Private or NHS treatment for a child's braces

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After a 2.5-year wait and two cancelled appointments, my daughter finally had her first consultation with her orthodontist.

He advised that her jaw was misaligned and that she had crooked teeth. He said she would need two procedures:

1. Twin Block Appliance – Removable appliances that will help align her jaw correctly. She will need to wear them all the time, except when eating and brushing her teeth. She will need to wear them for 9–12 months.

2. Fixed Braces – Once her jaw is correctly aligned, she will need fixed braces to straighten her teeth.

He mentioned that this treatment has a success rate of around one in three, as children often struggle to wear the appliances because they can develop a lisp and find them painful.

He suggested a private alternative called Invisalign Mandibular Advancement, which combines the two treatments. He said it would be slightly quicker, less painful, and braces won't be as visible. Plus, my daughter will be able to remove these when brushing.

The cost is £5,500.

Has anyone's child had the standard NHS treatment or the private alternative?

£5,500 is alot but the dentist do offer 0% financning & its quicker and I could get appointments that better suit me, as the NHS option would mean I'd have to take 1/2 a day every 2 months of work.

'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences and whether you think the private option is worth it.

AIBU to consider paying for this. My employer is making job cuts and this will be a massive chunck of our monthly spend but if its x2 as effective as the NHS option, then maybe I need to work something out

Both my dc had braces.

they hurt when tightened. Being visible wasn’t an issue for them as half the year had braces at pretty much the same time.

i didn’t want to pay for private if i could get nhs.

my dc also needed teeth removing.

I would go for a second opinion OP.

But to me - 5.5k is such a huge chunk of money that my child would have to suck it up and wear the appliance.

Also I'm an adult who went through a jaw surgery + braces procedure and it was my understanding that fixed braces do provide a better ability to do adjustments.

Also I had to wear an invisalign type tray 22/7 after I finished with my braces and it's actually very annoying to pop the tray in and out every time I wanted a drink other than water or food. So I'm not sure how much better it really is than the twin block appliance.

Ds had the first treatment with twin blocks and fixed. Tolerated them well, no speech issues and has lovely teeth, all on NHS. Although any remedial work on the fixed retainer is private and not cheap.

NHS worked for me

The other thing to consider is that you will need appointments every 6-8 weeks. Some orthodontists only see NHS patients during school hours, saving the afterschool and holiday appointments for paying clients.

DS1 was going to have the twin blocks but ended up with a fixed brace with hinges/springs to pull his jaw forward. He knew a kid with twin blocks who spat everywhere so was willing to go for a more invasive (and less popular) option in case the blocks were the reason for the spitting, even though the orthodontist claimed not.

I also negotiated the price - do you have any other children? I found turning up with 3 kids who would need treatment brought the cost down.

I’ve gone with Invisalign for my DS aged 15. He’s a few days in and getting the hang of it nicely. He has an open bite and overjet. The alternative was extractions… or jaw surgery when he’s older. Our NHS orthodontist said no to Invisalign, so I went for private.
My eldest also had Invisalign, he had overcrowding and a narrow palate… the difference is unbelievable. It took nearly 2 years but it was worth it, and worth every penny.
I’m not rich! My mum has paid for both boys using payment plans. We are very thankful!
I would also say get a second opinion. I’m very lucky with my local private orthodontist, she is amazing. It’s worth finding a place you can really trust.

We used nhs.

We lived locally and could arrange appointments to miss PE.

But if you went private you got access to the after school times.

As a 40 year old, im just doing invisalign and its cost me all in, £3300 at a private dentist. Missed out on braces when i was younger as parents were useless but my teeth overcrowded with a narrow top area and jaw misaligned. Im half way through and really recommend it. My dentist offered 0% loan

NHS all the way. Private they can charge whatever they like.
I don't have DC or braces but I needed a treatment, and a friend did. Same procedure. Mine was £300 in nhs Scotland, friends was ,£2200 private England.
So if you can get something in nhs then private is too expensive

My son is having similar treatment. The twin blocks weren’t ideal but he got used to them and in the end the 9-12 months was actually only 3 and then he moved to fixed braces. I did ask about private options but our orthodontist gave the opposite advice to yours. Said the twin blocks/fixed braces would give the quickest result and given that there’s pretty much zero stigma these days with braces, questioned why we would want to do anything else

i was facing exactly this with my kid. Shopped around and got the Invisalign for £3.5k from a really highly reviewed place (and happy so far - we’re halfway through). Found that the place that did NHS plus private were the most expensive and least flexible in terms of appointments etc. do find out how much the private would cost elsewhere before deciding

I’m a dentist. My DS is 14 and had twin blocks for a year and is nearly at the end of fixed ortho - 2 years.
He’s coped really well, even though blocks are not fun.
I’d try the NHS option first if it were me, and only pay for the Invisalign if your child can’t tolerate twin blocks.

First option. I think the dentist is being a bit cheeky tbh.

Twin blocks are hard at first, but within a week are ok. Removed to eat and clean. My child's 9-12 months was actually 19 weeks, and he was compliant. Reduction from 17mm to 4mm.

We've just started private Invisalign (including mandibular advancement) for our 11 year old. For us it was partly time out of school - the NHS place is a 30 min drive and only does NHS appointments in school time and I didn't want him missing half a day of school for each appointment. So far we're very happy with it.

He said that once we go down the NHS route, it wouldn't be possible to switch to private and use Invisalign because he would have gone through puberty and it won't be possible to adjust his teeth.

My DD had the twin blocks and then fixed braces but we went private because the NHS waiting list was about 2 years around here. I think the blocks made her jaws ache and the braces hurt whenever they were tightened but she's glad that she had it done.

Compliance with actually keeping the braces in is always cited as a potential issue with teenagers but my DD is now at uni and very strict about wearing her retainers at night.

I don't understand what your dentist means about Invisalign, surely it's used by mostly adults? DD's orthodontist said that fixed braces worked better than Invisalign for teen mouths.

We were "lucky" that DD's teeth were considered bad enough that she qualified for fully funded NHS treatment, one of her friends only partially qualified and it cost her parents a pretty penny. We're also lucky that DH works from home the majority of the time so he can take her to appointments and make the time up after. She had fixed braces for two years and now retainers and I can't fault the treatment she's received.

Honestly, I would not trust a teen with a removable device in this case. If they get self-conscious and take them out and if you don't get the teeth out of the way and let the jaw grow before the end of puberty, you'll be looking at an operation. I had it, and it wasn't pleasant.

My dd had twin blocks - the treatment was meant to be 12 months with them and she was out of them in three. Once the teeth were moved, her jaw moved into place really rapidly. Fixed braces are much easier to fine tune than Invisalign, according to my orthodontist - you can put bands on to correct rotations, for instance.

I've had the NHS treatment myself as an adult (was bad enough to fit the criteria although it was nearly 10 years ago now and things may have changed) and cannot fault it. I then failed to replace retainers when they broke meaning there was some movement and I went with invisalign to correct it. It was absolute hell and far more uncomfortable than my train-track braces. Won't be doing that again in a hurry.

Two children, both fixed braces with the NHS. One is finished with perfect teeth now; the other just five months into treatment. Pain on tightening was managed with a single paracetamol and wasn’t an issue at all for mine.

I went for the private option for my DS. I wanted it all done by GCSE’s and they offered after school appointments. I paid £300 per month for x amount of months.