Children's orthodontist

[Rowgtfc72]

Dd is 14 and has been on a waiting list for 3 years to be given braces. Have just rung this morning and as a result of covid the list is still 3 and a half years.

She now has daily jaw pain, and has just been fitted this morning for a gum shield to wear at night.

Can anyone tell me the best way to go about this privately and the costs involved? My dh and me are on not much more than minimum wage, but cant watch her in pain for another three years.

Thank you.

My ds pre covid waited 18m

1st apt assess.. Agreed he needs.
2nd appointment xrays and photos.
3rd appointment discuss the plan of action
4th impressions
5th fitting.
This 5 appointment took around 3 months

My friends son needed teeth removed which added 6m. Again pre covid.

If it was me. I'd do my best to go private if she's in pain. Especially as affects what she eats. As that could have a more long term affect

The xrays will also show if they can be removed in dental practice or hospital.
I have a top wisdom tooth coming. It has no room and growing towards my cheek. The pressure is unbelievable. Especially when I eat hot food and have a hot bath thibk it's bloody pressure causes it to feel more intense.
I had the same with the other side. Because of how they are I can't have done at practice has to be by maxillo facial team.

Went private for my son about 2 yrs ago, his teeth weren’t quite wonky enough to qualify for nhs. £1600 paid in 4 instalments. Perfect result. Orthodontist was recommended by the dentist.

DD was referred in Nov 19.
First appt, xrays and impressions done beginning Jan 21.
Braces fitted beginning March 21.
I think it is worth talking to the dentist and seeing if they can push for a quicker appt.

Horrendous wait times - we were on list by London and never got to top of it after 3 years then we moved and DD got seen after another 2.5 years. We looked into private and looked like £2k plus depending on exactly what you want. This was way before covid though some people seem to have been seen here a lot quicker so it maybe worth chasing a lot. I chased a bit and they said it had been lost. but was still a year or so's wait after that.

A dentist should really be dealing with pain, I would be tempted to get a second opinion on that with a different dentist. Orthodentists just increase the pain level from what I can tell.

Our orthodontists are taking NHS atm but its very slow. Think it was only first lockdown they stopped it so only a few months of the 6 year delay due to covid.

We are in Cumbria. DD was referred in Oct 2018. It was Nov 2020 before she finally saw the orthodontist. Delay was definitely in part due to the pandemic.

DD's need for orthodontic treatment was urgent and she was assessed as IOTN 5a. All x-rays, digital impressions and photographs were taken at that appointment and her first set of braces were fitted 3 weeks later.

Because her overbite and overcrowding are so severe, she has to wear a functional appliance (twin blocks) for 6-9 months, before they'll remove teeth and move to the fixed braces. Thanks to the pandemic and mandatory mask wearing, she's had a great result with the twin blocks so far and reduced her overbite by 5mm at the first 8wk check up.

Looking at the prices quoted by her orthodontic practice - if we'd gone private to speed up the wait, the total price for treatment would have been £3-4k.

Orthodontic treatment is extortionate in this country. My son has NHS braces, but goes to school in another part of the country, he broke his braces at the back of his mouth and the wire was poking in his cheek, the orthodontist charged £60 just to cut a tiny piece of wire (no actual treatment)! They said there was no charge when I made the appointment, but said £60 charge when got there.

Is it worth asking your dentist on Monday if any new NHS orthodontists have been taken on locally? DD2 was referred by our dentist at the start of March 2020 and was given an appointment for the end of the same month. Apparently it was because new NHS contracts had been given out to help deal with the overload. Covid then happened so she didn't get seen until June and had measurements, x-rays etc all done within that initial appointment. She had a 12mm overbite and overcrowding but 7 months of wearing a twin block appliance with palate expander has reduced the overbite to 3mm and the overcrowding is no more. Orthodontist says DD has saved herself two teeth as a result!

Friends have requested their DCs be referred to the same orthodontist as they seem to see new patients pretty quickly.

Were going to ask how long lists are within 50 miles!
Apparently the orthodontist has been ringing round surgeries looking for urgent cases to be put forward. I assume dd hasn't been put on that list.
Roll on monday.

Jaw pain has absolutely no reason to get better with orthodontics it will be in the consent it can actually worsen. Sorry! (I'm an ortho nurse)

We were told that orthodontic treatment can make jaw pain worse. Ds has a clicky jaw and when Dh signed the consent for the brace, he had to sign to say that we were aware of this. And that the orthodontist took no responsibility for further or worsening issues with Ds's jaw.

But surely the jaw pain has been caused by the overcrowding of the teeth? She had absolutely no issues until her teeth started overlapping quite badly?

There is zero evidence between crowding and pain. This isn't what you want to hear sorry.

No. That's very useful information @20viona if it's not caused by her teeth we can take the issue to a doctor rather than sit 3 and a half years on a waiting list assuming getting braces will fix her pain. I very much appreciate you saying this.
Dd, although 14, isnt overly bothered by her crooked teeth. It's not a cosmetic thing. We just want her out of pain.

My dd has been on the list for 2 1/2 years. No new appointments due to Covid since last March.

Update:

Dentist confirmed we were on the orthodontist list with 3 and a half year wait. Cant bump us up the list.

Dd now has a bottom mouth guard to wear when she gets in from school until she wakes up in the morning. He said her teeth not coming together may have contributed to her jaw not sitting level and the guard should help to realign her jaw.
She has to wear it for six weeks and report back.

We have just paid £100 for DD12 to be seen for a private consultation as Covid means she hasn't even been referred for treatment yet as we've not been able to get a basic check up and our NHS dentist won't refer unless they have had a recent check up.

DD needs slight jaw realignment which is time critical as it needs to be done while the jaw is still developing. She also needs teeth straightening. All of this would usually have met the NHS criteria for treatment but Covid means it will be years before she gets seen.

So we were quoted £2100 for traditional braces and retainers or £3500 for the Invisalign treatment. We've decided in the more expensive treatment as I thankfully have savings that will cover it.

They do offer to monthly finance plans and the first year was interest free I think.

We have recently been quoted for £2500 in Warwickshire. It is possible to pay with an interest-free instalment plan

Our waiting list is much shorter than this. Inract we generally see patients within a year. Are you able to try for another orthodontist in the area? You could get your dentist to refer you elsewhere. I'm in the southeast and private orthodontics is roughly around 3.5-4k.

I think private is going to be a last resort. If we can fix the jaw pain were good.
She wore the gum shield just a couple of hours the first day and didnt like it but managed to sleep in it the following night. Dentist has told us to give it six weeks so I guess time will tell.

I'm beyond furious that my 2 don't meet NHS criteria. Especially when people get it for an overbite due to thumb sucking!!!!
It's £3k for a private brace in Surrey.

I would push on the tooth removal front, if her mouth is overcrowded the sooner they come put the less damage to correct. I had braces as an adult. My front teeth started overlapping due to overcrowding. No NHS dentist ever pointed out that there wasn't enough room in my mouth for my wisdom teeth once they came through. I won't be making the same mistake with my DC. If there isn't room for them they will be coming out before they cause problems.

@Oblomov21 if your 2 don't meet the NHS criteria then their teeth aren't that bad, unlikely to have functional issues.

Thumb sucking doesn't cause an overbite it causes an open bite, an open bite only qualifies if its severe. A evere open bite will effect a child's ability to eat. Why should children not get braces if they thumb sucked? Seems a bit odd to suggest a habit you had as a child should prevent you getting necessary treatment.

@TheTeenageYears the dentist can't just randomly remove teeth to prevent overcrowding. The orthondist needs to decide which teeth need removing to prevent overcrowding and then put on a brace to move teeth into the space.

Removing teeth alone won't do anything apart from create tipping which is more challenging to sort out.

You can't predict how someone's wisdom teeth are going to behave, lots of people live with impacted wisdom teeth with no problems. If there's no room the wisdom teeth may just stay unerupted. Why would you put someone through a wisdom tooth removal if they don't need it?

I would take wisdom tooth removal over 3 years of adult braces any day.