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Original poster

Parents have to PAY for ORTHODONTIC treatment

57 replies

drosophila · 17/11/2006 08:36

A friend took her DD to the orthodontist having been referred. She was told that she would need a brace (teeth overlapping) and that the NHS would not cover it. That will be £1800 they said. If it were 6 mths earlier the NHS would have paid. I was a little shocked at this. Anyone any advice I can pass on.

OP posts:
RTKangaMummy · 17/11/2006 21:04

btw I am in NW LONDON and it is private

And he is deffo brill

FredBassett · 17/11/2006 21:11

DS1 (8) came back from the dentist yesterday and was told he would need 4 teeth removed and braces + major work to his back teeth. He has no decay as his dental hygiene is brilliant, but, he was, according to the dentist, born with poor enamel on his back teeth. I was asked if it was a traumatic birth as it can cause this problem!?! Really bizarre!
Looks like we'd better start saving now - he's been referred to the orthodontist as the waiting list is 3 years!

JanH · 17/11/2006 21:21

DS2 has poor enamel on his molars and he was an elective CS - it's just one of those things I think, FB.

He is 13 now and has been having orthodontic work for about 4 years (he started early because his second teeth came through so badly, and also because his older siblings were already being treated so we were seeing the orthodontist regularly). He needed some extractions to make space, and because of the poor enamel she considered extracting the molars instead of premolars and letting his wisdom teeth come through to replace them because they might have had better enamel - only he doesn't have any wisdom teeth (curses) - so he had his baby premolars extracted, and his baby canines, and then his adult premolars, and finally we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

He hasn't needed a lot of work on the molars though - he has had fissure sealing, and one needed a tiny filling, but generally they are doing OK considering, and your DS might be the same. (His most sensitive teeth are the incisors and the enamel is OK on them...)

southeastastra · 17/11/2006 21:22

what a weird thing for your dentist to say fb! i have bad enamel but put it down to genetics as my mum had the same.

i remember reading about this coming in about a year ago.

7up · 17/11/2006 21:23

oooo janh, your poor boy to have all that done

FredBassett · 17/11/2006 21:26

That's good to know JanH. When I was little I had a plastic coating put on my molars but my DS's dentist wouldn't do this, he does seem very good though, takes his time - he even got to look in DS2's (just 3) mouth!!

JanH · 17/11/2006 21:39

It was awful a few times, 7up - eg when he had 4 top teeth out at once, and then kept rubbing his lip because it was numb, so it swelled up and he ended up looking as if he'd been in a fight!

But his front teeth came in one behind the other so drastic measures were called for, and they are nearly straight now, the difference is incredible

7up · 17/11/2006 22:14

janh,

i cant wait to see my ds when his teeth are done, his top teeth are dead straight but his top jaw is more forward by 1.5 centimetres so he looks buck toothed. really got bullied over the years

to start with the dentist said he'd need an op to move his jaw and now they rekon they can move the jaw/teeth with braces to make a "significant" improvement.

ds will be terribly upset if they are not perfect,roll on next year when he gets the braces fitted,hes so excited its quite sad

QueenEagle · 17/11/2006 22:17

dd's orthodontist told me that each dentist within a practice only has a certain amount of referrals they can make per year? I think it was.

The dentist dd had been seeing had reached her referral limit so passed her over to her colleague who will do her treatment plan and actual treatment for free. dd is only a borderline case.

2ndtime · 17/11/2006 23:27

Where do you all live??

I'm in West Yorkshire and my DD has just(Weds) had her braces, top and bottom fitted. She has been having treatment (extractions etc) working towards the braces for about 6 months.

Her teeth were not bad at all, I thought. Very similar to mine at the same age. I got by with a retainer on the top teeth only.

She is having approximately 2 years of treatment free of charge on the NHS.

If we had to pay I dread to think what it would cost!!

JanH · 17/11/2006 23:33

Most of my kids have had their jaws realigned, 7up (4 kids, all had orthodontics ) (I blame DH, he has a very small jaw!)

They do it with rubber bands - it's very clever - they have fixings top and bottom and tiny bands hooked round the fixings, towards the back of their mouths, which pull the lower jaw forwards. Magic.

They've also had spacer things between their upper teeth, where they turn a tiny key every day to push the teeth a bit further apart and widen the arch. When you look at pics of their grins when they were about 12, and then look at them now (older ones are 24, 21 and 18) you wouldn't believe they're the same children.

2ndtime · 17/11/2006 23:36

DOH! Just took the time to read this thread properly and now I realise this is not regional, but governmental!!
God bless Mr Blair. NOT.

7up · 17/11/2006 23:39

im in maidstone,kent 2ndtime

janh, must be lovely to see your kids change for the better. i had a fixed brace top/bottom and i hated it when it got tightenend up, verypainful for a day or two.

i didnt realise the braces/bands moved your jaw, sounds awful. in my naviety i just thought they moved your teeth around and mother never told me any different of course that was 20odd years ago.

i told ds that it will change his whole face when his teeth are done,hes been bullied since school so desperate for nice teeth.

JanH · 17/11/2006 23:47

That's the stage DS2 is at now, 7up - all his teeth are pretty much lined up (he's had tramtracks top and bottom for a year or so) and every time he goes she tightens the wires and he needs paracetamol for a couple of days. Last time he went he said she told him he should be finished by Easter so he is very pleased.

The rubber band thing doesn't hurt though, from what I remember when they had it - it's a constant but very gentle forward movement. The bands are about ½cm in diameter and they would have a bagful and change them regularly. You might not have had them if your jaw positioning was OK.

sandcastles · 17/11/2006 23:54

drosophila, it's possible that the orthodontist has suggested upper AND lower as when upper teeth move she could end up with a mis-aligned bite if the lower teeth are left as they are, which in itself will cause further problems.

sandcastles · 17/11/2006 23:57

RTKangaMummy, You're welcome. That is the thing with private dentistry/orthodontics...they can & do charge what they like, and I am sure these prices are & will continue to increase because there will now be many more people having it done privately. People will get into debt for this!

We are now in Oz and it isn't funded here, dh had braces and his mum & dad had to pay, that was 25 odd years ago. But we are expecting it, so can start saving now for it, but when it is just dropped on you, it's a hell of a shock. IMO, it won't be long before NHS dentistry is scrapped too...Be prepared!

sandcastles · 17/11/2006 23:59

7up, I would ring and make sure, please do it before he has his teeth taken out, unless you can afford it regardless.

Once his teeth are taken out he will orthodontics to close the spaces or they will close naturally, this will cause moe problems.

sandcastles · 18/11/2006 00:08

With regards to the birth causing the enamel problem, it's quite unlikely IMO, that this is the cause. The teeth start to develop at 6-7 weeks gestation. The adult teet at 20 weeks. The baby teeth are almost certainly finished developing before brith.

7up · 18/11/2006 07:28

sandcastles, i will ring monday, im worried now!no way could i afford it, im on a very low income and skint at the best oftimes with no savings.oh god,he'll be devastated if he cant have it done, he has such an overbite he takes ages to eat because he teeth dont meet, so its not just cosmetic

sandcastles · 18/11/2006 07:46

7up, From what you say he is under treatment already, and they usually continue the course along the same regulations, i.e if he started it as free treatment x months before the new rules came in, he will continue in that same vein...make sense?

I just want you to ask as it will be a huge shocker, but I feel it will be OK.

Let me know, would you?

Freckle · 18/11/2006 08:00

DS1 has to have a brace because he has a slight overbite (his top teeth meet his bottom teeth, rather than coming down in front of them - this is probably why two of his teeth shattered when he had an accident on holiday with the school). He was referred about 16 months ago by our dentist but was told to come back when all his baby teeth had gone. They have now so he's been back to have a mould taken of his teeth and we are on the waiting list for treatment (probably 6 months). This is all NHS - but presumable we qualify because the original referral was so long ago.

I'm not sure why people are getting so upset about children having crooked teeth. I have crooked teeth and I don't have any problem cleaning them. There seems to be an obsession with having a perfect smile - driven by the American image of all those perfect teeth, I imagine. When I grew up, lots of children had crooked teeth but relatively few ended up with a brace. Why is there this sudden proliferation of children with braces? I can't believe that it's because teeth are so much worse now than they were all those years ago.

I can understand where the crookedness of the teeth produces other problems, such as difficulty with biting or chewing, but most orthodontic work is really cosmetic tbh.

Having said that, I do despair of this government as it gradually erodes access to free treatment for so many things, as well as reducing access to legal aid which means that only the very rich or the very poor can have access to justice.

GoingQuietlyMad · 18/11/2006 08:02

7up, i saw a comment earlier in the thread that said that treatment due to overcrowding would still be free. It was only cosmetic treatment that is being charged I think. But good luck anyway, hope it goes well.

GoingQuietlyMad · 18/11/2006 08:07

Freckle, I have crooked teeth. I had a brace, but didn't wear it properly and they gave up in the end and stopped treating me before I had them sorted out. As a result I have crooked bottom teeth and gaps in the top ones.

How much I regret this now. I think I will need to get them sorted out at some stage if I want to progress my career. Once I was described as "the girl with the funny teeth".

This is why I am so upset about the loss of free treatment. Mine are much better than they would have been if I had never been treated, but I know how awful it is if they are left.

sandcastles · 18/11/2006 08:09

freckle, most orthodontic work, previously undertaken by the NHS will not have been cosmetic, the NHS simply do not do cosmetic ortho, never have & never will.

Malaligned teeth can cause all sorts of bite related problems, which can lead to difficulty chewing and to clenching & grinding. This in turn can lead to broken teeth, teeth dying as they have far too much impact on them, resulting in root canals/extractions. Trouble cleaning can lead to gum disease which can lead to teeth falling out/having to be taken out, which lead to the need for dentures/implants, which again in turn...carry their own problems.

Not to mention that clenching & grinding lead to crippling headaches. I have to wear a night guard as I grind, very badly at night. Due to not having had ortho when I was younger.

sandcastles · 18/11/2006 08:12

GoingQuietlyMad, I am afraid that it now depends on the severity of that crowding, not as to whether there is any, as previously done.

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