exceeds 7.5% of the amount of your adjusted gross income on Form 1040 or 1040-SR.  Select the "Deductions" tab, choose to enter itemized deductions.  Select START at Medical and Dental Expenses.  Select "Add a New" to make your entry.

Pub. 502 discusses the types of expenses you can and cannot deduct. It also explains when you can deduct capital expenses and special care expenses for disabled persons.

Examples of Medical and Dental Expenses you can deduct:
To the extent you were not reimbursed, you can deduct what you paid for:

• Insurance premiums for medical and dental care, including premiums for qualified long-term care contracts, as defined by Pub. 502.
• Prescription medicines or insulin
• Acupuncturists, chiropractors, dentists, eye doctors, medical doctors, occupational therapists, osteopathic doctors, physical therapists, podiatrists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts (medical care only), and psychologists.
• Medical examinations, X-ray and laboratory services, insulin treatment, and whirpool baths your doctor ordered.
• Diagnostic tests, such as a full-body scan, pregnancy test, or blood sugar test kit.
• Nursing help (including your share of the employment taxes paid). If you paid someone to do both nursing and housework, you can only deduct the cost of the nursing help.
• Hospital care (including meals and lodging), clinic costs, and lab fees.
• Qualified long-term care services.
• The supplemental part of Medicare insurance.
• The premiums you pay for Medicare Part d insurance.
• A program to stop smoking and for prescription medicines to alleviate nicotine withdrawal.
• A weight-loss program as treatment for a specific disease (including obesity) diagnosed by a doctor.
• Medical treatment at a center for drug or alcohol addiction.
• Medical aids such as eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids, braces, crutches, wheelchairs, and guide dogs, including the cost of maintaining them.
• Surgery to improve defective vision, such as laser eye surgery or radial keratotomy.
• Lodging expenses (but not meals) while away from home to receive medical care in a hospital or medical care facility related to a hospital, provided there was no significant element of personal pleasure, recreation, or vacation in the travel. Do not deduct more than $50 per night for each eligible person.
• Ambulance service and other travel costss to get medical care. If you used your own car, you can claim what you spent for gas and oil to go to and from the place you received the care; or you can claim 24 cents a mile. Add parking and tolls to the amount you claim under either method.

Examples of Medical and Dental Payments You Cannot Deduct

• The cost of diet food
• Cosmetic surgery unless it was necessary to improve a deformity related to a congenital abnormality, an injury from an accident or trauma, or a disfiguring disease
• Life insurance or income protection policies
• The medicare tax on your wages and tips or the Medicare tax paid as part of the self-employment tax or household employment taxes
• Nursing care for a healthy baby. But you may be able to take a credit for the amount you paid. See instructions for Form 1040 line 48.
• Illegal operations or drugs
• Imported drugs not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This includes foreign-made versions of US-approved drugs manufactured without FDA approval.
• Nonprescription medicines (including nicotine patches and gum)
• Travel your doctor told you to take for rest or a change
• Funeral, burial, or cremation costs.