orthdontist fees

[jojo64]

Am I being unreasonable to think £4.2k is a lot of dosh to get a kids' teeth straightened?

Yup. It can be over £6000 if you go for the coloured tram tracks every time.

Sounds about right. I paid 4k for my son rather than wait the 2 years on NHS.

Think we paid around £3000 for ds's, but it wasn't any extra for colours. DD qualified for nhs (phew!) but was also able to pick colours. Had heard that they weren't available on nhs.

They're not available on the NHS here, (silver only) and if you have to pay, you pay extra.

I'm dreading this as dd and ds both have squinty teeth due to their baby teeth not wanting to fall out while the adult ones have already grown in wrongly. I keep hearing everyone is borderline here and it needs to be approved but my dentist reckons they will be classed as non cosmetics.

Great DD1 has just been referred to the Orthodontist, she already costs us enough :)

BEWARE that many orthos don't tell you it call all become entirely undone when you get to about 22 and your wisdom teeth come in.

I had various ortho treatments from age of 7 to 17 then went off to uni and had other things to worry about (and no money) and my wisdom teeth slowly pushed my teeth all squinty again

fluffy we didn't have to wait for NHS. The only thing we had to wait for was for all the baby teeth to have come out and the adult teeth through - exactly as it was for ds and his private treatment. In fact, the latter stages of dd's treatment have been with the private orthodontist (same practice) for free! Not quite sure why but am not quibbling.

Teeth can try to work their way back crooked regardless of wisdom teeth. Hence nightguards and a retainer strip fitted on the back of the top front teeth once the tracks come off.

In my area it is a 2 year waiting list which would have been during my sons gcse's so we thought let's just get it all out the way before he really gets into his appearance and girls etc. But yes the treatment seems the same was a timing issue.

We paid just over £3000 for DD. I'm a bit anxious now I've heard that sometimes they revert back after the wisdom teeth come through. £4.2 does sound rather over the top, have you had more than one quote?

I had my teeth straightened when I was a teenager and I had my wisdom teeth removed at the end of my treatment to avoid them pushing in. My teeth are still nice and straight.

Forgot to say it's expensive but worth it.

It's bloody tricky this.

I had loads of stuff done when I was a kid. 4 years of treatment in all. 2 weeks after finishing I broke my front tooth (you can imagine my mum's delight at that!)

Then various things over the years, like wisdom tooth extraction, and pregnancies left me with gaps and a horrible smile.

I got it all fixed again by orthodontist for a price of £3.5k (which my dear old mum insisted on paying for because, bless her, she felt it was her responsibility which it wasn't!!)

Finally they're better than they ever were but the difference now is that I've been fitted with a permanent retainer behind my top 4 front teeth and I have to wear plastic retainers every night in bed.

You need to tell your teenager that they'll HAVE to wear their retainers or the teeth will move and I can imagine trying to get them to do it will be a task in itself. YANBU!

My DD2 gets coloured ones on NHS and we had no wait at all so lucky. We were told it would be around £3500 for same sort of thing privately. It is outrageous but worth it. Told my kids to be dentists

5 years ago:
DC1 - 3.5k for what was mainly cosmetic ortho work, 18 months duration iirc
DC2 - 4.5k for fairly major work (complete misalignment, but not severe enough for nhs to pay), approx 2.5 years.
DH was not a happy bunny....

why could you not get NHS?

Oh just seen ignore me I am multi tasking and skim reading

we are nearing the end of train tracks and i want to ask thoe in the know about the retainer. do you all get a permanent one then? and another plastic gthing at night? I can't see ds doing anything, he is sick to death of the ortho, the brace the lot!!

just hoping the permanent retainer may be better.

He is nhs btw in case it makes a difference.

I know this doesnt help but maybe there is a bright side.

Just be glad its not so bad you will need your jaw broken and reset, teeth removed and years of braces after that.....

I know its a huge amount of money and I feel for all of you having to pay, but I think Id rather face a bill than the looming crud Im facing with dc with pretty horrid surgery.

Exactly fallenpetal.
I was under the impression that if a teenager needed braces eg misalignment or teeth not " coming down" they were treated on the NHS... Like my daughter.
Otherwise if the work is for cosmetic reasons, it would not be covered under the NHS and would therefore need to go private.

Wisdom teeth or not, the teeth will revert to be where they were genetically destined to be. Bonded (permanent) retention is the way forward. Wisdom teeth don't push the other teeth, it may feel like it but it's not the case.

Have a look at IOTN for NHS guidelines on treatment.

My ds has the bonded retainer on the back of his upper 4 front teeth (which was another £120 on top of the other bill) and has to wear a plastic guard at night also. He has been very good about this, despite being 15 (!) as, having been through the angst of having the traintracks, he doesn't want to waste the effort and have his teeth regress.
It has surprised me the number of people who just assume that orthodontist treatment is covered by the NHS. When I was whingeing about paying for ds's, loads of people said to me, "oh well my dcs go to an nhs dentist." So did we, for normal dentistry, but braces are considered as cosmetic (and therefore to be paid for privately) unless it is severe enough (and the criteria are tougher than they used to be) to be considered a medical necessity, as in, damage could be caused if the teeth are not straightened. There's no fudging it either. Our dentist said she had to submit all measurements and details for him to be passed and he just would not qualify.

It's a lifelong investment, well worth it.