Do all baby teeth need to be out to start orthodontic treatment for block braces?

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Our NHS Orthodontist is insisting on three remaining baby teeth to be extracted and adult teeth to be visible before they will start treatment for severe overjet of 12 year old (nearly 13). Which is not an option for my DD. Research shows these braces are only really effective between ages 11-13 so waiting for them to fall out naturally may make this option no longer viable. Our orthodontist has also said they would prefer to go direct to track braces as the NHS only finds one brace treatment. However track braces will not correct the overjet. Any advice please?

By overjet do you mean overbite with front teeth in front of bottom lip? One of our kids has clock braces to reduce a 15mm gap to more like 2-3mm. He needed his top D teeth out and 4s in to have the twin block braces he is having. He still has some other baby teeth. He was booked in to have the top D baby teeth out but as they were wobbly he wiggled them out himself before the appointment. The 4s were already visible and quickly grew in. He was nearly 13 when he had them fitted because they had to wait for him to have the right adult teeth through. Been very successful treatment and he found the braces fine to get used to.

We had to wait until all baby teeth were out and adult ones erupted with both DC.

Overjet is slightly different to overbite. Google images shows the difference well.

So are they offering to remove the teeth? That's what they did with my daughter. Both my children were over 13 by the time they got through the waiting lists and they were fine.
Also, overbites can be corrected with track braces - they use bands.

Thanks for responses. Yes they will remove baby teeth and want to wait for adult teeth to erupt before they will start treatment. But was concerned this may be a year or so and the window for effectiveness of block braces will be gone and we will have to go straight to fixed braces which don’t address overjet as effectively- or so I have read! Overjet being slightly different to overbite

Having just been down this road with my DD, our orthodontist advised we could elect to go with a twin block (top and bottom), I believe a twin block is called block braces in the UK followed by braces and bands or we could go straight to braces but instead of using bands they would use springs to fix the overjet. Our orthodontist advised that both methods would treat the overjet, it was up to us to decide which treatment option we went with.

In the end, we elected for the twin block, however that was because DD had 2 baby teeth that did not have adult teeth behind them and we wanted to wait just a little longer to see what those baby teeth would do. DD also had some adult teeth that needed to descend a little more before braces could be installed.

We had a little over 9 months of the twin block (3 of those in a holding pattern) and braces have now been on for 3 months.

Just to add, she was 12 when she got her twin block and 13 when her braces went on.

Yes they want them out and the adult teeth through

Overjet and overbite are completely different.
Overjet is a measure of the horizontal relationship of the upper and lower front teeth, normal is that the upper incisors projet 2-4mm beyond the lower incisors.
Overbite is a vertical measurement of the overlap, or lack of overlap of the upper and lower incisors.
They are indépendant of each other.

Looking at google, I suspect my child had both. The articles did say they can accidentally be used interchangeably so I don’t feel too bad that I got the terms confused! Certainly twin block braces to prompt extra growth of his bottom jaw followed by train tracks resolved his issues.

for our child once the baby teeth were removed, the adult teeth grew out enough for the braces within a couple of months but I don’t know how typical that growth rate would be. We were told they wanted to get them fitted before 13 to catch a typical growth spurt in boys at that age, as that meant he wouldn’t have to have the brace in for as long, as the jaw could be prompted to grow an additional 1mm per month on average. I presumed, although I’m not sure they actually stated this, that doing it slightly later meant having the brace for longer rather than it being unsuccessful. We were told that to fix it as an adult when growing had finished would mean breaking the jaw and having implants.

DD wears them and started just shy of her 14th birthday because the dentist wanted to wait until all baby teeth were out and adult teeth in. They monitored her for 18-ish months until they decided it was the right time. Private dentist. She’s had them for 4 months or so and dentist says her teeth are moving nicely.

Thank you, previous poster has pointed out my error and directed me to google! Our son I think had both and I admit confusion on the terms. He certainly had his horizontal relationship between his teeth reduced from 15mm to around 2-3mm using a twin block brace for around a year form just before he was 13 to just after turning 14.

2 separate things:

1. Functional appliances, (which include Twin blocks), can be used before all the adult teeth have erupted.
2. Fixed appliances can be used to reduce (ie correct) overjets. However if the overjet is severe, initial use of a functional appliance often gives a better result.

Interesting. I assume train tracks come under fixed appliances. If yes, then ours had one than the other.

We ended up going private (cost around £4,000) for a couple of reasons but we were told we were eligible for twin block braces on NHS. I hadn’t realised that might not make him eligible for NHS funding for the train tracks afterwards. I’m sorry you appear to have to choose between having one of these two options, Op when it sounds like it would be good to have one then the other. Is there anyway you can explore affording to have one privately and one on NHS?

Just to clarify that I had assumed twin block was the same as functional appliances (thanks for your post, @Maelil01) - having now googled it, I believe DD’s is a different type of functional appliance.

DS2 had twin blocks from about 11 for a big overbite of 9mm. He had some teeth removed under GA at some point during that. Then he had fixed braces. He’s now 18 and he looks like a Different person!! So brilliant and he coped well but he is very laid back. We were under the orthodontist at the hospital, the technician did most of the appointments, we knew her well by the end!! Big commitment but worth it

Will I'm 34 and had braces at 16 and still have a baby tooth in my upper pallet so no. Lol. 🥲

Why can't your daughter just have the baby teeth extracted? What's preventing that?

My ds has block braces and doesn't have all his adult teeth through yet. The dentist was keen to get it sorted. Partly because twin blocks are more effective at his age (12) and partly because protruding teeth are more at risk of damage. The dentist referred us to a private orthodontist though - not sure if the NHS might take a different view

I honestly don't know why you're asking this question on Mumsnet. Dentists go through years of training, are very specialised and are the only ones who will be able to give advice. If you're unsure serk a second opinion from a different orthodontist, not mums on Mumsnet. There is no value to asking about this issue on here. Every kids mouth and dental needs will be different and only the experts with 10 years training will know the answer