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?

I'm really worried about this. Both me and my brother needed surgery to remove our infant canine teeth and first molars and then braces to force through our adult teeth as they were "stuck" in our gums. DS is now 10.5 and there has been no sign of his adult canines or first molars. Will he be left with rotting baby teeth well into adulthood?

Dd has just had hers fitted she is almost sixteen, can’t afford to go private but the wait for us was almost two years.

We were told there is a 3 month wait for my 12 year old to see an orthodontist and then a 2 year wait for treatment. My 9 year old has more severe issues and has had an orthodontist since before he was born. He is waiting for an operation that should have been last year but got delayed and then after that he will get his braces.

My dd2 (11) was seen recently and we were told her score is a 3.3 so she doesn't qualify for NHS braces. Giving it 6 months to decide what to do as her teeth look OK tbh.

My dd2 (11) was seen recently and we were told her score is a 3.3 so she doesn't qualify for NHS braces. Giving it 6 months to decide what to do as her teeth look OK tbh.

I’m surprised at the length of the wait. My DD had them at 10 on the NHS and was referred at 9 - I think she had to wait about 9 months.

Private braces may not be as expensive as you think. DD has top train tracks on privately (we’d completed NHS treatment so had no other option) and it is £750 for the top set with the private arm of the NHS orthodontist. She could have had their own-brand Invisalign for the same amount too.

May be worth exploring if it’s something that can easily rectified with a short course of treatment.

This. My sons are 30 and 28 now. Both had braces. One had horrendous teeth ( massively overcrowded , tooth coming through roof of mouth because no space, 6 teeth removed)so qualified for NHS treatment. The other had a slight crossover of his front teeth. Didn't qualify for NHS treatment. We were told we could wait until it got worse and he might qualify or we could opt for private treatment. Went for the private treatment. Cost £2,000 which we paid in installments at each appointment. They both have beautiful teeth. Absolutely worth every penny. The brace situation has always been bad unless your teeth are seriously bad.

Yes it’s broken. My son has very crowded crooked teeth and an overbite, was referred to orthodontist in 2019 and we were told last year he could be waiting another 4 years due to covid backlog, he would’ve been 18 by then. We decided we had no choice but to go private, cost £2,500 at the same orthodontist where he would have been on NHS.

Nearly a year in to treatment and his teeth are looking great but still upset we had to raid savings to do it but admittedly very lucky we were able to pay for it as his teeth would’ve been awful as a young adult if not, it’s heartbreaking that it’s come to this as not everyone has that choice to pay especially with the current economic climate.

We ended up paying 3.8K for our dd's braces as it was taking too long (I wanted them in before 6th From). DS joined the NHS waiting list sooner, he has his first appointment next week - 4 years later. It used to be an 18 month wait in our area, but covid has pushed it back.

I had quite complex dental issues when I was a teenager. Didn't get my first brace until I was 13. This is because I needed a special brace to create a space for the 2 top canines to grow down. I needed an operation to remove bone to help facilitate this. It was supposed to take 3 months but I had that brace on for just over 2 years. The next set were train tracks that I had on from 15 til just before 19. This was 20 years ago.
I'm grateful that it didn't cost my mum anything (we were so poor) but it didn't feel great to be one of the few teens in collage to have braces all the way through.

We didn’t have a long wait for DD’s orthodontist appointment. It was 3 months for the initial appointment for assessment, then we were told she’d been accepted for NHS treatment and on the waiting list but she was high priority as she needed them for health reasons - 3 to 6 months for treatment to start and the reality was it only took 3. She had her braces fitted around 3 weeks ago so this is all recent. I don’t remember her score but it was very high hence she was high priority on the waiting list.

It's s shocking situation. Teeth are so important to self esteem and confidence.

We paid for DD to go private because of the wait. It was a lot of money but worth it and they did have good payment plans.

It's absolutely awful for children and have to wait so long.

My dd is 19 and still waiting, she needs a brace followed by jaw surgery for an overbite that affects her eating and speech. We are still waiting for an appointment to get her wisdom teeth removed so the brace can be fitted, it’s been 4+ years waiting so far. So this doesn’t surprise me at all.

Well...this has certainly been an eye-opener if nothing else! I genuinely think it's disgusting this is happening. Every child deserves to have straight teeth imho. I know people will say it's cosmetic if not a bad case, but it sounds like the bar is so high now that children are going to walking around with overbites, cross-overs, gaps etc and it's deemed 'acceptable'. It's not acceptable. Plus, having a brace fitted is a relatively quick procedure (took them half an hour to do mine years ago). It doesn't involve any GA or recovery time in hospital. For what it's worth - I've never rated the NHS. Had a dreadful traumatic experience when I had dd at hospital and now I even struggle to get medication that I need. I would rather pay for it but they won't do it over the counter and I now pay privately to see a GP because I can't get an appointment.

After some consideration, I am going to go private. I can't afford it right now, but in a years time it may be doable. I just wish I had known it would be the case right from the off. Things have certainly changed from my day...I guess when you see Rod Stewart paying for people's scans you know things are up shits creek. 🙄

The only plus side is the dental practice has an orthodontist and it's a very quick turnaround if we went private. I'm based in Shropshire, but need to travel to Staffordshire to get seen. I know people are saying to 'shop around' but I'm genuinely very happy with the service from the dentist and they have a separate building for all cosmetic procedures and are highly regarded.

I hope this thread has given a bit of a heads-up to any other MN'ers who are reading this to plan for the future if they want their DC's to have nice teeth. Shouldn't be the way - but unfortunately it is.

Wouldn't trust a dentist further than I could throw one. IME they're probably trying to get you demoralised so that you pay them to do it privately.

Reading your update OP their strategy worked. More money for them.

Haha - I'm quite a cynical person - but not cynical!

My son with very crooked teeth finally got his at 15.5 after we gave up waiting and just bit the bullet and went private. It's costing around 4k for two full train tracks (I just don't think he'd have had the discipline to keep Invisalign in) The process had started at 11 but with what was a five year wait (big city) and then COVID making it even worse nothing happened. If memory serves the NHS dentist said after initial referral the practice could take on 500 NHS ortho patients but that number was reducing each year and she said it was based on need not order of referral. I remember in the 80s I was all done and dusted on the NHS by 12!! On the plus side the older they are the more responsible/organised they may be re. Teeth cleaning etc. Adults can get braces too so whilst obv it's better to get it all done asap not least for cost reasons as kids don't pay what adults do, it's not the end of the world in my opinion if they are older teens.

We waited just under a year for first DC's appt with orthodontist. Had to wait for the last baby teeth to come out before braces fitted and fortunately still met the NHS criteria.
We've had to pay for private treatment for DC2 as their teeth were not in a bad enough state at present for NHS treatment- by the time they'd met the criteria it's likely they'd be too old for free treatment or away for university.

And for those considering Invisalign, it was the most expensive of the 3 options at our orthodontist. DC2 has ceramic braces, almost invisible compared to standard ones.

If the referral was made when she was under 18, then she won’t have to pay.

DD was referred age 10. Due to Covid etc wasn’t seen until she was 16. I was constantly told that if she was referred under 16, there’d be no cost.

Under 18!

By any chance does this dentist either a) have a special interest and offer private Invisalign themselves? Or the practice offer private orthodontic treatment? If yes to either, insist on being placed on the NHS waiting list. They may be trying their luck. NHS funded orthodontic treatment should not take 7 years to be seen - there is a long waiting list, usually max 3 years.

If they then say she doesn’t qualify then ask what her IOTN score is. If borderline whether she would be accepted for NHS treatment, i would still insist on being referred and consider looking into private options elsewhere.

We charge 3-4K for adult orthodontics. Children are less at 2-2.7K. Still not cheap but make sure to look around.

If you email with child’s name and DOB to [email protected] they will send you a tracking reference number and you can see if you are on the ‘list’ and how long till you get an appointment on here dental-referrals.org

Year in our area. Nearby there is no wait. Odd