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.

Our dentist is 25 minutes away. Closest orthodontists are about 50-60 minutes away. He’s probably going to miss school anyway. It won’t really matter if he misses like an extra 30-40 minutes each time. Around 16 really is quite typical though. Dd has been referred at 12 and waiting list is a few years, but we may jump the queue a bit because she is missing 3 adult teeth (like they just don’t exist and will never come in 🤷🏻‍♀️) so apparently, we’re quite an odd case.

Teeth move more when you are younger. Starting at 16 will take longer as the movement is slower.

I started at 14 and was still battling with them at 17 at which point I told the dentist to take them off, they were good enough 😂

Really? I used to have to drive that to get her to primary school as we were assigned a place in the next village!

Dd was told she needed braces around 9 because her lower teeth were obviously wonky. We were put on a list then and she had them fitted at 12. If it was really bad they would have done this when you went to the dentist before. You'll only have 2 yrs of it on, so I'd just suck up a short drive once every month and be done with it.

Definitely grab the chance at an earlier start to treatment - there will be a better outcome.

I wouldn't worry about the social aspects of having braces at 16, 17, 18. I got my braces at 39, and DD2 paid for her own at 24 - 26.

When DD3 needed braces, I paid privately as I was a teacher and all NHS appointments were during schooltime. As it turned out, apart from her initial fitting (which did take place during school hours), her adjustments took place during holidays - still nicely convenient to have a range of appointment times.

I'm not sure if this was the case, but DD3 needed block braces before train tracks. The NHS waiting time was about a year, so it was good to go private. I always wondered if she could have gone straight to train tracks on the NHS at the end of her 9 month treatment. It's worth asking.

I would travel 2 hours and 25 mins if it meant my child got their braces at 13 rather than 16

Unfathomable to me that you’re even in doubt about this op