Any dentists/orthodontists who can advise?

[nonicknamemum]

I took my son (aged 10) to the dentist about a month ago. The dentist advised that he should be referred to an orthodontist as his lower canines have not come through at all and the other teeth that are there mean that there would be no space that the canines could come through into. The dentist anticipated that the orthodontist would remove some teeth to make room for the canines. The dentist also commented that my son has an overbite. My son is not experiencing any pain from his teeth. I had just taken him for a routine check-up. Anyway, I phoned the orthodontist practice yesterday as I had not heard anything from them and was told they have such a backlog of cases that referral letters from a month ago have not even made it on to their system yet! In any case there is a 12 month waiting list to see any orthodontist. So, some questions that I am hoping someone can advise me on:

1.Is it likely that a 12 month wait to see an orthodontist could result in serious problems which could have been avoided by getting an orthodontist appointment sooner? I ask because as a family we do have some savings, so whilst I don't relish the prospect of paying large amounts of money for dental treatment, if I thought that the wait was going to cause major long-term problems, we do have the option of paying for private treatment.

1. Will an NHS dental practice have only one orthodontist practice it refers to, or is it possible it could refer my son to another practice with a shorter waiting list? Or is the case that any other NHS orthodontist will have a waiting list of 12 months or more anyway?

1. If we did pay to go private and ended up paying for my son to have several teeth removed, any idea roughly what the cost might be? Would any waiting time be minimal if we did go private or might we have a lengthy wait in any event?

Sorry for length of post! Any advice gratefully received!

In my experience orthodontists usually write back to us general practice dentists for the actual extractions. The orthodontist has to decide which teeth need removing to give the best result etc. That's what you will wait for (only in my experience, each PCT is different). Some PCTs fund no NHS orthodontics at all so whilst you should be able to be seen by anyone, there may not be anyone else with an NHS contract IYSWIM.

Thanks Grumpy.

Thanks Pixie. Does anyone have any idea how likely it is that waiting 12 months will cause serious problems which could have been avoided if only my son had been seen by an orthodontist sooner? If I knew that the wait was going to cause my son life long problems with his teeth that could have been avoided, I would pay to go private. I could even find £8000 if I really felt it was essential to my child's wellbeing, but that would be a substantial chunk of my savings gone. Difficult to know what to do.

Sometimes the growth spurt and timing is important. Impossible to say without seeing him. Perhaps ask the dentist who referred you?

Thanks both. Anyone else with recent experience of private orthodontic treatment and willing to say what it cost? Would be really useful to know whether the bill would be more likely to come in near the £2000 or the £8000 mark.