Braces in the UK when living abroad?

[dasza79]

Hi all!
We live abroad, left the UK a few years ago. My partner works for a British company and pays UK taxes and NI as well.
Both kids need braces, which are somewhat pricey where we live. I'm curious whether it's at all possible to get them in the UK and how to get round it? We still have an English address we use for some purposes (banking etc).
To clarify - I'm only thinking about it becasue we do pay our NI in the UK, I wouldn't do it otherwise.

Unless your children have terrible teeth they will not qualify for dental work on the nhs. Secondly, braces need appointments every 6-8 weeks, if you live abroad how will that work? Lastly, if they do qualify on the nhs, good luck with finding an orthodontist with space!

You can’t. You’re not ordinarily resident in the UK.

I can't see how this would work. Ignoring the are you actually entitled as the children are not ordinary resident.
even if refered at the same time they might not hit the top of the waiting list at the same time, they might not get allocated to the same provider. They will be on a 6-12week recall, not necessarily in synch with each other. How will you manage emergencies? What about when the clinic cancels at short notice? You won't get much choice of appointments times, is it going to be financially viable to travel over for an appointment on a Wednesday morning when you take in to account time off work/school?
The only option I can see being vaguely possible would be teen Invisalign with remote monitoring to reduce but not eliminate face to face appts, which would be private only so likely not financially much better once you take into account the travelling that would be needed.

So, I'm not devoted to the idea of doing it in the UK, it'd be a bit of a pain in the ass logistically, not sure if it'd be worth the effort. The dad is more keen, any solid infor that would deter him would be appreciated - like long waiting lists, issues with appointments, etc etc. Daughter's teeth aren't bad, it's the son mostly, he's got those giant gnashers that won't fit in his mouth, dad had his incissors removed, the dentist says they don't do that any more and recommends a palate extender.
Thanks for the answers so far. Residency wise I think it could be arranged (shady, I know, but I don't feel it being morally wrong - Ni is being paid and none of the services have been used since we left...).

How expensive is it where you live? If you're coming over every 8 weeks for appointments, wouldn't the cost of that offset the free treatment? Also, it would be a pain if you had to come over for a broken braces appointment, eg if a wire breaks between appointments. It happens and needs fixing.

Very long waiting lists - approximately 2 years. Issues if you something breaks and you need a quick appointment.

Yes to the long waiting lists - it's 18m to 2 years around here, and you only qualify if your teeth are judged to be bad enough.

My dc had to be referred to an Orthodontist by their dentist. Not sure whether you are able to refer yourself probably not for NHS treatment. Yes appointments are 6 to 8 weeks during school hours. I disagree that teeth have to be really bad to get treatment for free. My 3 dc all had braces for free and I wouldn't say theirs were too bad.

Wait lists for NHS treatment can be very long, but is dependent on where you live. We were referred to our local orthodontist by our NHS dentist and if you don't have one of those I'm not sure how you'd get referred under the NHS system. Anyway, local service was a 2-year wait, we got offered an appointment in the next area over, which was quicker, so we took that. We had to go for an initial appointment to see if DS qualified. They said yes he did, but then changed their minds and said it was borderline, but they'd decided no. So then we had to decide if we were prepared to pay or not. We decided we would, so then another appointment was made for fitting and we have to return every 8-12 weeks for checks, wire changes, etc. It would be difficult to manage from overseas and again, I can't see how you'd be able to access NHS orthodontistry if you aren't referred by an NHS dentist.

My kids were referred by nhs dentist, then nhs orthodontist made separate decision whether to treat on nhs. One qualified, two didn’t. As well regular appointments they also need to go at v short notice if something breaks.
NI is a fairly small amount of the tax you’d pay if you were resident, and will presumably also give you a right to a uk state pension. The idea that paying it would qualify you to get free uk orthodontic treatment is nuts.

There are set criteria for what qualifies for NHS orthodontics

https://www.solent.nhs.uk/media/1689/wessex-ortho-iotn-rag-jan-17.pdf

If you are in IOTN categories 1 or 2 you won’t qualify.

In terms of the legalities, if you falsely claim to be resident in the U.K. when you are not, irrespective of whether you have retained a U.K. property or pay national insurance, you have committed an offence and can be prosecuted. Even if not prosecuted, you can be pursued for payment for the treatment.

@Ellerby83 was that a few years ago? The criteria changed relatively recently.

After being on the waiting list for over 2 years my DS didn't qualify for funding so I had to pay he was seen every 4-6 weeks but there were times where we were asked to go back the next day or the following week, it was a pain due to work so I am not sure how that would work with schools/flights etc

It’s fraudulent plus completely unrealistic. You could have a bracket falling off at any time.

NHS orthodontics are terrible and your children don't qualify. Do them a favour and get good quality orthodontics where you live.

The regular appointments would be a total pain, particularly when they change them at the last minute. I have arrived at the hospital only to find the appointment had been changed and I hadn't received the letter. Meant two half days off work for one appointment and I'm half an hour from the hospital. Can't imagine how annoying that would be if you've flown in.

My DS thought it a pain when he had to travel back from uni for a ten minute appointment.

Claiming to live in the UK to access NHS treatment is fraud.

I'm afraid I don't believe that op's partner is paying UK taxes if they have been overseas for a number of years. Possible he's paying the very low class 3 amount to keep his state pension entitlement topped up.

This wouldn't work.
Firstly you aren't eligible.
Secondly the appointments are regular and additional emergency appointments are needed when bits snap all fall off.

Using an expander is a normal first step for orthodontist treatment now, my ds had this.

DH lived abroad and paid UK taxes and NI, that isn't unusual but you still aren't resident so don't have access to healthcare or university education at UK residents rates.

Did your whole family live abroad full time for several years? That is unusual!

I am not sure that “nuts” is the correct adjective. NI pays for the state pension. OP fancies helping herself to some free dentistry. I think exploitative, venal, greedy, tight, dishonest, immoral, abusive are words that I would choose.

Others have commented on eligibility etc yet I don’t understand how it would be worth it if you are travelling from somewhere else

The travel costs at some point must make it a bit pointless if you have to have regular check-ups?

My eldest DC broke her braces a load of times (argh) - you need to get that fixed pretty rapidly if it happens

Can you get some dental coverage with whatever employer you are with even if it only covers part of the cost?

I’d get a dentist there to verify whether they’d even qualify as the teeth have to be pretty bad to get NHS braces https://www.solent.nhs.uk/media/1689/wessex-ortho-iotn-rag-jan-17.pdf

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/orthodontics/

The waiting lists are very long and lots of appointments.

We paid for my sons as he didn’t meet the criteria, took around 12 months and cost around £2500 which included a years follow-up and retainers.

do you have dental insurance where you are now? If your husband is seconded to another country then I’d expect the company to provide equivalent health/dental cover to what you’d get at home. How far away are you? Even if it’s only Ireland you’re probably looking at £100 at least per trip and loosing a day of school/work per appointment.

We have twice turned up for appointments and been turned away on the spot as the orthodontist was unwell. Imagine if we'd taken a flight to be there for that day! Annoying enough to have wasted a half day's leave, missed school lessons etc.