Braces

Kimitatsu

Ahh Toothsmith - just the man!!

Please could you tell me if you can get a brace for preventative measures for a child on the NHS? My son had a privayte dentist before we moved, who said he needed a brace to move his back teeth back to where they should be , to allow the second teeth to come down.

At the time the orthodontist he was under would not do it, but 12 months on, any chance? I was being quoted around £1000 for the treatment (which although I realise he needs is somewhat expensive!!!!!!!!!!)

TIA

Justie

it depends on the practice and how much space they have in their schedule and whether you need to have teeth out before ortho treatment can occur etc etc - it's a slow process though - slower in adults than in children - so it's not so much about when you start as to how long your ortho thinks it'll take to finish that I'd be asking...

NastyMatt

I have looked at "normal" braces and the cost is approx £3k for InvisAlign it's £5k.

chrisewey76

Toothsmith wrote: »

He would have the option if it were suitable (It can only deal with a narrow range of problems), and you wouldn't be poo pooed!

You would be charged privately though.

Never poo poo a private patient!!

thank you for this

Toothsmith

Kimitatsu wrote: »

Ahh Toothsmith - just the man!!

Please could you tell me if you can get a brace for preventative measures for a child on the NHS? My son had a privayte dentist before we moved, who said he needed a brace to move his back teeth back to where they should be , to allow the second teeth to come down.

At the time the orthodontist he was under would not do it, but 12 months on, any chance? I was being quoted around £1000 for the treatment (which although I realise he needs is somewhat expensive!!!!!!!!!!)

TIA

Interesting question!

The short answer is no.

Orthodontics on the NHS is now rationed to those that fall into the worst half of a scale called the IOTN (Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need) which assesses just how bad a malocclusion is.

From what you say, I would guess your child is not too bad, but the dentist/orthodontist thinks that a bit of work now will mean they will need less or no work later on.

This could only be done privately, and the downside of doing it may well be that if your child does need more work later on, then that too will not qualify for NHS funding, as it to won't be bad enough.

This is crackers! But not necessarily as bad as it sounds.

Some countries do start orthodontic treatment earlier than we tend to in this country for these 'preventative' reasons.

What tends to happen though, is that several 'little' problems tend to be corrected over quite a long period of time. So - the kid starts off with braces at 9 or 10, but the work goes on until the kid is 15 or 16, and you end up with a lot of kids that are really fed up of people mucking about in their mouths!

In this country, we tend to wait much longer, and start treatment when the kids faces have finished growing, and have all their adult teeth. This means that things often look quite way out by the time work starts, but correcting takes a couple of years and it is still finished at 15 or 16.

Personally, I think that in the vast majority of cases, the UK way is better - and if we ever get to a situation where we will be paying for our kids to have ortho treatment (Probably a lot closer than most people realise) it is much cheaper to correct things this way too.

I would be guided by the dentist/orthodontist you have now, but don't rush him into treatment.

Kay_Peel

I'm wearing Invisalign, so-called 'clear' but not necessarily faster-working, braces as I speak (or splutter!).

I am an adult and I wanted something as near to being unobstrusive as possible and these fit the bill. I'm very pleased with them, but there are drawbacks:

* First of all, the 'clear' bit. It's a thin titanium wire attached to enamel coloured lugs and looked the bee's knees when I had them fitted. A few days later I had a curry and the clips on the lugs turned bright yellow. I brushed my teeth immediately. I tried mouth washes. No matter how much I brushed them, the stain remained and I became conscious of it.

* The titanium wire came loose after about a month and I went back to the Orthodontist. He replaced the clips in a couple of minutes as well as re-attaching the wire for me. I was a new woman with unstained braces again! :dance:

I haven't had a curry since, though!

* No promises were made about how fast they would work. I've been advised that the treatment with Invisalign will take the same amount of time as the other brace.

So that's my experience. They are not clear, they are tooth-coloured and they can stain if you eat or drink certain things. The wire tends to come loose - it's happened again in the past couple of days despite all the care I take. :wall:
Hope that helps.
k.

Justie

that doesn't sound much different to having ceramics then - I thought Invisalign was completely different.* I was given a sheet when I had my ceramics to tell me what to avoid to stop the elastics getting stained (curry, red wine, black coffee, tomato sauces etc) and foods to avoid to stop breaking the brace (toffee, popcorn, corn on the cob etc). I'd always have a curry the night before my appointment so I'd only have to have a few hours with stained elastics


* and having just looked at the website Invisalign is completely different - what you have are ceramic braces by the sounds of it.

Toothsmith

I think that's right Justie.

I'm not an orthodontist, but my impression of Invisalign is that it's a series of clear plastic 'gumshield' like devices.

Each one in the series is made to a slightly different tooth position, and you wear each one for 2-4 weeks to guide the wonky teeth (Technical term there!:D) into place.

loggers_2

Kay Peel is completely wrong.

I am currently wearing the Invisalign braces. They are a clear plastic aligner. There are no brackets or metal wire or clips whatsoever. And when I eat I take them out and can eat anything I like and nothing gets stainned.

I would really recommend them and you really cannot see them.

persephona

Hello,

I used to live aborad and there I put my braces (4 month ago). Now I'm in UK (in Reading) and I don't know what should I do because the wires need to be change.

Can I go here in the Uk to any orthodont???