Orthodontics wait times

[TutiFrutti]

Ds has been referred to orthodontics for potential braces. We've had the initial referral letter cone through quoting about 12mths for initial assessment then further 17mths for treatment to start.
He'll be 13 in Sept so potentially edging towards aging out of eligibility by the time we get there.
The letter helpfully offers the option of going private (no costs mentioned though) 🙄
Is this usual? (we're in the south of England if it makes a difference).
Can't decide whether to wait or bite the bullet.
He's a twin so really hoping the other one doesn't follow suit!!!!!

tbh
go to private for an initial consultation and go from there.

treatment I would expect 3-5k. depending on length and extend of treatment.

Oh gosh is it this long.

We have one who has started orthodontic treatment but the other we are trying to get through the referral system.

I had no idea it takes so long.

Mine are complex cases so not a straightforward at all and need hospital intervention so not affordable (or advisable?) Private.

Two of my children needed these. DD2 had them first, waited for 14 months before even getting a letter, then started treatment 2 months after that. She needed twin blocks then the 'normal' brace and all in all, it took 18 months. DD1 waited for 3 years due to covid and was allowed to have an NHS appointment at 18, due to the covid delays. Yes, she was referred late by the dentist. In the end though she would have needed head stabilizers to move her teeth so my FIL offered to pay for Invisalign (£5300 in 2021/22), which would still work even with her fairly severe issues. She's now almost at the end of the treatment and the teeth are so much better.

We are in Scotland, based on our experience that's not normal waiting times

edging towards aging out of eligibility - he won’t age out. He will age out when be comes an adult and i would expect him to be done with treatment by then, if it’s a straight forward case.

NHS waiting times are a good 2 yrs plus for our area, sometimes slightly less for dental hospital treatment but even they have a 18 month + wait at the moment! The countdown for our hospital (also in the South) begins when they receive the referral, not from when they see the patient for the initial assessment. I would recommend calling and asking if this is the same for you.

Sometimes cases can be ‘expedited’ if there is a clinical necessity so complex cases may begin sooner.

He should be fine.

Our area is prioritising according to age so no one misses out. Most orthodontics can only really be started after the teeth reach their final position and most conditions improve with growth too so best to wait for all that to happen.

When I refer I put the details of the case and it gets triaged and prioritised as necessary. I also have the opportunity to state urgent conditions that need treating or assessing right away. I to likely that your dentist will have done the same. If you're unsure, ask.

In the meantime concentrate on encouraging good oral hygiene and reducing the frequency of any and all sugars.

Ortho nurse here. Most patients nowadays don't start treatment till 15/16 due to waiting lists. 18 is the cut off for NHS orthodontics but as long as they have had intial assessment of IOTN before 18 then he will be eligible. Private starts from £2500 upper and lower fixed metal braces but varies massively.

i went private.

oldest’s teeth moved when he was 15, before that he didn’t need braces and didn’t qualify for NHS.

if we’d have waited for nhs (3-5 years in our area) he would have been 18+ when the referal came through.

also braces are better the younger they are, especially if it involves jaw realignment etc.

we have also noticed that dc’s friends who are getting nhs treatment is taking much longer as there are fewer appointments. I think dc had 4 brace tightenings while his mate was still waiting for their first. The private dentist was focused on health and cosmetics, where we’ve found nhs often does enough for the health of the teeth, but aren’t t so worried about the cosmetic result.

My youngest had really bad teeth and was referred to nhs at 11. At 14 the referral still wasn’t through so again we went private.

We’ve gone private for both our dcs. £2500 each but 0% interest for us to pay in monthly instalments which made it doable.

Both quite straight forward cases. Got braces fitted at 13, and finished around 14 months later.

Waiting times for NHS would have been 3+ years, according to our dentist.

We were referred but made the decision very early on to go private. DD had damaged her front teeth when she was 8 in a climbing accident and was so miserable with the way they looked and talked about them all the time.

It's cost us £4500 but we've been able to pay over 12 months. I can't believe how quickly her teeth have moved and she never even mentions them anymore. Kids don't seem to tease each other these days for wearing braces like I remember from my childhood.

Oh I'm so worried now. Mine needs to have her treatment started young as it's a complex case. Yet despite being seen by hospital A we need to wait for a referal to the hospital near us as she went a complicated route (direct referral not via local hospital) .

I hope it's not 2 years 😬

We were told about 18 months ago that the waiting times was 4-5 years! We’re in Wales.
DD was 12 then and we decided to go for a private assessment as we didn’t want to wait until she was 17. She’s had several appointments since to monitor growth and started wearing a functional appliance a couple of months ago, she’ll wear those for 12 months then normal braces. It’s costing us £2.8k, we’ve taken one of the dentist’s finance options. The orthodontist we’re going to is the same her dentist refers to on the NHS.

I was told 3 years yesterday (Wiltshire)

DS was referred age 11 &1/2 due to long waiting times (pre covid) he got his braces at 14 & 1/2.

We were told 12 months for initial assessment (dentist wouldn’t refer till baby teeth all gone) and then 2 years wait after that. We went private. 5k, plus an additional £600 to put right the things the NHS dentist had missed.

we’ve switched all their dental care to private now. We can’t really afford the £££ but the kids teeth are really important to us

Ds was referred late, when he was initially assessed by the orthodontist, he told us it was a two year wait but he said he was able to bring DS's treatment forward and it would be a years wait instead. Ds had braces on around his 16th birthday. (NHS). He had them removed post 18.
Every time he went for adjustments the young people in the waiting rooms were all older teens. Very rare to see a patient there that was under 16.

Dd waited just over 12 months from referral to first appointment. She has just started first part of having braces fitted age 14.

I'd chase, phone and ask for confirmation that he's on the waiting list. Ask if they ever get any cancellation appointments.

@ContractQuestion I don't think ds is particularly complex so hopefully you'll be considered sooner 🤞🏻
Thanks for all the replies, they've been really helpful. Seems to vary widely, I assume with location!
I'll give them a call Monday to see if I can get more info and maybe a handle on potential costs.

It also depends where they are on the IOTN (the scale of need for braces based on impact on dental health). I am guessing at that wait time your child is a 3. If they are 4 or 5 they jump up the queue. My DS1 was a 5 and got started with his treatment at the specialist unit at our nearest hospital within a fortnight of his initial consultation. Ds2, on the other hand was a 3 and after a year of waiting we paid for private.

We went private due to waiting times. Total cost £2500 DD11 has had her braces on 10 months now.

Totally worth her as her friends who need braces haven't even been referred yet.

@IglesiasPiggl that info isn't entirely correct. Anyone with IOTN 4 or 5 qualifies.
Only 3D Aest 6 and above qualifies and that's extremely borderline and can be subjective on the aesthetic scale.

IOTN has a letter after the number which correlates with the malocclusion which makes a massive difference on index of treatment need.

How do you find out where they are on the scale? I'll check but I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the letter

We are in the Scottish Highlands and it’s a 4 year waiting list here. Ds3 was referred by our original dentist but that appears to have gone missing. Our new dentist sent another referral two years ago. I phoned last month to check what was happening and was told that it would be at least two more years. There is no waiting list for private but we can’t afford that. Ds will be 17 next week.

My daughter is easily a 5. But the wait time is until you are first seen isn't it? So I don't think the iotn is for that is it or as you say we'd be in next week!

For my other child once we were seen initially treatment started very quickly- but we'd been on a waiting list a while (not sure how long as we'd had other appointments and operations) before that initial session.