Adult orthodontics -v- NHS

InsideInsurance

Not sure why topics are like buses and you suddenly have a host of queries on the same topic.

Sister-in-law's front two upper incisors are fairly heavily rotated/angled effectively forming a V pointing back into the mouth. As a consequence of the bottom incisors meeting the middle of the top ones they have worn away meaning that rather than 2 straight lines at the bottom she has 4 points instead (ie on each tooth one point infront of the lower and one behind).

She says she's always hated them and was teased for being a vampire which unfortunately my brother has taken to doing on occasion too.

Her current dentist is private and has suggested her having them capped but warned that they too would wear down and may interfere with her closing her mouth properly. His suggestion therefore was to see an orthodontist to have them straightened and then capped.

The orthodontist they recommended say they want £120 just to see if anything can be done and ball park total cost at £4,000 - £5,000 but warn it could be more subject to what they see.

I tried to read the guidelines on when the NHS will fund orthodontic work for adults but really couldnt see how this form of issue is rated against the scale. Anyone know?

sinizterguy

The NHS WILL NOT fund the work for an adult. There is no room for negotiation on that.

For the longer term it would be better to have orthodontic treatment rather than crowns.

There are places which will perform orthodontics for £2500-£3000. Obviously this is area dependent.

The consultation fees vary from £90-£250.

Toothsmith

Adult orthodontics is funded if the correction needed is serious enough to warrant jaw surgery. That is all though.

The above case would not qualify.

The dentist's recommendations seem sensible. The initial consultation fee is of the order I would expect. The treatment cost seems a bit high. I would give a ball park of £2500 to my patients. £4-5000 if something with a brand name like Invisalign was going to be used.

Obviously though, I've not had the benefit of looking at the teeth, so any figures I give won't be as good as those given by someone who has. And different areas have different running costs depending on property values and wage costs. City centre practices tend to be dearer than those out in the sticks a bit.

InsideInsurance

Unfortunately they live in a posh little market town in the Home Counties and everything there seems to be expensive, go 2 miles up the road and change the postcode district and prices are slashed.

Dont know about dentistry explicitly but we were looking to move there and there is a residential road that spans the two districts. For the identical house on either side of the change the rental price difference was about £150 a month, go to the identical house again further up the road and its £300. Photos showed they were all in comparable condition so it was just postcode driving it. The estate agent had even intentionally miss listed the one just inside the other postcode as being in the market town but the Royal Mail address checker showed it to not to be so

roeham

This is an expensive stuff but totally worth it. It's just a matter of finding a reasonable priced ortodontist. It doesn't have to be from the place where she lives. You usually are going once a month for check up, and depending on tratment, it last around 1 year.