Braces, what age were your dc referred

[cadburyegg]

Saw dentist yesterday who has said ds9 has severe overcrowded teeth and talked about referring DS at next appt in 6 months. She said she usually doesn't refer til age 11 (although tbf he is nearly 10 anyway) but wants to refer sooner. But he still has lots of baby teeth - I'd say probably 50/50 baby and adult teeth.

I thought that he would need braces but assumed it would be closer to teenage years although realise there are long waiting lists. But I assumed we may have to go private anyway.

Just interested in how old other peoples' children were when they were referred if you have gone through the process recently? And I know it depends on area but how long was the waiting list or did you go private?

Referred at 7 years old, as 3 year + waiting list. Seen at 11.

Ds1 was referred age 9, was seen a few months later and just kept on a watch and wait til his adult teeth were mostly in. He finally started treatment earlier this year age 13.

DD was referred around the age of 10 (had constant sores on her lower tip due to top teeth constantly resting/catching it). Orthodontist said she wouldn't start treatment as puberty was the best time. DD is now 23 and still has one of her baby teeth, there was no sign of another tooth underneath.

DS not referred until 13 (delayed due to no dentist appointments during Covid) 2.5 year wait until he was seen. Not sure what the waiting time is now but DD just been referred at 11.

DD was referred on a watch and wait at age 9, she had a RPE brace fitted at age 12 and has just had 4 teeth extracted ready to have train track braces fitted next month when she'll be 12y 9m. So hopefully all treatment will be done by age 14.
Waiting lists are long so better to be referred earlier than later.

DD referred at 14, she was very late losing baby teeth and dentist wouldn’t refer until they were out, we went for private consultation and was told NHS would be 3-4 year wait, we opted for private, braces were on within 2 weeks of consultation and removed after 14 months.

My dd was referred just before her 15th birthday, her brace was fitted just after her 16th and it’s just been removed today after 2 years.
My son has just been referred age 13.

Nine

14 for DS who still had some baby teeth which needed extraction. The dentist delayed and in the end we just went to an orthodontist who agreed he could be treated under the NHS as his teeth were a mess. He's now 18 and finally had his fixed braces removed yesterday - his teeth look fantastic.

We paid privately (€5k) as it's not free here in Ireland. I consulted the orthodontist directly when DS was 14 and he started wearing the Invisalign system 3 months later.

I wore train track braces myself years ago and had to have teeth removed which has still left two gaps at the sides.

With Invisalign, the back teeth are moved first and so space is created that way and there was no need to remove any teeth at all. I guess that might not be same in all cases. Done and dusted in 16 months.

My dd has just been referred aged 11 as she only has one milk tooth left and the wait time is approx 2 years.

Our dentist has said DD needs to be over 12 but has said for the last 2 visits they will need a referral for overbite. The latest appointment though they did say even that may be early because they need to have lost baby teeth and they are late coming out so it may depend on what the xray looks like next time.

My DD8 teeth were bad, she had a large overbite and a double baby tooth so when that fell out the dentist did an X-ray that showed she was missing an adult tooth. Her front tooth came through in gap of missing tooth and other was practically central. I begged and begged to be referred, but kept being told had to wait until big teeth through. Went private and orthodontist said she 100% should have been referred sooner and on nhs, by starting treatment now means they can retain a baby tooth and also bone so if she wanted an implant in future she hopefully won't need a bone graft .. neither would have been possible if left until 14/15. I Couldn't be bothered to go back and faff around with our dentist so paid and she's had a fixed brace for 6 months now and her teeth are all in position, nearly perfectly straight and overbite not noticeable. There's still a long way to go and she may not be ready to start phase 2 yet until her jaw grows but it was the best £2500 I've ever spent, she smiles in photos and has had no issues at school despite being the only child there with a brace, the kids think it's cool. I'm in midlands and wait list is 2/3 years I believe. My niece was waiting until she was 15 and in year 11, they went private in the end too.

11 or 12 I think and was seen very quickly.

Age 9 and not accepted into NHS waiting list as deemed too young. Told waiting list was potentially 4 years. Going to ask again about NHS referral and if no luck will go private.

Oldest was referred at 11 to the only NHS orthodontist in the borough and finally seen at 13, by which time they did need it.

DS was referred when he was nearly 9 for an 8mm overbite. He has had a couple of monitoring appointments since with another due tomorrow, aged just 11. The orthodontist suggested he would need extractions/braces eventually but not until all his molars are through, so not quite yet.

In my area the waiting list is 3 years. Eldest DD had her braces fitted at just turned 13, youngest is 9.5 and was referred at our last dentist appointment a couple of months ago.
Dentist said they don't usually like to fit braces before 13 because face shape changes quite a lot- but if they get to the top of the list before they turn 13 they will stay on standby until they turn 13 while older children jump the queue (if that makes sense!)

We were told from about age seven that she would need braces and they would refer when she was eleven. At eleven, they referred and we were told to expect a three year wait. Don't know what happened, but after four weeks, we were given the go ahead. There were a lot of assessments and X-rays in quick succession - she also needed to have some baby teeth removed, but this also happened quickly and the braces were put on within six months of referral. Really impressed so far. We've been lucky.

Referred age 12 but would’ve been sooner if it wasn’t for Covid. I expected to be on a waiting list for ages but they put the referral as urgent as he had a serious bite issue and he was seen by the orthodontist within 3 months and had braces on within 6 after a couple of extractions.

i don’t know whether it’s nhs vs private or just development of a better method, but with dd they put the metal braces on first, and assessed regularly to see if extractions were necessary.

as they said, if there’s not enough room we take the braces off, extract and put the braces back on. If we take the teeth out, put the braces on and there are gaps we can’t put the teeth back in.

Invisalign didn’t work for ds due to the cleaning routine around eating. He struggled at school and often went the day with no food as he couldn’t get to a bathroom to clean his teeth after, plus the embarrassment of it in front of friends. He also swims twice a day and couldn’t wear them in the pool/gym. He also kept taking them out in his sleep! After 6 months we switched to train tracks which were much easier to manage.

My DD was about 7 or 8 when referred, initially just for monitoring. She's 10 and now has braces. All her adult teeth are in. She's coping really well with them. She has really quite wonky teeth, coming in all over her gums.

One DD at 10 had braces fitted a few months later (lost all her baby teeth young), DS at 16 and had braces fitted a few weeks later. I was shocked he qualified for free orthodontist treatment, just bottom teeth were wonky