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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think that £4055 is expensive for braces?

47 replies

Mikklehaha · 17/04/2018 12:34

I’ve just come back from the orthodontist with my 13 yr old DS. He has good, healthy teeth with long roots (I’m told this is relevant). His teeth are a little crowded so there are teeth on both top and bottom that are going a bit wonky. Apparently he doesn’t quite qualify for the NHS criteria so we have to pay privately. I was aware that this might be the case and had prepared myself for £2k at the outside. I was gobsmacked to be told that the full treatment is going to be over twice that.
AIBU to be so shocked or is this the norm?
(For full disclosure, this guy was in Tunbridge Wells btw.)

OP posts:
TinaTop · 17/04/2018 12:45

SIL paid about £5k to have her teeth straightened as an adult so £4.3k might be in the ballpark of normal...

MonkeyPoke · 17/04/2018 12:46

Shop around if you aren't happy with the price?

Marmite27 · 17/04/2018 12:47

I paid £3k in West Yorkshire in 2002.

So probably about right.

Merryoldgoat · 17/04/2018 12:48

I looked into getting mine done - £7k but mine are especially crooked.

I think the price you were quoted is definitely expensive but about the market rate for non-complicated treatment.

lonelyatchristmas · 17/04/2018 12:48

I'm just finished with mine and just for my upper teeth i paid 2500€.. don't know how much that is in sterling but expensive but so worth it..

Jael003 · 17/04/2018 12:59

I paid about £2k for my dd a few years back and she had a massive overbite and gaps.

0range99 · 17/04/2018 13:02

We were told that one of the DCs were borderline to qualify and that was the quote we were given, so not unreasonable to me.

0range99 · 17/04/2018 13:02

Posted too soon. There is a lot of work involved, numerous appointments and bits of metalwork so I don't think that they would over inflate the price.

heyhosilver · 17/04/2018 13:04

I'd say thats about average.

AuntFidgetWonkhamStrongNajork · 17/04/2018 13:23

DD qualifies for NHS orthodontistry. In fact, she was having NHS treatment, until the orthodontist lost his contract for claiming for imaginary patients retired. Now we either have to pay over 4K to start again, because after a year of treatment she still has an overbite of over 8mm he was very good as well as criminal or she has a half day off school every 6-8 weeks to go to the NHS orthodontist that we have been assigned, who is miles away.

But we can get 0% APR on the 4.5K cost, and pay it over two years, so that's just sunny Hmm

Sparklesocks · 17/04/2018 13:25

Braces are so expensive unfortunately. I paid £1600 last year just to close the gap between my front teeth, so this does sound in the right area.

Twinkie1 · 17/04/2018 13:36

Were paying 6.5k for DSs jaw to be widened and his teeth straightened plus extras we still have to pay for meanwhile like monthly hygienist visits and gum shields every 6 weeks as his teeth move.

Original poster
Mikklehaha · 17/04/2018 13:38

Thanks for your responses. I will shop around but, short of moving up north, looks like Tunbridge Wells guy isn’t far off the norm.
😏

OP posts:
RoadToRivendell · 17/04/2018 13:42

Try the private route through the NHS clinics - in West London I paid £3000 for my son's braces.

I'm not sure you should expect that it might be cheaper if his teeth aren't that bad. I don't think that's how it works, but then again I'm not an orthodontist. Wink

Archietheinventor · 17/04/2018 13:42

What qualifies you for NHS? Do they have to be really bad?

EasterBunBun · 17/04/2018 13:47

£1700 5 years ago for bottom only in similarly pricey SE town, so that’s not wildly out.

SunwheretheFareyou · 17/04/2018 13:50
Shock

DD is 10 and has over bite we have been told to go back when she is older and has adult teeth, I assumed this was free?

adaline · 17/04/2018 13:59

Orthodontistry is only free if you meet certain criteria these days unfortunately.

FlibbertyGiblets · 17/04/2018 14:00

The criteria for orthodontics nowadays is really tight. Imagine the Big Book of British Smiles #Simpsons.

RoadToRivendell · 17/04/2018 14:04

It's a 6mm gap for NHS treatment.

RosyfingeredDawn · 17/04/2018 14:06

Just paid £3400 in Surrey, was quoted about £3000 but didn't like the orthodontist. Didn't quite qualify for NHS treatment. In our case I think it was too much as it was done on 11 months and she had about 8 appointments and a few packs of elastic bands. They don't even give you mouth wash. Her teeth look lovely though.

agedknees · 17/04/2018 14:10

We paid £3,750 in North Yorkshire for dds teeth 15 yeas ago. Dd was just about to commence nhs treatment in the South when dh was posted to Lincolnshire (forces).

Lincolnshire had no money for orthodontal treatment. In fact the dentist tried to persuade dd not to have them by saying “you dont want horrible braces do you”.

So £4000 sounds about right.

ScattyCharly · 17/04/2018 14:12

Crapping hell! My 12yo just had braces done on nhs. I had no idea people paid for this type of thing. I’ve just googled and up to £6k is apparently normal Shock. I feel quite lucky now!!

MonkeyPoke · 17/04/2018 14:16

It's a 6mm gap for NHS treatment

Where do you get that figure from? Surely gaps are rare and overlaps are more of a problem? What about over/under bites?

FlibbertyGiblets · 17/04/2018 14:20

6mm overjet or underbite or crossbite, open etc, not really 'gap'. I expect Road To Rivendell was paraphrasing for ease (I would!) Google [your area] Nhs orthodontics criteria, may be slightly different.