Braces

whatatwit

I'm sure one of the resident dental bods will be on here in the evening to offer some more advice.
I can only share my own braces experience with you, there have been some threads on braces before, especially with grown up's who are thinking of/having braces.

crazyshady

Yeah i hope so!

Firefly

DS2 (14), went for orthodontic assessment today and we're on tenterhooks waiting to see if the NHS will cover the cost. Dentist spent some time pointing out all the problems in the jaw, individual teeth, alignment, etc and it seemed to me that there was a lot of work to be done however it's all borderline. Ten days to two weeks before we get the verdict on whether we have to pay.

She showed us the options and then gave the cost - £120 per month for 15 months. Ouch. I'm a single parent on a low(ish) income and although we do OK, I can't afford to take that much out of my income on a regular basis.

DS is far too money conscious, as the only way I've coped on my own is to be careful with income and expenditure and he says he doesn't want a brace as it's too expensive. I know he could wait until he is an adult and pay for it himself, but I want to do what is best for him even if that means taking a loan to pay for it. Dentist did lay the guilt trip on a bit emphasising how the NHS version isn't brilliant and the private version works quicker.

What concerned me most was that she told us NHS appointments can only be allocated between 10am and 3pm under NHS guidelines but of course private can be evenings too. I understand it's a commitment as the orthodontist is probably a 50 min drive away at that time of day. I can't expect work to let me have what will end up being a whole morning or afternoon off on a regular basis for a sustained period of time on top of our usual round of hospital and consultant appointments.

What do I do? Does anyone have any advice to offer?

whatatwit

How about trying to negiotiate a discount if you pay in full and looking for a 0% credit card?
Is there any way your son could get a job, paper round, clearing tables or whatever and then he could contribute his bit towards it and feel better himself?
As you say, getting NHS funding isn't always the solution to a problem.

Firefly

Asking him to get a job isn't really an option. He's an athlete and we have quite an intensive sporting schedule. I say "we", although I don't even posess a pair of trainers! I'm a taxi driver I guess and moral supporter. He's doing brilliantly at his school work and helps out around the house quite a bit, so stretching to an outside school job isn't worth it. His current aim could be 2012 Olympics so I don't want to jeopardise that.

I would get a 4% discount for paying up front and I guess I might be able to get a credit card (despite vowing never again) but you've got to be able to pay it back though and I couldn't do £120 a month although might manage a considerably smaller sum.

Parenthood is such a balancing act.

whatatwit

The job bit was just a thought.
I don't know how much the monthly payments would be on a loan/credit card, possibly not as much as £120 per month.
I suppose it all depends upon how much you could afford each month without stretching yourself too thin.

You could always cut the card up after it's initial use to pay the full fee less discount....honestly I'm not trying to push you into a card, just more options.

It's a shame the orthodontist is such a journey away.

Toothsmith

It does concern me a little the way the private stuff has been 'marketed' here.

'NHS guidelines' make no such stipulation on appointment times.

It is possible that when negotiating his NHS contract, he said he would provide NHS treatment between 10 and 3, as he would have to state what hours he was providing NHS treatment as part of his contract - but that was his choice, not the NHS's. Splitting hairs, I know. The bottom line is still that he does NHS work between 10 and 3, but a different orthodontist may not.

As for private treatment working quicker - that's probably true of the flashier systems, but there's nothing wrong with the more basic systems, and it might be worth asking if he'd use the NHS systems for your son, and charge you less!!! I'd be interested to hear his answer to that one!!

angeldeelite

i just took out a bank loan to pay for mine. Meant i could make my monthly repayments much cheaper.

I paid around 1500 for a brace on my top teeth but it was a fancier tooth coloured one. if you go for basic train tracks it'll be much cheaper. However, i also had to get 2 teeth removed which cost me around £100 so you need to take that in to account too.

go for it, it's the best thing you'll ever do!

crazyshady

Yeah im starting to.Though the last time i got a tooth out it was £16(apparantly was £64 but NHS now pay for 80 odd percent of everything) for the sedation injection and £18 for the tooth (back tooth) so i was quite happy at the price.Apparantly tooth extraction starts from £8.

Then again that was about 18 months ago now.Maybe prices have shot up lolol.

Firefly

Very interesting Toothsmith. The NHS option was certainly presented to us as only being allowed to offer appointments between 10 - 3 as if that was what the government stipulated. I also wondered if you could negotiate a "top-up" from NHS to private systems if you were elegible for NHS support but wanted a 'flashier' brace.

Needless to say, there doesn't seem to be much choice in our area, hence the need to travel. I will await the outcome of the assessment and then ask an awful lot more questions before committing.