Cost of braces?

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Dd is 20yo and a student and has decided her teeth are so rotated at the back she needs braces.

When she was about 14yo we had a consultation to see if she needed braces and they said her teeth were a bit crooked but not bad enough for free braces and it would cost 3k. So we said no. As from what you can see her teeth look ok.

She reckons they’ve got worse at the back and that she doesn’t have enough room for all her teeth. I guess her wisdom teeth might be coming through. I need to make dentists appts as nobody has been for about 3 years!

I’m assuming I’m still looking at about 3k for braces. I’ve been googling Invisalign but they look even more money. Then I stumbled across a website where they send you a mould to make an impression and send you some straighteners back and it’s only £900. Does that sound like a bad idea? Not sure how effective they’d be?

Part of me feels like telling Dd I’m not paying if it’s just cosmetic. That she’s an adult and can pay herself or wait till she can.

I was quoted £3k recently by my dentist. My concern with Invisalign type braces is what happens after you finish wearing them, don't your teeth move back like mine did when I finished my childhood braces? Or do you wear them forever?

I don’t even understand the difference between Invisalign and normal ones apart from them not been as noticeable.

I've currently got braces (I'm mid thirties) I was charged £2690 all in. HOWEVER, costs are based on length of treatment and materials.

I chose the standard metal fixed braces. The ceramic versions (less noticeable) were about £300 more expensive. I also enquired about Invisalign which worked out to be about £10 cheaper than the standard metal fixed braces option but they don't offer as much control as fixed braces.

My bottom teeth were a bit overcrowded which I wanted correcting. They had to open up my top teeth so it allowed space for my bottom teeth when my mouth was closed. My fixed braces are on for 12 months (they get taken off in 3 weeks!) And then I have to wear a retainer for a year after all the time. After that, evenings only.

I had adjustments on my fixed braces every 6-8 weeks.

If the concern is about braces being noticabl, then by all means Invisalign (or other brands) is a good option but bear in mind they aren't suitable for all correction issues. I have no regrets with my fixed metal braces.

I’m doing Invisalign - it’s costing me £5k but I have complex bite issues. I was quoted the same for fixed braces but my orthodontist said she prefers the results from Invisalign so took her advise. You do have either a fixed or nighttime retainer to keep them in place after treatment.

Do not do the cheaper online version - there are so many horror stories with people ruining their teeth/bite because the treatment isn’t overlooked by a dentist or orthodontist.

I've had both styles of braces. Invisalign don't really do any 'heavy lifting' if she needs teeth removing to make space I.e her mouth is over crowded at the back then fixed braces are better. Clear retainers that are like Invisalign are used post brace removal to keep the teeth in place (worn while sleeping )

3k sounds about right. Fixed braces become more expensive if you have clear ceramic fixtures rather than metal. (They just look nicer/ less heavy)

At age 20 it's not something you should be paying for! Monthly finance is available at nearly all places now she either needs to pay for it via a part time job or wait until she's out of education and in full time work

I've just finished with my Invisalign treatment, it cost just shy of 4k. I could've had further refinements to have them 'perfect' but they're good enough and I was getting sick of wearing them. When I went to the orthodontist last week, she bonded a metal wire behind my top and bottom 4 front teeth and I've had impressions made for the clear retainers that I'll need to wear every night for the rest of my life. The treatment took a year.

We also paid £2k for our 14 year olds metal braces as the waiting list for NHS is 4 years here. She was lucky as her teeth moved quickly and her treatment took 6 months. She also has a wire bonded to the back of her teeth and has an overnight retainer.

Interesting about having to wear a night retainer for the rest of your life. Ages ago Dd was given some sort of nighttime thing to stop her grinding her teeth. She hated it, reckoned she nearly choked on it once and never used it again. I can see her teeth going back to how they were as she wouldn’t use it.

I spoke to my dentist about invisalign this week. I had some teeth removed at the back and wanted to know if they would move my teeth enough to close the gaps. She said invisalign only work on the front teeth, so only the ones you can see when smiling. Price wise, they're a little cheaper than standard braces, but more much.
Also, I agree a 20 yr old should be paying herself.

I’ve got fixed braces they’ll cost about £4K by the time I’m done. I wouldn’t touch a provider like Smile Direct with a barge pole!

The point about wearing a retainer at night is valid, the teeth will move back without it (my colleague was telling me she had braces as a teen and her smile was then perfect but without a night retainer they have moved back and she’s contemplating paying for braces again)

With either style brace you have to wear a retainer most nights. I was younger had had some complex work to straighten my teeth. Had a horrible night retainer that was metal and basically told to wear it at night. After a couple of years I stopped wearing it and my front teeth moved forward. So 26 year old me forked out for Invisalign as it wasn't a lot of work needed to be done. Dentists tell you which type of braces are most appropriate for the work you need done.
Get a few quotes.
I now wear my retainer most nights! I know it's going to be for life.
Stay away from online stuff xxx

Invisalign is great for front teeth overcrowding, but isn’t very good at the more complex stuff.

The key problem with invisalign is that they predict how your teeth “should” move, then print 20+ sets of aligners that follow that pattern. If a tooth doesn’t move as expected, then the subsequent aligners fail to fit properly and therefore aren’t entirely effective. The sensible thing to do would be to rescan and print aligners more often, but that’s expensive and the aligners come from Mexico - so it’s slow.

I did invisalign, got pretty great results in the circumstances (eventually), but would pick proper metal braces if doing it again.

I have both fixed wire retainers behind my front teeth and wear a retainer at night - and my teeth have still moved a little. I know people who have got preventative retainers to limit their teeth crowding over time - that’s one cheap way to stop things getting worse, at least.

I have the equivalent of Invisalign but from a German brand called K Line
They rescan the teeth after 10 weeks to make sure they're all moving as expected, to avoid the problem the poster above just mentioned.
They're also a little cheaper than Invisalign

I will have a fixed retainer after (just a metal wire across the back of my front teeth I believe)

Also wouldn't touch smile direct or similar with a barge pole

Agree DD should be paying for them herself - she would be more likely to keep the upkeep of it came from her pocket!

A lot of dentists do free consultations nowadays

I've got fixed braces. They are costing me 4k but I paid extra for the ceramic ones. Fixed metal braces are the cheapest option. I got mine from the orthodontist and they do payment plans.

Just reviving this read to ask whether this quote sounds extortionate for 12 months in fixed braces. The quote includes all scans, x rats, appointments over the year, fixing of the retainer strip at the end. So all in. But it’s £4900.

Is that really what one has to pay for a year in braces (in London if that’s relevant)?

That's normal everywhere.
DD is one year in to fixed braces, monthly appointments for adjusting if necessary. Started with a retainer, then fixed brace on 4 teeth now fixed on all top ones.
I'm paying £100 a month and my quote was approximately £4000 over 3 years.

My child had Invisalign. You take them out to eat and brush so it’s much easier. You have a number of aligners that you change every week or so until treatment is finished. They’re clear and barely noticeable. You have to wear them all the time apart from when eating/brushing, with the aim being 22 hours a day. You brush your teeth every time you eat/drink before putting them back in, you can only drink water with them in. When treatment is finished you wear a retainer at night, we were told every night for a year then 3 nights a week should be enough. We paid just under £4k for everything.

We were quoted £3k for metal braces if we didn’t want to wait 2 years for NHS treatment so we chose to pay the extra £1k as we knew our child would be happier with Invisalign. Definitely worth it, perfect smile now.

As for the cheaper companies that do alternatives to invisalign, I personally wouldn’t do that having seen the process start to finish. There were times that a whole new set of aligners were needed as a tooth didn’t move quite as expected or other interventions were needed from the orthodontist. Maybe it would be ok but I wouldn’t take the chance with my child’s teeth.

The sensible thing to do would be to rescan and print aligners more often, but that’s expensive and the aligners come from Mexico - so it’s slow.

My child had changes to aligners a few times, at no extra cost. And they didn’t take too long to arrive, maybe 10 days.

Yes that sounds right. I’m paying similar for fixed braces. The timeline is probably approximate there can be no guarantee that it will be just 12 Months. My orthodontist estimated 18 months but it’s looking more like two years at this stage. I won’t pay any extra for the additional time. I wouldn’t factor the estimated time period into considering whether the cost is reasonable.

I had fixed metal braces fitted for 12 months in Feb 2021. It included everything your quote included, plus a year aftercare once brace was removed. There was an initial consultation cost of about £200 and then the entire treatment and aftercare cost was £2690. I was based in Peterborough. I've been really happy with my results, my braces have been off for 7 months now.

You can go to an orthodontist outside of London if you're looking for somewhere cheaper, just bear in mind you'll need to return ever 6-8 weeks for adjustments, so it may not be cheaper once you factor in traveling costs.