4 year waiting list for child braces

[Thevibb]

My DC's dentist advised us that he needs braces & referred him a year ago. However, at last week's appointment, he told us there is a 4 year waiting list in our local borough. DC is 12 and will be 16 when he'll be fitted for braces.
A neighbouring borough has a 1.5 year waiting list, and I asked DC to be added to that waiting as DC is keen to have the braces ASAP. However, this will probably entail a 25 min drive to every dental appointment.... I was wondering if it would have been better to wait until he was 16.

I don't consider 25 that long a drive but I guess I'm used to travelling for medical/dental

I would get him in the soonest you can - who knows your 4 year list could increase

If you can time it ok you could get in during half terms/Christmas /Easter holiday times

Imo it would be slightly odd for a teenager to have braces whilst at 6th form. Having said that if you can't make the logistics work it won't be the biggest problem in the world.

It's relatively common here - though older two got them off just before.

I suspect it's the long lists here - there a shortage of dentists and orthodontists.

I think we and our dentist would have liked it started and completed earlier - partly why he put them on so young as he knew it was years waiting.

Normal is you get them fixed around 13 / 14 but you can have braces at any age, even as a fully fledged 40 yr old if need be.

Have you thought about Invisalign and asked about costs for that? We had to go this route (privately) with one of our kids. They were given 20 boxes of different sets and they took scans of their teeth that went to the orthodontist and based on that they'd get a message saying "stay on this set one more week" or "move onto the next set"

there were very few in person check ups.

If you can time it ok you could get in during half terms/Christmas /Easter holiday times

I always tried for that - but when we did get them often found them cancled in favour of private paying patients later - and when we asked we were told everyone wants the hoildays and after school. They said they'd try in Y11 round exams but honestly it was just as impossible to get.

We were lucky to have an NHS orthodontist in our town but I work 20 mins away so it did take more than an hour to drive back from work, scoop DD up and take her then the return trip, but we were usually able to get appointments near the start of the day or lunchtime and my work is flexible so it wasn't too bad. However that practice lost their NHS contract so everyone has to drive or bus/train half an hour to get to one here now. In fact the nearest one is near my work so I would have had to drive back 10 miles, fetch DD, back to work town for the appt and do the whole thing again.

My other DC still had his when he went to uni, due to a combination of his milk teeth coming out very late, complex work needed in several stages and the covid lockdowns, now that was a total pain the arse, I think it was about 2.5 years in the end.

It’s a 25 minute drive to my dentists for a normal appointment.

There must be people who travel further just for an appointment.

My Foster Son is having to wait 3 years and he is already 16. Apparently as long as his name is on list before 18th birthday it will still be free for him.

DD was referred by our then NHS dentist in YR8. Where we live, we only have the sole NHS orthodontist so everyone goes to him and is aware that there is what was then an 18mth waiting list. Covid happened so the wait list became longer and she finally reached the top of it in YR11. She has only recently had her braces removed last month 2.5 yrs later. The orthodontist basically told me it would cost me the better part of £4K for her to have exactly the same treatment/track braces privately from him maybe 6 mths earlier. Don't live in a rural county - we can't seem to attract enough dentists let alone orthodontists. I'm just thankful that he didn't retire before the end of DD's treatment! Our NHS dental practice stopped NHS work post COVID (even for children) and I had to pay a few hundred pounds for DD to have 4 teeth extracted pre braces. Not uncommon here to have braces in 6th form obviously since we have only the one NHS orthodontist.

Can you afford to go private? My son is 14 and has just done a year of Invisalign and it’s now done. Really good experience. £4350.

25 minutes is nothing. That was my dc's commute to school each day. Get them now before he goes to uni and you have to pay.

25 mins is nothing, what were you expecting? I don't think there are any orthodontists closer than half a hour from us, let a lone a couple. The appointments are about 5 mins each, so he'll probably be able to go back in and you to work etc depending on when it is. Or try for 9ish appointments.

And yes, this! About 45 mins door to door for school here.

My daughter had hers on for about 18 months, with 6 weekly check ups

Appreciate it's not easy taking time off work, but we generally had to take the bus, which involved 10 min walk from school, 20 mins on the bus and 15 mins walk the other side. The work required on DD's teeth was quite involved and we had 3.5 years, including an operation and around four emergency appointments. Her appointments for assessments/tightenings/alterations could generally be booked in advance so I'd arrange it as early or late as possible in the day. Not easy at the time, but well worth it!

I would go for the neighbouring council. My children had metal braces and had to go every 6 weeks for 18 months / 2 years. And also every time a bit of hard food would make the brace go wrong.

It is better to do it early for them. I think they are also more compliant if this is the right word, in terms of brushing etc. It is easier to help a younger teen than argue with an older teen.

I would try and schedule some appointments in holidays and when in term time try to book in subjects they could catch up more easily. For my kids, I tried to never miss maths for example but yours may be different strengths and weaknesses.

I would do it earlier if you can, DD is seen at the closest town which is a 15-20 min drive so I don’t think 25 mins is a big deal. You will probably only need to be seen every 8-12 weeks anyway.
DD had hers fitted at just turned 13 and is now 14.5 and probably a couple of months left with them on

My son had to wait four years , had them
fitted at 16 he will be 18 soon, doesn’t bother him in the slightest, seems to be ok with them and some of his friends still have theirs on, he doesn’t care as long as he has nice teeth whatever age they come off , he goes every six weeks to have them tightened, the nhs dentists and orthodontists have massive wait times and unless you can pay private , it’s just how it is.

Have you asked for a private quote? I wouldn’t want to be waiting 1.5 years never mind 4!

we also went private as long wait and the same company offering nhs did the private fitting within a week - the deal breaker was that private appointments were after school and nhs during ! i wanted it all sorted and off prior to gcses

I didn't get my braces until I was 16 - they were waiting for my baby teeth to fall out, but they never did and I had to have surgery. Had train tracks for 4 years, then a retainer. If anything, I feel like I looked after them better being a little older. I did have to use my ID more as I have a baby face and people always thought I was younger, but wasn't awful. I wouldn't wait longer for the sake of a 25min drive though!

This thread is interesting because how do 2 parents who work full time in a job that you can’t leave - eg teaching, NHS - etc accommodate this?

2 kids is the standard family. So 2 kids needing an appointment every 6 weeks. That’s once every 3 weeks.
you have to leave work, drive to school, drive 25 mins, wait for appt, drop back to school, drive back to work. Say half a day easily. Every 3 weeks.

That’s 9 days holiday per year. or 5 days missed from school.

someone, really bizarrely, ‘gasped’ or something at my comment above. But this seems to be only achievable if a parent doesn’t work full time or has a job you can do in the evening instead.

our orthodontist doesn’t offer outside of school appointments for NHS patients.

But how would that make any real difference if the orthodontist was, say, 15 minutes away instead of 25? You'd only save 20 minutes out of a (you're saying) half a day.

The OP isn't complaining about having to do that every six weeks, but that the appointments would be 25 mins travel. But realistically, are there places that much closer? As I said, our dentist is 20 mins away, our nearest hospital the same, A&E 40! There aren't health facilities on every street...

Also, are the chances high that if one DC needs braces, the other automatically does? My DC2 is still young, though has four adult teeth that are definitely quite crooked and I can see may need braces. DC1 however has perfectly straight teeth.

I have 3 DC; only one needs braces. Even with only 1 it would be nearly impossible if we had no flexibility in our work patterns though how 2 people with inflexible jobs manage parenting at all boggles my mind (though we never had any help at all from GP and maybe that’s a difference).

25 min drive is no issue at all to me

We paid privately - €5K and it’s a 30 minute drive to the orthodontist. DS has just finished treatment and he’s 16yrs old now.

The biggest problem as I understand, is getting the child to co-operate. An older teen might not be very interested in wearing braces. DS knows a few kids in school that have given up on them.

I’d get the treatment started asap.