To make DD sell her iPad to pay for her braces?

[MinesABabyGuiness]

DD (almost 14) had a removable top braces fitted 5 weeks ago. She is notorious for breaking and ruining her things and drives me crazy with her careless attitude so I begged her to look after them. I have just found it snapped in half on our bathroom sink, next to a pair of pliers. So not an accident.

I am furious. It's £70 to replace it, which at the moment I don't really have spare for stupid things like this. Would it be unreasonable of me to get her to sell something of hers to pay for the damage? She already has no mobile phone because she has broken the screen twice and I'm refusing to pay for a third time.

Yanbu based on your OP.

Why has she removed them?

Hi OP. I'm confused, as she is 14, isn't this covered on NHS? My DD has train tracks and we don't have to pay.

Did they hurt? Was she teased?

I'd find out why before you decided what the consequence is.

So she's broken them on purpose? If you get her another pair won't she just do the same?

Have you tried asking her why she removed it?

Assuming it was deliberate, why did she break it? Did she not want braces in the first place?

That's not a careless attitude though, is it? If they are snapped in half, and pliers might have been used then it could be deliberate. You need to talk to her calmly first.

You need to find out why she was seemingly trying to do something to it with pliers before you go steaming in and threatening to sell things.

If she's not going to wear it then there's little point in anyone paying to replace it. If she was trying to adjust it because it hurt then it was daft, but not malicious.

Talk to her.

It would be a greater punishment to refuse to replace the braces and let her grow up with crooked teeth. Have you googled for images of what her teeth could like with long term without the corrective braces? You could try that and show her.

I wouldn't make her sell anything, but I wouldn't be giving any more than token birthday and Christmas presents from now on, and when she queries it, point out her present is the replacement brace.

Braces are horrendously painful. Mine were train tracks and if I could have snapped them off I damn well would.

Whose idea was it to get them? Would you be accepting if she decides she doesn't want them?

How severely are the teeth out of alignment?

So many unanswered questions begging in your OP.

You need to have a conversation, non fixed appliances can be difficult. My DD struggled with block braces, I wish she had confided about her struggles as they were a main contributor with her becoming anorexic.

Make her an appointment with the orthodontist.
Let the professional do the negotiating and haggling, not you.

She clearly does not like the brace (they do hurt after all)
Get that sorted first.

Have you asked her about them to see what happened?

And sadly not everyone gets braces on the NHS. We are having to pay privately for my DD's as the NHS won't cover them, it's deemed cosmetic so no treatment.

Just leave it. She's 14. She's old enough to have a say in what treatments she has. It's not life I'd death, just make sure she's aware of the consequences.

i wouldn't pay that's for sure.

NHS do not fund replacements for loss and presumably not for deliberate damage either.

I'd cancel the treatment, so a few harsh words about wasting her opportunity and probably future regrets and draw a line under it all.

Is it cosmetic treatment or NHS funded?

I'd just leave it.

She doesn't want it. If she changes her mind when she's older she can do it then.

Leave it, just give her a heads up that adult braces cost 4 figures (my train tracks were £3k) so if she dislikes her teeth in the future she’ll be the one paying.

Braces are horrible. They are easy to break, painful and you get teased for them. I think you need to talk to her about how they were broken before you start threatening to sell her things.
If she did do it deliberately, then hold back her allowance until it has been paid for rather than selling something. You won't get enough for selling it to make it worth it. You'll just lose out because it will be worth so much less that what you paid for it.

Are the pliers because she was trying to fix it?

@SummerRayne17
£70 is the NHS fee to replace a broken orthodontic appliance.
It doesn’t matter if the patient is under 18.
OP YANBU but the fact that your DD has taken pliers to damage her brace, tells you she is not committed to orthodontic treatment.
She’s not mature enough at the moment seemingly....give it another year, try again....may have a change in attitude.

She wanted the braces and has been happy to wear them. Hasn't been teased, apparently they are a fashion accessory now!

She has a fixed brace in the bottom and a removable one on the top. She took it out to eat and hadn't put it back in.

Have spoken to her and she says she found it broken and doesn't know how it happened, which is an obvious lie but the truth will come out eventually. She says the pliers were for her fixed brace because apparently the wire on the has broken too. Luckily we have an appointment for thursday.

Did she seem ok with her treatment plan and agree to persevere. If it is an expandable block could it be repaired? When is your next appointment due?

DH had his in his 40s because his mother said boys didn't need them and only DH's sisters had them ( if they would have been free. This would have been in the 70s, early 80s) and they cost a fortune. And it was a nuisance because he had to go to the dentist so many times taking time off work.

Much better to have braces as a child. But when you are that child, who knows...

Would she have been trying to adjust them herself to speed along the process?

Posts crossed. Can you take it to the brace clinic before Thursday so they can try to repair or remould in time for a fitting. Does she have a box to store it in while eating?

She was 100% the driving force in getting braces. Her teeth are quite bad and she had been teased about them.

I was worried she wouldn't take it seriously but she assured me she would take care of them. The orthodontist gave her a box to put them in, she has lost that too.