Has anyone paid for their child's braces?

[Zaragirl84]

Have had a bit of a shock, told today ds won't qualify for orthodontic treatment on the NHS so we would need to pay.

Could ask to be referred elsewhere, however everywhere seems to have a minimum of 3-5 year waiting lists, and at 13 have been told that it would be much better to get the treatment now.

So we are looking at paying £4000. Has anyone else had to do this?

DS1 got his on NHS. DS2 overbite was 1mm out so didn't qualify so we chose to pay. Cost £1500 and were fitted within a few weeks, he'd waited three years to be seen at that point. They came off before DS1 too, who due to the pandemic, still has them up coming up 19 after 3.5 years!

Two of mine had extensive orthodontic work on the NHS and have amazing teeth. But the youngest doesn't qualify so we will have to pay. It's about £4000!!!!!
My eldest sons teeth were a disaster and he saw the orthodontist at the hospital for 5 years! I can't imagine what that would have cost.

Why doesn't he qualify? Is it cosmetic?

I was offered braces at around that age on the NHS (cosmetic - things were different then though and they would fund it!) I declined because I was an image-conscious teenager and didn't want to wear braces. I ended up getting them in my 20's instead and self-funded, around £3000. All was fine, and my age didn't have any impact at all on whether it worked (despite my dentist saying it would be better to do it younger).

Everyone's situation is different but I'm wondering what is the urgency, why do they say he has to have it now but won't fund it?

I think it just depends on whether his teeth are an issue for him and whether he wants the treatment. Waiting 3-5 years might not be all that bad, he will still have it sorted for adulthood.

The new thinking in orthodontics is to start braces etc much younger than the usual teen years, this helps ensure jaws align properly - starting to fix in teen years is sometimes cosmetic but the jaw damage is already done. So I would start as soon as possible if you can afford it. And go for somewhere that avoids extractions!! That’s very old school and damaging too.

And go for somewhere that avoids extractions!! That’s very old school and damaging too.

Hopefully not always the case as my son had two molars extracted. We had the option of an extraction or 9 months of a palate expander. My orthodontist said he doesn't usually recommend extractions but in this case, he felt it was a better option as the top was a tooth "out" from the bottom and the palate can shrink back after expansion.

I've paid for two which weren't quite bad enough to qualify for NHS treatment. The first was 8 years ago and cost about £3k and the second we paid extra for Invisalign so she could take them out to practice her musical instrument every day and that cost over £4K.

Last one qualifies for NHS because of having a cross bite issue. Covid slowed down the whole process - she's 14 and they only went on a few months ago. I'd love to know where these places are where NHS treatment is deemed necessary and braces applied in weeks. I'd move!

The situation as it stands is that we were referred to an orthodontist by our regular dentist on the understanding that they had a shorter waiting list. The orthodontist at our own dentist has a 5 year waiting list. However when we went for the appointment the orthodontist said that actually they only had a short waiting list to see people, not to start work.

She declined to treat him on the NHS but she didn't really say why or whether it was severe enough, she actually said that his cleaning wasn't good enough, but was ok to treat him privately? I don't feel that she explained things very well and she was just pushing for Invisalign. I did try to ask questions but felt a bit rushed and in the end she more or less ushered us out and says that the dental nurse would call us that afternoon to go over everything and answer any questions. She was keen to start work next week privately. But one has called as of yet.

I rang some other local orthodontists and spoke to some really helpful people and it seems that it's quite normal for waiting lists from 2.5-5 years, that's just to be assessed. They've all said that it's better to start work ASAP if for example an overbite needs correcting as it's easier to treat in growing children.

So I've now got him booked in for a private consultation next week. I'm not entirely sure what he will need, he seems to have some crowding of the bottom teeth and the tops are out of line. Overbite does run in our family but ds doesn't seem to be too bad but I will ask all of this next week. Hoping to be happy with this new orthodontist so that we can get him started.

In the meantime our own dentist has said that we shouldn't have to pay and they can try to refer us somewhere else, and they are going to discuss with their own orthodontist, They we're very sympathetic. I'm not holding out too much hope. I've now spoken to several orthodontist places and they all have several years waiting list. I can't imagine ds is severe enough to bump up the list.

Covid hasn't helped us I believe. Our dentist was waiting until all milk teeth were out, but after Covid ds ended up having to have some removed, thus I believe delayed the referral by several months, then of course the orthodontists have a backlog.

My 9 year old daughter has had private braces for 6 months so far. The difference in her teeth already is amazing her teeth were coming in all wonky and her confidence was already taking a big hit. She had them put on with some baby teeth still left but now only has one left to fall out. I’m hoping by the time she’s left primary they will be done she’s just going into year 5 this sept. We pay monthly but is so worth it not to have to wait a few more years.

Getting them done early is great but you'll probably need to tidy them up in their teens. That certainly was our experience

The only person I know who has paid for their child's braces is a friend whose DC's teeth looked like a movie star's and I couldn't for the life of me think what was wrong.

I mentioned to my sister who lives in Australia that my DC's were bad enough to be done for free on the NHS. She spluttered a lot - my DC's teeth were slightly uneven, her DC's teeth were growing all over the place, looked dreadful, and there was no chance of anything for free. It cost her upwards of AUD $7000 and she just have to cough up.

NHS bashing threads always forget orthodontics for kids.

Yup we have qualified for both kids. I think they just have very strict perimeters - one of our only just met the criteria.

My Dd had them done by NHS, her front top row was v cluttered with teeth overlapping. I think the braces and process was the same. The practice was always v busy but efficient, little waiting time and checkups always went to plan,

The ortho appts were all during the day as the private appts are all early morning and late afternoon.

@Twinkie01 can you tell me more please? I’ve known my eldest will need orthodontic treatment since she first cut her baby teeth as even they were overcrowded. She’s 8 and if we can start earlier I’d love to - we always knew we would self fund.

If they need tidying up that’s fine I’ll pay again her teeth were bad and she had children constantly asking why her teeth were like that not great for confidence.

The thread is really useful as I’m thinking about the same thing. DD has been referred for six months now. Been told the waiting list is 2+ years and they have offered a private appointment at the same place.

But if we go for a private consultation it means we would need to be re-referred for NHS, so back to the bottom of the list. So I have the choice to wait for how ever long or accept whatever cost it will be!

I’d be happy to pay for a consultation to understand the cost so I can make an informed decision - quite a lot of difference between £1-4K!!

[quote Boombadoom]@Twinkie01 can you tell me more please? I’ve known my eldest will need orthodontic treatment since she first cut her baby teeth as even they were overcrowded. She’s 8 and if we can start earlier I’d love to - we always knew we would self fund.[/quote]
Our dentist and a few of my friends dentists (all private who do their own orthodontistry) seem to start treatment earlier. Mine won't take any teeth out as they say it makes your face look drawn when you're older and it's scaffolding for your face so they put plates in to widen your jaw so when your baby teeth drop out your adult ones have the space to come through as straight as they can and then you don't need the train tracks on for such a long time.

DD1 has her brace on the NHS. DD2 has recently been referred by our dentist but there's a three year wait just for an initial assessment. I imagine we'll go private for her because otherwise she'll be 14.5 before we even get through the door.

My dd qualified for NHS braces. She now has lovely teeth. It took almost 2 years, mainly because I declined extractions because I wanted her to have a wider smile and as many teeth as possible. Removing healthy teeth just did not seem right, although I know plenty have had it done - me included when I had childhood braces. She also had baby teeth when her braces were on and they just put the wire over them but no bracket on them.

The main expense now is the retainers - worth it though!

Boombadoom

@Twinkie01 can you tell me more please? I’ve known my eldest will need orthodontic treatment since she first cut her baby teeth as even they were overcrowded. She’s 8 and if we can start earlier I’d love to - we always knew we would self fund.

They prefer to wait until they can ride the wave of puberty as changes in body/facial changes can speed up the process.

Sorry that was for @Boombadoom I just don’t know how to quote!!

Dd qualified for nhs treatment for hers but we still paid.

We paid to reduce the waiting time and to get appointments outside of school hours - annoyingly the nhs appointments here were term time, 9-4, where as private can have holidays and after 4pm. It also meant she could have clear braces.

It wasn't as much as £4000 though - it was about £2000 iirr (maybe a bit more) though that was about 5 years ago. We paid in instalments and the cost included two retainers for,afterwards. Her treatment was pretty full on with a fair bit of work being needed, some not,standard work which needed 'testing' - the orthodontist worked with the dental,hospital to figure some of it out.

Was worth every penny though and the treatment worked much quicker than we expected. At 19y she has beautifully straight teeth that look great.

Yes I've paid too. Can't remember how much it was upfront, but it's about £130 a month for 2 years on top of that.

I think it's worth it.

My dd did qualify for NHS braces, but she would have had to wait a couple of years - as she was 16 we decided to go private.

I paid, even though dc qualified for nhs.

They had a relatively late puberty, so their teeth were actually fine until they were 15. Big growth spurt over lockdown and teeth all moved.

Dentist still didn’t think we qualified for nhs treatment, so we paid for a private consult. Measurements showed that yes, they could have nhs treatment.

However we would have had to go back into the “system” and wait list, min 2 years before treatment, by which time they would be nearly 18 and treatment harder and longer.

So we paid. 4k. Got interest free credit, we were remortgaging anyway so got an extra 5k.

Dc2 was referred at 12 as their teeth are clearly misaligned. 2 years later still waiting.

@Zaragirl84

Can I ask those who did pay, how did you choose an orthodontist?

I wasn't really happy with the consultation we had, they were also supposed to ring me back to go through everything but they haven't.

I've now booked another consultation elsewhere with a place that has good reviews online and lots of case examples.

We went in the recommendation of our dentist. But also then knew people who used them and had been happy there. The same dentist would have done the nhs treatment if we'd gone ahead too but paying meant quicker and better options for us.