Orthodontics - I have questions

[voluptuagoodshag]

On last visit to dentist he said that if we were thinking about a brace then now would be the best time. We said well ok we'll think about it and were referred to orthodontist who pretty much summed up what dentist said. Teeth are slightly overcrowded but nothing serious. A brace could be worn for 12-15 months with retainer for six months afterwards to straighten out a bit. £1800 thank you very much as it isn't serious enough for NHS treatment.
A bit of research shows that the fitting of braces has increased 20 fold over the last 2 decades. Certainly when I was at school, braces were only fitted to people with obvious issues with their teeth. Also, most fittings nowadays seem to be on girls rather than boys.
My questions are:

• are slight orthodontic issues more cosmetic than anything else?
• if so, should I be discouraging vanity stuff in the name of equality and all that?
• is this good value for money?
• does the outcome of slightly straighter teeth justify the discomfort and hassle of wearing a brace for this length of time

From what I can tell, her teeth look perfectly fine. Perhaps in the future withdrawal of a wisdom tooth might be required if teeth got too overcrowded but it seems like a huge cash cow playing on the guilt of parents not doing best by their child.

Bump!

YANBU. Once you use orthodontics you need to use retainers for life (at least couple of times a week), else it's all undone in a matter of months. Why all this hassle if there is no evident problem?

I think it depends on the impact it will have on her. My teeth were 'purely cosmetic' with overcrowding. I absolutely hated them. The bottom ones actually hurt because they pushed against each other. My parents spent £3k (including a cap and a crown for missing teeth) on them 20 years ago! I am eternally grateful that they did. One of my false teeth fell out recently and I was incredibly self-conscious. You can't put a price on a confident smile!

It might be worth shopping around price wise and to speak to other people who have used the orthodontist but personally, I'm glad I had them.

What does your dc think? Would they like braces? Can you easily afford?
If Ye decide not to go ahead now it can be corrected when older.

Aged about 12, and I was given the choice of two treatment options or doing nothing, discussed with parents and orthodontist. I chose to do nothing as there was no immediate health issue, the appearance didn't bother me, and I knew that orthodontic treatment was also available to adults (so the option would still be there in future).

I'm now in my 30s with noticeably wonky teeth that still don't bother me, though they are a bit hard to clean.

No advice to offer, but doing nothing was the right choice for me.

Thank you - this is good advice. I'll keep bumping for more. We can afford it but just have concerns that it's perhaps not the best way to spend £1800. She wasn't in the slightest worried about her teeth or had any concerns about them until the dentist mentioned it and even now that we have visited the orthodontist, she wants to make an informed decision.

I think so. We had one dentist who said oh your teeth are actually quite fashionable to my dd (think gap between from teeth) and that dd could probably get braces but she also wouldn't need to.
Next another dentist refers her and we go in and sure enough she needs braces for many reasons which I am sure are real but also I think she's probably ok without treatment. So we start and then before long after moving again we are now forking out loads more money to pay for something that if we had left alone she wouldn't have had perfect teeth but probably would've been absolutely fine. Yes I think it's more cosmetic these days too.

I would absolutely pay for this. Whether 'slight' or not I think teeth are so so important. Not only in terms of a person 'good looking' but also healthy and confident (the better your teeth, the more you smile, the more you smile, the more other people engage).

As someone who had 'ok' teeth after some half hearted orthodontics as a teen, I wish more had been done!!