Hi, could anyone please advise me/or tell me of similar experiences and what they did, please? My DS is 12 years old and was referred to the orthodontist by our dentist because alignment of the teeth was not 100%. On his original assessment they recommended he wear a top and bottom brace to correct the alignment and that he would have to have 4 (healthy) teeth taken out as he has a "slight" over-crowding. Anyway, we saw the orthodontist yesterday (very nice lady, very informative, etc) and the longshot of it was that he does not fit the criteria to have the work done on the NHS - she said it was an "aesthetic" reason rather than anything medical. Now, my son is happy with his smile and both myself and his dad think he looks just fine as he is and the orthodontist says she can foresee no medical problems as such with not having the work done. The cost would be £1,750 which is a fixed price for the braces/retainers, etc and visits inbetween. Not sure what to do... my husband thinks we are becoming obsessed with looking "perfect" but I just want to do the right thing by my son, who doesn't mind either way. Obviously I am not going to let the money part stop me as I would go out and work extra if I had to in order to pay for them! What would you do? Anyone had a similar experience? Just for info, his actual teeth are fine, no fillings, dentist says teeth are very healthy. Sorry for long post. Thank you.