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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be astounded that we have to pay for braces?!

256 replies

toothyname · 13/01/2011 14:38

(regular with name change!)

My step daughter has just gone to the orthodontics and has been told she needs braces but that NHS wont pay as it's cosmetic.. The cost is over £2000! Has anyone got any experience of this or succesfully challenged it..? Surely good teeth can't be the privilage of wealthy children..??

OP posts:

WynkenBlynkenandNod · 13/01/2011 16:59

DD is having braces in 2 weeks. Before she started treatment we had to go to a workshop where they explained exactly what would happen , what to eat etc. At the beginning they really impressed on the children how very very lucky they are to get this for free and that it would cost between £3000 and £20000 if parents had to pay for it, depending whether surgery is involved.

pascoe28 · 13/01/2011 17:00

mackereltaitai - makes her words all the more apposite!

MentalFloss · 13/01/2011 17:03

Our orthodontist has had other £6000 from us (braces for 3 DC) they all had pretty bad teeth IMO but didn't fit the guidelines.

I do think it should be means tested though because one of my friend's DS has got his braces on the NHS, but I know they could afford them because she enjoys to tell me what her salary is....

LadyTremaine · 13/01/2011 17:07

WynkenBlynkenandNod I'm sorry, I missed why your DCs didn't have to pay?

autodidact · 13/01/2011 17:09

Well if Eleanor Roosevelt was alive in England today she'd be saying:

No one can make you inferior without your consent except your dentist.

and

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be good teeth.

PonceyMcPonce · 13/01/2011 17:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tinkertitonk · 13/01/2011 17:39

Er, why do you assume that the rest of us should pay (which is what it means to have the NHS pay) for your step-daughter to have her teeth straightened?

MadameCastafiore · 13/01/2011 18:02

Because there is that horrid sense of entitlement floating about these days tinkertonk.

stleger · 13/01/2011 18:17

I'm in Ireland, where very little is available free! My ddd1's braces cost about £4,500 - she was a thumbsucker, she had a gap in her bite which her tongue fitted through. She got free speech therapy to sort out her lisp though. To qualify for free orthodontistry here, teeth have to be so far out of place they are liable to get broken (according to my dentist). BUT - her cousin had NHS orthodontistry, had traintracks for a relatively short period, no retainer, no follow-up - so you might get a far better result if you pay.

autodidact · 13/01/2011 18:20

Sense of entitlement sense of enshmitlement. Of course toothyname wants her stepdaughter to have treatment that she has been told by a qualified, professional orthadontist that she needs and is flabbergasted that such treatment costs thousands of pounds and is not available to anyone who can't pay. Believing that every child should have access to free treatment to ensure reasonably straight, healthy teeth has nothing to do with a sense of entitlement. It has to do with believing that poverty should not prevent access to healthcare. You really are a load of old meanies, some of you.

southeastastra · 13/01/2011 18:22

and it was once free ..

nymphadora · 13/01/2011 18:29

Does anyone have dental insurance for kids? Dd1 is borderline for a brace in a couple of years. Think dd2 is ok. Would it show up on assessment for insurance if its not definate yet?

nurseblade · 13/01/2011 18:41

Dentistry really is just a load of old crap these days. It's the one service where I really feel we've gone totally backwards.

I'm a dentist, so naturally I disagree with this. Dental caries is the most common disease in children in the UK. It is completely preventable. Yet I spend all day everyday treating it. The youngest child I saw with completely decayed teeth was 2 years old - they all had to be extracted under general anaesthetic. All children are entitled to free treatment on the NHS for check ups, fillings, extractions. These things are far more important than orthodontics.

I want to see every child in Britain owning a toothbrush and every parent aware of prevention of caries before orthodontics is made free for all.

OhYouBadBadKitten · 13/01/2011 18:42

we looked at insurance in anticipation of dds teeth, but all the ones we looked at ruled out orthodontic work. pity.

I have wonky teeth and it is causing me problems as I get older with the way they are wearing (and breaking)

southeastastra · 13/01/2011 18:44

i'd like to see the return of the school dentist too (though i only think they did basic check ups!)

nymphadora · 13/01/2011 18:44

Thanks oybbk

duchesse · 13/01/2011 18:50

"Dental caries is the most common disease in children in the UK. It is completely preventable."

Apart from the children like my friend's daughters whose baby teeth had faulty enamel and many developed caries by the time they started losing them at 6. Their dental hygiene was very good yet the teeth still went bad. Nothing to do with sugar or brushing. The girls' permanent teeth are perfect.

nurseblade · 13/01/2011 18:57

'Apart from the children like my friend's daughters whose baby teeth had faulty enamel and many developed caries by the time they started losing them at 6. Their dental hygiene was very good yet the teeth still went bad. Nothing to do with sugar or brushing. The girls' permanent teeth are perfect.'

Caries cannot occur without the presence of sugar, it is scientifically impossible. Hypoplastic enamel can be managed with a low sugar diet, although in this instance, caries is naturally harder to prevent.

activate · 13/01/2011 19:04

oh really?

GypsyMoth · 13/01/2011 19:08

Riven.....they are putting a brace on your dd's teeth for sure? because i didnt know baby teeth could have braces?? ours get done at roughly 12 when adult teeth have all come through

duchesse · 13/01/2011 19:12

Sugars that are also present in milk, fruit, vegetables and carbohydrates. Some studies suggest that almost the worst offenders in caries are crisps rather than sweets- bits of sticky carbs gumming up the crevices.

Are you sure you're medically qualified?

autodidact · 13/01/2011 19:12

You can't really avoid sugar in a healthy balanced diet though- loads in fruit, milk and dairy, even some in veg etc. That's before you even start obsessively reading labels to avoid added sugar.

Children may be entitled to free dentistry on the NHS but finding an NHS dentist is a nightmare. The only one we found with places in our old area was very nice in person but offered a 2nd class service to NHS patients. She wouldn't even send out appointments to NHS patients. You had to remember the check ups 6 months ahead of schedule. She said if we wanted letters sent out we'd have to join her private clinic.

autodidact · 13/01/2011 19:13

x post, duchesse.:)

duchesse · 13/01/2011 19:14

Either that or you're a really fast typist, autodidact.

lovelyopaque · 13/01/2011 19:16

It is unfortunate that the OP's DSD is not eligible for the free care she would like. It is possible that the consultant said "need", which really meant "in an ideal world". We can't see her so we don't know. Perfect teeth are not a necessity, but really deformed teeth would be awful. There are lots of things I wish could be funded. DH and I both spend a fortune on glasses and eyecare which we really need. I did not love wearing glasses as a teenager, but I also understand there are funding limits. OP, only you know how really necessary it is, and if it is essential, I hope you find a way through.

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