Sometimes family members think they deserve hand outs and freebies from other family members.

Like if you owned a restaurant, your extended family might want to eat there for free, or if you owned a hair salon, maybe your family would want you to cut their hair for free.

In today’s story, an orthodontist’s extended family wants him to do free orthodontic work, but he has a policy where he doesn’t do orthodontic work for free for anyone.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

AITA for refusing free dental work to my financially struggling family members?

I’m an orthodontist, 35, married to a wonderful woman, 33.

Her family’s always been great, but I recently had to set a boundary.

My brother-in-law asked me to do free orthodontic work for his kids.

I told him I couldn’t, that I don’t do free treatments, even for family.

His brother-in-law is mad at him.

He got upset, saying I’m selfish and greedy because I’m successful.

He made snide comments about doctors making a lot of money.

When he said “What’s a few thousand dollars to you?”

I told him my bank account isn’t a piggy bank for family members.

I explained it’s about principle – fairness and consistency in my practice.

Waiving fees for family would mess that up. It wouldn’t be fair to my other patients who pay full price.

The situation is stressing out his wife.

To be honest, my brother-in-law’s family is struggling financially, and it’s hard to see them dealing with that.

But I still can’t justify giving them free treatment.

My wife agrees with me, but she’s really torn up about the whole thing.

She’s sad that her brother’s being so critical and that it’s causing tension between us.

It’s taking a toll on her, and that bothers me more than his entitlement.

I’m frustrated he’s dragging her into this.

His in-laws are on the brother-in-law’s side.

To make things worse, even my in-laws are chiming in.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law keep telling me I’m being unfair and that family should come first.

They say I should “help out” since we’re financially stable.

But I don’t think that’s reasonable.

He doesn’t give anyone free treatments.

To clarify, I’d help with discounts or payment plans, but free treatment? No.

For the record, no free treatments – not even for my own family.

AITA?

It seems like he has set a boundary that he won’t allow anyone to cross under any circumstances.

His family needs to respect that, at the same time, it might be nice if he did this favor for this brother-in-law.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This reader thinks he is being reasonable.

“Free” isn’t exactly “free.”

Some orthodontists do orthodontic work for family for free.

It could be worth it to make an exception for the brother-in-law.

Maybe they can reach a compromise.

If it wouldn’t hurt him financially, it would be nice if he made an exception for his brother-in-law.

But he doesn’t have to, by any means.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.