Adult Orthodontics on NHS

stitch88

Hello,

I know there are similar threads and I apologise for starting a new one, however I have quite a precise question that doesn't seem to be covered. Sorry also for the length!

I had orthodontic treatment when I was 12 years old - traintracks for 12 months and then a retainer. I was told to wear the retainer constantly for 3 months and then at nights for 3 months and then as and when after. It broke shortly after the 6months and I spoke to the orthodontist and he said to stop wearing it. I also have a fixed retainer behind my top front teeth. I had a very crowded mouth and had to have 5 teeth out to make room for the work to be done.

I am now 19 and my top teeth are fine (I think the fixed retainer is brilliant) and I have had no problems. My top wisdom teeth came through but as I had such a crowded mouth, it led to infections and pain so I had them extracted recently.

My bottom teeth are what are causing me problems. They have crossed over at the front quite severely (I only have 3 front teeth as opposed to 4 as my mouth was so crowded) and are causing me quite severe pain.

On top of this, my bottom wisdom teeth are coming through and appear to be shifting my teeth further out of position as there is no room in my mouth for them.

I went to see my dentist for a check up today and he said he wanted to refer me to the orthodontist again as the tooth was clearly causing me pain and needed to be sorted.

Unfortunately, the orthodontist I saw before is private only for over 18's so the cost will be up to me to cover. I have the HC2 form which allows me full cover for NHS treatment free of charge as I am on low income (being a student) but apparently this makes no difference.

Is there anyway I can see an NHS orthodontist to get this work redone? Or is it better to see my old orthodontist as it was his work that need fixing?

I really can't afford the £95 consultation fee, let alone treatment costs.

Does anyone have any experience/advice in this field?

Thank you,

Stitch.

Toothsmith

It's not his work that needs fixing. It's your teeth.

Teeth are not set in concrete and they do move throughout your life. Nobody could predict how that will happen over your life.

There are certain parameters which will qualify an adult for NHS orthodontics, but it's generally to do with jaw relationships and big discrepancies between the jaws - not just teeth being crooked.

Can't really be more specific, as I've not seen the problem, but I would be very surprised if you could get this done on the NHS.

What is it that's actually causing the pain?

Was removing the wisdom teeth discussed?

stitch88

It feels like there is a constant pressure on my front tooth (the one that is now behind the other teeth).

I am in no way saying it is a fault of the orthodontist - of course teeth move, however my brother's orthodontist (a different one) did say to me that he is surprised I wasn't told to wear my retainers for longer, due to the state of my teeth. I completely feel that he did the best treatment for me and its extenuating reasons as to why they are now causing pain but I just thought that it might be better going back to him as he has all of my notes etc?

My dentist today said that my wisdom teeth will need to be extracted as soon as they errupt more but that the front tooth needed sorting too as it is causing pain and is hard for him as a dentist to clean, let alone me with my poor Oral-B!

Toothsmith

I would say it would be better to go and see the old orthodontist, but you will have to pay to do that.

misterdave_3

I’m in a similar situation as you. Personally, I assumed that the Orthodontist himself should be held responsible and that I shouldn’t have to pay money for work that has already been done once.
So I thought about filing a claim for compensation to cover the amount for the new work to be done. I spoke to the Citizens Advice Bureau who put me onto Solicitors (ones who don’t charge if you’re on low income). They said that I would have had a case if I was under 21, too old as I’m 24 L Your best bet is to call the CAB and explain your situation, I did and it all seemed very positive until i discovered i was too old.
Good luck!

Nicki

misterdave wrote: »

I’m in a similar situation as you. Personally, I assumed that the Orthodontist himself should be held responsible and that I shouldn’t have to pay money for work that has already been done once.
So I thought about filing a claim for compensation to cover the amount for the new work to be done. I spoke to the Citizens Advice Bureau who put me onto Solicitors (ones who don’t charge if you’re on low income). They said that I would have had a case if I was under 21, too old as I’m 24 L Your best bet is to call the CAB and explain your situation, I did and it all seemed very positive until i discovered i was too old.
Good luck!

The solicitors will be experts in medico-legal matters not orthodontics though!


The reason they ruled you out was because the statute of limitations had expired, so your claim would automatically have failed.

Had you been younger, they would have passed on to the next stage, which would have been to look to see whether the orthodontist was in fact negligent. As Toothsmith, and a vast amount of other research will support, teeth move all the time, and no orthodontic treatment can be guaranteed for life, unless you wear permanent retainers (and possibly not even then).

Therefore, unless there were exceptional circumstances, a negligence claim against the orthodontist would fail.

It's a bit like wanting to sue an optician, because your sight continued to deteriorate, even after you started to wear glasses!

Toothsmith

Or suing a plastic surgeon because you continue to get old and wrinkly!!

annie_d

I have this problem with my 2 adult daughter who wore braces then retainers for years when they were teenagers and now their two top front teeth are crossing over. I appreciate it is not the fault at all of the orthodontist but it is a shame.

Toothsmith

There aught to be a law against it!!!

donteatthat

Orthodontics has massive relapse rates as basically teeth want to be where they want to be not necessarily where we put them. The orthodontist at our place always uses a bonded wire retainer to hold the teeth, or tells patients they must wear removable retainers indefinitely.
This is one of the problems with the new techniques such as invisalign etc as he tells me there are problems with retention.