Braces for teens

[theluckiest]

DS (13) has wonky teeth. He's also overcrowded and has had 4 teeth removed already.

It's given that he'll need braces and the dentist has said he'll start the referral to an orthodontist. However, he also said that the waiting list is currently 4 YEARS!!! Due to Covid, could be even longer. He's not even guaranteed to get treatment on NHS either.

So we could look at private but I suspect it's going to be £££££££s.

Any advice or experience out there? Should we just go down the private route? How much (gulp) is this going to cost us?? not even going to think about whether DS2 needs braces as well....

I think private is typically 3k+ depending on the work required. Would he qualify for nhs treatment? 13 is quite late to start a referral as they try to take advantage of natural growth spurts during treatment. If later it takes longer but nhs funds as long as it starts before 18 and meets the criteria ie functional issues rather than cosmetic.

4 years is a ludicrously long wait, I would complain and also point out that should he turn 18 you will not be paying for a treatment that should have been free!!

My dd has braces and I feel has been forgotten about since covid, she's meant to get 2 teeth out but this also won't be happening for some time.

It's very frustrating.

It's worth trying a different area. Granted this was pre-Covid, but in our local area we were told the waiting list was over 2 years but if we were prepared to travel to the next town (30 minutes drive) it was under a year.

My ortho offered an interest free monthly payment plan, and I got the pick of appointments as I was private. NHS appointments were just assigned.

We paid about £3k for DD and she was seen straightaway.

Around here, NHS appointments only take place during school hours, and as a teacher, I need her to be seen after school.

I'm surprised he wasn't referred at an earlier age tbh

Its crap. My DD has been on the waiting list for 2 years 6 months - waiting list was only 12 months when we joined. We've been told it's going to be at least 6 months before she's seen and that's only if they reopen NHS appointments. I so wish I had sacrificed a holiday and sent her private. She'll be 16 by the time they are fitted, which will be so embarrassing :-(

Most orthos offer payment plans OP. Just go private.

Embarrassing for her - not me, obviously!

@Alexandernevermind

Embarrassing for her - not me, obviously!

I'm not sure if it will help, but DS is 16 and will have had braces for 3 years next spring.

Admittedly it's probably less of an issue for boys, but he's genuinely not had one comment about them. I think it's so commonplace now that a teenager is as likely to have braces at some point as not to have them.

here’s what i would do.
i would get the hammer out and knock all the teeth out.
then i would put them back nicely with glue

hope this helps.

However, he also said that the waiting list is currently 4 YEARS!!! Due to Covid, could be even longer. He's not even guaranteed to get treatment on NHS either.

We moved here when DD1 was in Y6 and the dentist put her on one of the lists - it was end of Y9 before she was seen and then summer before Y10 before it was fitted.

We were worried she wouldn't get NHS but they said as she was missing teeth so would be NHS though getting appointments outside school time is really hard to impossible.

However DS got to Y6 and dentist said there was a different practise with a shorter list - and he got seen Y7 - though they're still waiting before they really do anything and seem really bad at remembering he's on their books.

So long waits do seem normal - as I can image covid is making it worse as DD1 treatment is being delayed so it will be longer before she's of their books.

Doesn't seem to have bothered DD1 having braces she's not the only one with them - and I think DS would rather the overbite was fixed than left.

DD2 cant wait to get them, theyre like a right of passage nowadays.

DD1 didn't get hers till about 14/15 but they were only on for a year and not the predicted 18/24 months.

Id like DD2 referred now, wish he’d done it at last check up in February to get a headstart, even though some teeth were still to come out she was always going to need them.

3k 🤦‍♀️

Thanks @Champagneforeveryone - she's stressing about it. X

Hmmmm. Thanks for all the advice, very helpful. Not sure why they haven't referred him already. Possibly as he still has some baby teeth 🤷‍♀️

I think I'll have to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and look at private for him. Best start saving!!

The first our orthodontist did was expand the roof of ds's mouth so that's had enough space for his adult teeth to come in.

One of my dc has just had theirs off, whilst we were there two other people had theirs taken off and my other dc was booked to have theirs removed (despite starting treatment 2 years after their sibling).

It seemed like our orthodontist was trying to conclude all of their patients asap to bring through the next lot!

lemoncurd that's our experience too I think. DS is (finally!) coming to the end of his treatment and his appointments seem to have ramped up, with definite discussions about removal.

I guess this means that when things are back to normal they will have a "clean sheet" as it were!

Lots of people getting braces at 14/15 amongst my DC's friends. I don't think 13 is too old at all to be referred! There was very much an element when they were younger that the teeth might self correct (to be fair, that actually happened in DS's case, where at one point he literally had a tooth growing sideways).