Braces

[gt84]

Hi,

Looking for some advice please.
We’ve just been told my son (14) could benefit from having braces for a year or so.
He doesn’t qualify under nhs as it’s cosmetic only and would cost £2800.
He has one tooth at the top that sticks out a little and he has one tooth at the bottom that is set back from the rest. Both are at the front and visible when he talks but they don’t look bad. He is dead set against it and says he doesn’t care how they look and that he won’t care if they get worse when he’s older but I feel he would say all that wouldn’t he? I’m sure no one wants to have braces. I never had them but have been blessed with straight teeth so I’ve no idea what it’s like to have them.
I guess I’d like some opinions on whether to force him to have them or not?
TIA

If you can afford it and you can get him to have the brace, I would definitely say yes. They will probably get worse as he gets older and be harder to keep clean etc if he leaves them. If it’s only 2 teeth they wouldn’t be on too long. DS1 is also 14, his teeth were not so bad but he just qualified for NHS treatment. Like your DS, he only has to have them for 12 months with a standard train track style brace. Within 6 months they already look brilliant which he is really pleased about. Afterwards they can fit permanent wire for about £200 at the back inside of your teeth so he won’t have to wear a retainer.

We have done for our 15 yr old, but minor cosmetic issue and his choice. We pay £250 per month

After treatment he would need to wear a retainer every night to keep them straight

If he’s not bothered he won’t do this and it’ll be a waste of money

Dd1 had bad teeth and wouldn't hear of braces at that age. When she turned 16 she asked for them and regretted not getting them sooner. But as the dental nurse said to me, if we'd forced her and she wouldn't wear the retainer after it would've been a waste of €3700.

I didn’t as a teen, mine aren’t straight by a long way and tbh I don’t care. No fillings

Thank you for all replies.
We have the money, we are saving for a house deposit so would have to eat into that.
The retainer at night, would that be permanent? I can definitely see him not bothering to wear one

As you are going to pay anyway you may as well wait. Although lots of his friends will have braces at this age which may make it easier for him.

The orthodontist said it would cost more as an adult? And yes a lot of his friends have or are getting braces now so might be easier on him

We were told DS1 wouldn’t need a retainer. They can fit permanent wire at the top back of the front and bottom teeth which keeps them aligned. This last from memory a number of years then has to be replaced. We were told £200 to have it fitted when the brace comes off.

DS1 was in the same boat, he didn't want braces and accepted that in future if he wished he'd had them he would have to pay himself.

DD & DS2 both qualify for NHS and its a massive job, requiring a huge amount of commitment from them to clean their teeth properly, lots of appointments and having to take extra precautions during PE etc. DS has had to have teeth extracted, DD is currently battling with twin block appliances which affect her speech and therefore her confidence.

I certainly wouldn't have wanted to force them into doing it against their will, especially the extraction . We discussed the ins and outs and they both accepted the amount of hassle the braces would bring and understood the benefits.

If your DS isn't happy about it, he will be really annoyed every time he has to have the wires and bands changed over, he might not commit to the extra cleaning regime needed so as not to damage teeth and as others have said, may not accept the ongoing maintenance required to make it worthwhile.

If he's happy and doesn't have issues with his confidence when smiling etc, leave him to it. If he doesn't qualify for NHS treatment it clearly isn't enough of an issue to cause problems.