Orthodontal (sp?) work on children - do we have to pay for it?

[Guttersnipe]

Ds recently had a normal dental check up and we were advised he could do with some work to straighten his teeth and should make an appointment with an orthodontist who visits our practice.

I didn't think to ask at the time and don't really want to make a fool of myself on the phone so can anyone advise: is orthodontal work free for children or not? Ours is a private dental practice but the children are seen under the NHS (ie for free).

TIA

mine have had braces....never had to fill out forms or anything so think its nhs. as far as i know anyway..

Riven is correct; the NHS no longer offer basic orthodontics. It has to be a severe case & only the orthodontist can decide that.

It isn't the fault of the orthodontist...just the good old government moving the goal posts again.

It means that all those 'little' problems, that aren't 'big' enough to treat go un-corrected (unless parents can afford the privates fee), which can cause oral hygiene problems if brushing etc isn't up to scratch!

2k is ridiculous, Riven.

I don't think they realise (or care) that NHS dentists will have more to deal with because of this....they can barely manage under the funds they get at present.

I really don't see a future for NHS dentistry/orthodontics.

while we are on the subject - dd1 (she is 7) adult teeth are very discoloured - perfectly healthy, just manky looking - dentist has said she can have veneers when older - that won't be free will it?

Oh no, this is such a disappointing answer. Ds only has a couple of misaligned teeth - one on the top, one on the bottom, one worse than the other. I suspect that is not enough to qualify him for free treatment and £2K is well out of our range. I was so looking forward to him getting his teeth straightened as I know what it is like to have a wonky smile. I had 2 teeth extracted when I was a teen but a brace wasn't considered necessary. My top teeth are fine but on the bottom row, I have very squashed teeth and one tooth completely out of alignment with the others. I hate my teeth and hate my smile and yes, it is hard to keep them clean so they are now discoloured too. I hate to think of that lying in wait for ds.

We've been told 3k for ds.

It's worth taking him for the assessment. They score them (1 to 5 I think) on cosmetic and on dental health (overbite, displacement and stuff). dd got hers for free thank god.

Pixie -yes, they came through like that - it may or may not have something to do with a fall she had where she killed the roots of of her two front baby teeth. or it may be the result of meds taken in pregnancy

we are scrupulous to the point of militia with dental hygiene

My dd was assessed and told she needed braces. She was due to have them fitted but we moved 200 miles away (dh was armed forces). This was on the nhs.

So, different county. dd visited dentist - no chance of having braces. If we did not want her to have sticky out teeth we would have to pay.

We did pay, in the end. I think it was about £3,000.

Maybe some areas are better then others? But this was about 7 years ago, so maybe everywhere is no nhs orthodontists now.