Braces

Toothsmith

Why on earth did you start orthodontic treatment if you were planning to move abroad?

Was this move a very sudden thing? Have you discussed it with the orthodontist who started the treatment?

He will have to get in touch with your new orthodontist (When you find one) to explain his treatment plan and to discuss the case.

An orthodontist just seeing you out of the blue will have no idea what your teeth looked like 4 months ago, and what problems the chap who started your treatment was trying to correct.

All he will see is a half treated mouth, and all he can do is guess what outcome was planned.

I can't belive you would just disappear off to another country in the middle of complicated dental work!

Good luck - you'll need it!

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya my lovelies,

I have been directed here to ask if anyone knows anything about othodontic treatment.

My daughter's Orthodontist says her braces are going to cost £3000...

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

He says she does qualify for NHS treatment but the private treatment would be more effective and quicker plus she won't have to have any teeth removed.

With the NHS treatment she has to have a further two teeth - and possibly more - taken out.

I just wondered if anybody knew anything about this subject?

Cheers M'Dears. :A

Love Jacks xxx

Toothsmith

I would ask your general dentist if there is another specialist you could be referred to for another opinion.

I am not a specialist orthodontist (I'm a general dentist), so I can't say whether this is true or not, and even if I were, I still wouldn't be able to say without seeing her.

Something about it just doesn't quite ring true though.

If he were doing it on the NHS, then it would be worth his while to do the treatment that got the quickest result - not the treatment that went on for ages!!!

There wouldn't really be any advantage to him to have more or less teeth taken out either.

I just get the feeling that he is 'over marketing' his private treatments here.

It would be interesting to ask him why the NHS treatment would require more extractions than the private one. It would probably scare him to death if you actually took in a note pad and carefully wrote down his reasons!!!

flea72

i think when he says the private treatment will be quicker, it means they dont have to go on a waiting list, rather than the time it will take for the teeth to be straightened?

waiting lists for NHS braces where i live are currently about 12m, so im assuming the sooner you start treatment the easier it will be, and paying for private, means work can start now? i also think there were some new rules brought in recently, about who was entitled to braces, and if you hadnt started treatment by a certain date, then you basically have to pay?

just my thoughts

Flea

Toothsmith

flea72 wrote: »

i think when he says the private treatment will be quicker, it means they dont have to go on a waiting list, rather than the time it will take for the teeth to be straightened?

That would make a lot more sense!!

I'd had a busy day, and didn't think of 'quicker' that way round!! :rolleyes:

An orthodontist would only be allocated a certain amount of 'units' per year, and so he would have to carefully ration those to last over the whole 12 months of his yearly contract.

PCTs get a bit twitchy if dentists achieve their 'targets' too early, and then go off on holiday for a month or two in Feb/March!!!

Jacks_xxx

Thanks everybody!

I guess I was umcomfortable with the thought of just taking his word for it that the private treatment would be better - and we're still horribly in debt so £3000 would make a lot of difference to our Debt Free Date.

Our daughter is mortified that her teeth may be responsible for us taking on more debt after all we've been through with money - but she wants her hillbilly teeth sorted out, and she was there when he was so dismissive of the NHS treatment so she's wondering if it's any good.

He said that she would have to have teeth removed to make room for the equipment not because she has over crowding - I asked him about that twice - but I still don't know what he meant really.

I never had braces so I've no idea what the process is like normally.

The braces he's proposing to use if we go private are Damon ones

http://www.damonbraces.com/q02.php

And I think getting a second opinion would be a really fab idea - especially as I still have this stupid idea in my head that "if it's more expensive it must be better."

I've been reading up all over the internet about it all, but it's no clearer in my brain yet.

Thanks my lovelies!

Love Jacks xxx

Jacks_xxx

Thanks for responding Al Mac - our orthodontist didn't say anything like that.

It was basically "Well you do qualify for the cruddy NHS treatment but what you really need is this shiny £3000 jobbie!"

(Well...those weren't his exact words to be honest! :rolleyes: )
I'm going to have to go back and ask a LOT of questions aren't I?? :eek:

*rummages in drawer for official looking notepad*

Do you think he'd mind if I took my dictaphone and recorded the appointment?

Love Jacks xxx

wishiwasarichgirl

bloody ell, that seems lot for a set of braces, i had some age 12 on the nhs, absolutely hated them after 8 months and asked the dentist take them off. ok my bottom teeth are still a bit wonky but they are never noticed and at least my parents didn't have to pay for it. unless you'r kids teeth are proper horsey its probably not worth paying the extra.

wishiwasarichgirl

by the way braces are horribly painful - i had the notion they would be quite cool before i got them - i was so wrong. i couldn't eat for 2 days when i had them fitted and every time i had them adjusted, and i had months of trying to smile in photos without opening my mouth - not a good look!

Doom_and_Gloom

I had my braces on the NHS from 13-15 years old and then had my retainer. I'm now 18 and due to my wisdom teeth the teeth that were the worst before are being pushed back as my mouth is getting over crowded. I didn't have any teeth taken out and I believe they didn't account for my wisdom teeth coming through. I'm going to talk to my dentist the next time I see her and ask if I can get braces on the NHS again due to their mistake about this back then. I'm not happy with the results and after the amount of time they were on and that I used the retainer I should be happy with the results. Yes it was painful as wishiwasarichgirl said. I also had many days of not being able to eat and trying to brush my teeth was so painful it was unbelievable!! However I'll go though it again if I know that this time the results will be perfect.