DD told it's 7 years for a brace!

[ukgone2pot]

I almost fell off my chair today when the dentist told me DD would need to wait 7 years before she could get a brace fitted for her teeth. Apparently NHS are being very stringent as to who qualifies for one now too. DD is almost 12, so could be 19 when she finally has one fitted. The dentist explained due to the Covid backlog, they couldn't do anything about it. Fortunately, her teeth aren't too bad but I feel so angry for those children being made to wait like this.

Teeth are such an important part of how you look, and I fear that having crooked teeth well into your early adulthood is going to really affect the way you view yourself and cause more harm than good, especially with bullying etc if you have a bad case.

Of course, there is the option of going private but at £3-4000 a pop it's not cheap.

I just feel at times if those bastards (Tories) want to privatise the NHS - then fucking do it - but give people flexible options for when nasty surprises like this occurs. BTW - I don't know the ins and outs of privatisation, but surely some insurance contributions each month would help towards big expenses like this and cut out the wait times?

Try to move dentists and see if that changes it. It really depends on their contracts. We moved to a dentist that had a mix of private and NHS patients and an in house large cosmetics offer including orthodontics. Turns out the kids they had on their NHS list just saw the in house ortho on the NHS and DD got braces 1 month after first consultation because someone cancelled. If not for that she would've had to wait 6 months which I laughed at as our old dentist said years. Got them on summer between y8 and 9 and they came off y10.

7 years is mental. Ours was about 3 years and it was made worse because the waiting list was kept by a third company who would only allocate a reference number once you got a certain way up the list so you couldn’t even check if they’d list the referral or anything.
We got the first appointment just before Christmas where they check if they’re eligible on the nhs, and then the braces were fitted last week, so quite quick from once the first appointment came through but our dentist was surprised at that speed. Son is 15 now and won’t get rid of them till 17.
It is truly awful for nhs dentists in our part of the country. Some kids have never seen a dentist in their lives :(

My DS had braces top and bottom when he was 16, nearly 17. NHS dentist would not refer earlier as he said any correction work done much earlier could be undone as his jaw would still be growing. He had braces for 2 years, through covid which lengthened the time between orthodontist visits, but his teeth are beautifully straight now, 2 years from end of treatment. He still uses his retainer at night as he doesn't want braces on again.
Friend's daughter had braces fitted privately at 13 and now, at 22, her teeth have moved and she's having to consider having them straightened again.
Personally I'd wait if your DD isn't having massive problems with eating.

I have 2 teen DS both currently wearing braces. DS1 17 was fitted in August last year after being on waiting list for about 2-3 years. When I asked why it was taking so long I was told that there was a backlog after Covid and they were prioritising those who were closest to the age where they would no longer qualify which I think is 18. DS2 15 did t have to wait quite so long.

I don't think that the NHS should be funding braces for people who just haven't got straight teeth, that's not what it's for - if the crookedness is going to affect their dental health, then fair enough, but wanting a perfect smile isn't enough.

My dentist told me that as long as they were referred under 18 they would still get braces free even if the waiting list was so long that they weren’t seen till over 18.
Yes, they really do get a ruler out at the orthodontist when they check if eligible on the nhs. My dentist gave me the impression that my son’s weren’t bad enough, but when we finally saw him the orthodontist and his ruler disagreed.

@TheSmallAssassin they don’t

Presumably that’s why there’s a threshold for nhs treatment.

I know there's a bar for the NHS, it's just that the OP seemed most worried about how the teeth looked in their first post and then in the post I quoted does continue to talk about the importance of having straight teeth.

After braces they usually have retainers to wear at night for ever which cost£90 to replace when an adult (not sure if under18) and seem to last less than a year even on the NHS. So a long wait saves money

Look into smiles direct op

Treatment works best when the patient is still growing. By 17, a lot of that growth will be complete and the results will be much slower. Here in France, most of my primary school students have braces by 9. My dd had hers at 13 but was only beginning puberty at that stage and so her treatment worked well and was done in two years. Ds was not refererred until he was 15 and the braces could do nothing for his underbite and he had to have jaw surgery.
All treatment was paid for. I will never be grateful enough.

My daughter was referred last July & got seen in November (she’s nearly 13) but they said come back in 12 months as she still has 4 teeth to come out, i’m due to inherit some money this year (probably before November) & will be going private. They could remove a few teeth due to over crowding & pain which she gets a lot of but won’t. I’m going to make a private appointment for just after her birthday and see what they say

I just recently had this convo with my dentist - one of my kids has teeth ever so slightly out of line, luckily we are in a position to pay for braces and I think he'd benefit massively from them.

The dentist told us he probably wouldn't qualify on the NHS as it would be purely cosmetic. So honestly I would be prepared for that.

@MummiesNett

No but you do have private growth that will pay out and I’m sure health care in the form of braces is given?

In Australia, if you happen to have private health insurance with orthodontics, braces are included for all children. This is really one of the top benefits of private health cover. However, not everyone can afford the expense of private health insurance, so that does pose an ongoing problem.

My DD had an op at 19yo, she's supposed to have a brace now, she's 21 no sight of it. She needs a further op at c24 following which she would be on a liquid only diet for 3-6 months, then a further brace.

When she was first seen by tge surgeon at age of 17 (5 years after first seeing the consultant which was 12m after seeing tge dentist) I spoke to the consultant and the surgeon and said we'd go private. They persuaded us not to and look where we are. She has a painful jaw, gets debilitating headaches and yet no progress since her first op.... And you're right, op, private med ins doesnt cover dental...

The NHS is dead, we all need to wake up to it.

Congrats to tory voters for stiching us up with tory governments when 60% voted against the tories.

DC2 was in Y6 when they were referred to the orthodontist in the first week of March 2020. Orthodontist appointment was scheduled for three weeks later which, as it happened, was the day it was announced schools were closing for what became lockdown. I was concerned about how long it might take for DC2 to be seen given all the appointments that were being missed by existing patients because of lockdown but was pleasantly surprised when DC2 was seen for a double appointment (the initial measuring etc. as well as x-rays, taking of impressions) towards the end of June.

It took a while for the brace to be produced due to availability of materials and staff but by mid- August, DC2 had a twin block appliance and a bit of time to get used to it before starting Y7. A year of that and a year of fixed braces has transformed the jawline, created space for crowded teeth and straightened them beautifully. DC2 was given the choice of whether or not to have one lateral incisor built up (apparently it's much smaller than it should be) but chose not to. By the start of Y9 - just as lots of other 13-yr-olds are getting braces for the first time - DC2 only has to wear clear retainers for most of each day/night.

I'm very glad we didn't have to wait seven years! The lower jaw needed to be brought forward which we were told is usually most effective when done to coincide with growth spurts. Had DC2 not been compliant with the wearing of the twin block, the likely alternative would be jaw surgery once they'd finished growing. Avoiding that was hugely motivating!

Have you had a look at his mouth breathing? Prevention better than cure

My son only waited about 5 months after being referred and that was last year.

To answer your question about insurance. You could pay monthly insurance premiums but it is likely that the insurance company could still refuse to pay out unless you could prove that the braces were medically necessary, and that you weren't getting them 'merely' for aesthetic reasons.

Remember that like any insurance company, the dental insurers would actually be aiming to avoid paying out so the onus would be on you to persuade them to do this.

People think medical insurance is like a membership cost to an sort of 'platinum nhs service' but it's actually like any other insurance. You have to find the treatment, get all the costs and then persuade your insurance to cover what you want. They can say no if they want to.

To be honest if you wanted to go private you'd be better discussing a monthly payment plan as these can be quite reasonable.

I agree. If you just want your daughter to have a perfect smile, go private.

I think if you think this is really important, then save up for it and get it doen private

I'm in Australia and insurance helps, but it's still very expensive so honestly not sure that would be of use. For my 2 DSs their braces cost $15k combined, and I think our orthodontist charges less than a lot of others. I will get $4,500 back in total. That's spread over 3 years fortunately and is a set cost, regardless of whether one needs them longer than the other. And that's once only in their lifetime, so if their teeth shift again then you're on your own.

In the UK DS2 qualified for free braces but we hat to wait until his adult teeth were through, DS1 didn't qualify. (We've moved since). So I think if your DC's teeth 'aren't too bad' then you're lucky you qualify. I do think making the free braces a different colour to paid for ones is a particularly nasty thing for the NHS to do though.

Dd2 qualifies for nhs treatment- it's been quite obvious since she was quite young that she would and we've been talking to the dentist about it since she was about 10 which was just before lockdown.

Her referral was put through the first appointment she had after lockdown so when she was 11 and a half. I phoned up after 6 months and they laughed at me. Dentist recommended if we could consider private then it may be a good idea and we had a consultation last summer when she was 12.

She still had quite a lot of baby teeth so we were told to come back this summer when she will be 13. In the meantime her nhs dentist is seeing her every 3 months to monitor and frankly pull out the baby teeth.

The orthodontist also told us it was a bit of a balancing act as ideally she'd have the braces in before she stopped growing. She's slowed right down now so i am keen to get them fitted this summer.