To think if your child needs an NHS orthodontist, and cant go private, the appointments are during term time only from 9.30 to 3pm

[LieLikeALoungeroomLizard]

So either pay thousands or your child will have to miss school in year 10 and 11

Surely this is bloody unethical

To miss an hour or two of school?

Like housing it’s a sellers’ market. Almost 4o years ago when I had braces it was the same, appointments during school hours.
With my ds I often used to get lunchtime appointments on my day off (much to his disgust )

Basically Willling and able to pay 1000's great get treatment out of school hours

Unable to or unwilling to pay that much

Well your child will need to lose out on their education

That was my experience (X2). But all other parents were doing the same, and it was only once every 6 weeks, lots of appointments were in the school holidays. It wouldn't have been worth paying thousands to not have to go in term time.

It made me furious. Every bloody year at the start of year parents talk the HOY would say that they had to be done outside school hours and the orthodontist would refuse. In our case it was Y12 and Y13 too. Those were slightly easier though due to "free periods".

No NHS appointments allowed in school holidays

@LieLikeALoungeroomLizard

No NHS appointments allowed in school holidays

My two both had an NHS Orthodontist who did appointments all through the year including school holidays. We are in Worcestershire. Might be worth you shopping around?

Lunchtimes not an option either
No NHS from 11.30 and 2pm

If at all possible, pay private. I've paid £3000.00 for my daughter's blocks and now braces top and bottom.

All appointments are after school but most importantly, her treatment started when she was 11. She's 13 now and well on her way.

This is a 12 month wait to be seen too

Mine is almost 14

That doesn't sound like a normal arrangement but even if the Orthodontist works full time / 9-5, most children will still need to have their appointments during school hours.

School absence for Orthodontist is generally authorised, and does not need to be a full day or even half a day (depending on distances). DD missed around 1 hour max. She's yr 10.

I think you'll find the problem is that after the initial appointment, if you need further work, you book on the day of your last appointment. So all the good future appointments are taken months in advance. No new patient is getting that golden 4pm on a Tuesday slot.

Her regukar dentist has only just referred her a few months ago

@LieLikeALoungeroomLizard

Lunchtimes not an option either No NHS from 11.30 and 2pm

Could you look at other NHS Orthodontists? It sounds like that one operates quite differently to around here. all the Orthodontists the children at the DC's school went to did appointments whenever.

DD went to a busy NHS clinic that served a big area. Her orthodontist only worked on a Thursday morning but we did get some appointments that fell in the holidays. We used to take her timetable with us and try and schedule the appointment to be outside of key lessons.........it's only a few hours/lessons over a year!!!! If you can make an appointment any day Mon - Fri then you can work around key lessons.

How frequent roughly do these appointments tend be. ? And how how long ? Like

Time wise and
If you or your dc needed the how long overall was the treatment ? As in months or years ?

Seems fair to me. They need to earn a living and, like everything in life, will prioritise those who pay. If it’s any consolation, even private treatment is two-tiered. So we pay about £400 less per year and have to do the school hours thing. We’ve paid for two kids, the other’s teeth were crowded enough and she qualified for NHS treatment. A good chunk of my annual leave gets eaten up with orthodontist and other appointments.

Sounds similar to here. NHS orthodontist appointments are during the school day. (I can't believe though that there will be none in the holidays - purely because when I had braces I went through a phase of having to go every 2 weeks to have them tightened up....)

I coped with missing school - it didn't hurt my education. My son will have to deal with it too..... His first appointment is next month. I am so pleased. We have been waiting 2 years.....

IIRC we had two years of appointments every 6 weeks (about ten minutes in there) with DC1 and 18 months with DC2. A few more and longer ones right at the beginning with moulds and photos etc.

I had term time orthodontist treatment for over 10 years. As long as the appointment isn’t always the same time and therefore always affecting the same lesson, it’s really not a big deal 🤷🏻‍♀️

Length of treatment: every 5-8 weeks over 1-2 years, depending how bad it is. We pay about £2.5k in monthly instalments.

@LieLikeALoungeroomLizard

No NHS appointments allowed in school holidays

So, that is an NHS Schools dentist! And yes, they only offer appointments term time, school hours. Even 40 some years ago I had to take a morning off school, travel 20 miles in the wrong direction to get to the dentist and then backon another bus to get to school. I even got an extended bus pass to cover it!

Cousin's kids do something similar now! We are a snaggle toothed family

What makes my blood boil even more is she's been going to a nhsdentist every 6 months sinceshewasaabby even though she's never had any problems
Just so that she could bean NHS patient
Shedoesnreven have a filling

So she's been to the regular dentist about 27 times in her life