Teeth straightening/Braces on NHS?

emd1987

Hi,
When I was younger, around 14, I had a braces on my top and bottom teeth for around 9 months. This worked for around a year and my teeth were perfectly straight but my teeth have gone ridiculously crooked again, my two bottom and top canines stick out a lot and are terribly crooked, to where they are actually putting pressure on the small incisors on the bottom teeth making them also crooked. My teeth generally are in very good health, my dentist only needs to see me once a year because of this but how crooked they are really gets me down. Could I get a treatment on the NHS such as braces now that I am 22 as it did not work for me when I was a child?

Thanks

dieselhead

Unfortunatly I think the answer to that question is probably no. Others will be along soon to give you more help but I understand that 99% of the time once you are 18 all ortherdondic treatment has to be paid for. I think there are some exceptions, and there are a couple of people on here over 18 having NHS ortherdontic treatment but I think that there has to be real danger to their dental health first.

There are a couple of dentists on here who should be able to give you better information!

socrates

You could go to one of the places where qualified dentists study to become orthodontists.

Its free but they are not yet qualified.

My son attended one in London - our dentist quoted £2500 for the work - all it costs us was travel expenses and a large tub of Roses Chocolates at the end of the treatment

Just a thought...

tbs624

There is an Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) used to assess eligibility for NHS treatment for under 18s but AFIAA once an adult you have to pay.

Were you given retainers to wear after you stopped wearing the brace?

Maybe try Socrates' suggestion? Buy em' a bag of apples though;)

Toothsmith

dieselhead wrote: »

Unfortunatly I think the answer to that question is probably no. Others will be along soon to give you more help but I understand that 99% of the time once you are 18 all ortherdondic treatment has to be paid for. I think there are some exceptions, and there are a couple of people on here over 18 having NHS ortherdontic treatment but I think that there has to be real danger to their dental health first.

Sums it up pretty well!

poppyolivia

I'm 33 now and got my upper and lower braces on when I was 31, I have retainers now. I got it on the nhs because they were pretty crooked and my bite was off. I remember them saying that when Im alot older if I don't get a brace I wouldn't be able to eat with my back teeth?? So like someone said this may come under health rather than cosmetic. The waiting list here was about 2-3 years, which I thought was superb.

BUT cosmetic wise one of the orthos wanted me to go to Glasgow to get some upper gum cut (I have a gummy smile, not shaved gum actually cut bone) and gave me 6 wks to decide...I decide not to as thats horrific stuff lol (never look on youtube haha!) My usual ortho was actually annoyed I got that operation mentioned and said there was no need to go through all that trauma as my smile isn't bad.

I hope you manage to get a good outcome with it because I never used to smile, always covered my mouth with my hand....now I'm like a nutty cheshire cat..gums and all!!!

good luck xx

shimmershelly

I've just read that IOTN link which explains how they assess the need for braces these days which is interesting.
My DD (13) is being referred to an orthodontist by her dentist, but the dentist said it's quite unlikely she will get funded and we will have to get it done privately. He said only the really extreme cases get it done on the NHS and even though he considers she needs a brace we will most likely have to pay.
Does anyone have any idea of a ballpark figure for the cost we would be looking at to go private (obviously I wouldn't dream of her not having a brace if she needs one).

socrates

read thread #3 - the dentist will never tell you about this.

PasturesNew

I had a friend, young female, early 20s, attractive - no front teeth. She needed a couple of falsies but they weren't available on the NHS and she was in low paid jobs and in/out of work due to the nature of the jobs she was securing.

Poppy9

shimmershelly wrote: »

I've just read that IOTN link which explains how they assess the need for braces these days which is interesting.
My DD (13) is being referred to an orthodontist by her dentist, but the dentist said it's quite unlikely she will get funded and we will have to get it done privately. He said only the really extreme cases get it done on the NHS and even though he considers she needs a brace we will most likely have to pay.
Does anyone have any idea of a ballpark figure for the cost we would be looking at to go private (obviously I2 wouldn't dream of her not having a brace if she needs one).

I am paying privately for my DD as she didn't qualify. She has a top and bottom brace, fitted Apr 08 and still on. Cost me £2500 which I could pay over 12 month 0%. There were other options over longer periods but attracted interest but some payments were as low as £48 per month.

The Orthodentist gave me a ball park figure £1000 just for bottom and £2500 but when I had written quote it was much higher. I rang to ask if this was due to something showing up on Xray at last visit she came back and said he would do it for £2500 top and bottom.

Only DD bottom teeth looked bad. One tooth down the bottom stuck out so badly the orthodentist didn't think he could realign it without removing 4 good back teeth so favoured losing the offending front tooth. Gave us 6 weeks until next appointment to decide (she had brace fitted already fitted) but amazingly a few days later DD said "look at my teeth" and it was back in line.

Only a few more months left now and her teeth are looking fantastic. We could have just done bottom but were told it might have disrupted top teeth and we could have been back in a couple of years getting them done.

I only had 1 choice of orthodentist locally that does children as private patients (other 2 are NHS only) but I did get peoples opinion as there was more than one orthodentist in the practice.


I was given the price for the job so if it had taken longer than the 2 years quoted I would have paid the same unless something major happened. As it happens it's been quicker and more straightforward than he thought.

Also because we are paying we are strict with DD not eating things that can break her brace like chewing gum, hard apples etc. as we have told her that we have to pay extra for breakages! (I don't think we do but we want her to realise the effort we are making).

border_collie

It cost £!,200 for upper and lower fixed appliances.

We are with the BEST orthodontist in the area. He is the only fully qualified one. He is also the consultant at the hospital.