AnthemLights Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Her teeth are very, very crooked. Definitely she will need braces. We don't have insurance of any kind, much less dental. And right now we can't afford it. She is only 11, though, and we are saving up for it, but not fast enough. (IMO). I have heard that maybe braces before 12 or so aren't a good idea anyway. Not sure about that though. I don't have any experience in this area at all so I am wondering if anyone out there has any thoughts. I am afraid that if we wait too much longer it will end up costing us more in the long run. She has never even been to a dentist but she has very healthy, cavity free teeth....they are just very uneven. Anyone with any experience that has some wisdom for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moniksca Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 right now we are in the process of looking for an orthodontist for my ds9. He has crowding but the main concern is the underbite that is causing damage to his teeth. That is the only reason we're looking at this young of age, our dentist recommended it. This would be considered phase I treatment where he's suppose to get partial braces only on his adult teeth for 9-12mths then they come off and they wait for him to grow. and then later once all his permanent teeth have come in around 13 or so (depending on the child) he would get braces on again. I myself had a lot of crowding and had my braces on at 13 with no issues. Some of the orthodontists here have free consultations so you may be able to have someone check out her teeth to see what would be best. We've been to 2 and they both had different suggestions so we're waiting to see a 3rd. I'd recommend looking around before you commit to anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy1k Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 My son has had braces for just a few months. He is 15. We got three different opinions and they all agreed that 15 was the right time for him. We started talking to orthodontists when he was 13. They'll do a free consultation, so why not see what they have to say? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy1k Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 FTR, to ME his teeth looked pretty bad, but they were much less than I thought. His estimated treatment time is only 15 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 The fee is generally the same unless you need something special. Our ortho generally waits until all the permanent teeth are in. I doubt there is a problem waiting. You could go in for a consultation. I had mine in college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldskool Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 We are having to wait to get braces for both dd and ds for financial reasons. I am hoping that since I see adults with braces that waiting until my kids are in high school won't be all that terrible. No advice, but wanted to let you know that we are in the same boat. Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evergreen State Sue Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 My dd did phase 1 with headgear I think starting at age 11. She just turned 14 and has been out of headgear for 6 months just waiting for her 12 year old molars to come in. One is in and 3 more there, but not popped through yet. she can't get her braces until that happens. The orthodontist says she'll see her in another 6 months. Right now it is a waiting game. The longer you wait, it might cost you more. I know our orthodontist raises her rates some percentage every year. However, if your daughter isn't ready, there isn't much you can do about it. I know when our son had braces our dental office offered a no interest loan for two years through Chase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthemLights Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 right now we are in the process of looking for an orthodontist for my ds9. He has crowding but the main concern is the underbite that is causing damage to his teeth. That is the only reason we're looking at this young of age, our dentist recommended it. This would be considered phase I treatment where he's suppose to get partial braces only on his adult teeth for 9-12mths then they come off and they wait for him to grow. and then later once all his permanent teeth have come in around 13 or so (depending on the child) he would get braces on again. I myself had a lot of crowding and had my braces on at 13 with no issues. Some of the orthodontists here have free consultations so you may be able to have someone check out her teeth to see what would be best. We've been to 2 and they both had different suggestions so we're waiting to see a 3rd. I'd recommend looking around before you commit to anything. Okay, this is exactly what I was thinking about....having to do something in 2 steps and wondering if it even made sense. Especially from a financial standpoint.....I think her problem is mostly with crowding... My son has had braces for just a few months. He is 15. We got three different opinions and they all agreed that 15 was the right time for him. We started talking to orthodontists when he was 13. They'll do a free consultation, so why not see what they have to say? :) I didn't realize that the consultations were free. Is that true even if you end up going with someone else? And, if you don't mind my asking....since you went to three different orthos was there a wide variance in the price that they quoted you? The fee is generally the same unless you need something special. Our ortho generally waits until all the permanent teeth are in. I doubt there is a problem waiting. You could go in for a consultation. I had mine in college. I was thinking the worse the teeth, the worse the bill would be :D And that maybe we aren't being smart because there could be something they could do now that would help with the crowding thus minimizing the damage.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy1k Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 There was not a huge difference in price. We ended up going with the ortho that was closest to our house. All of the orthos we saw came with recommendations from friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyx4 Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Have you looked at dental colleges? I've called and the price was lower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy1k Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 I personally got braces at a dental school as an adult. The price WAS much lower. Often there is a waiting list and you have to pay upfront...it's a great deal, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthemLights Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Have you looked at dental colleges? I've called and the price was lower. I personally got braces at a dental school as an adult. The price WAS much lower. Often there is a waiting list and you have to pay upfront...it's a great deal, though. We live in a very rural part of Montana. Kalispell is our closest "big city" and that's 2 hours away (and not really that big). I don't even think they would have a dental college. But maybe I am wrong. I could check into it although I would be a bit hesitant about having a novice working on my dd mouth. We are saving the money and will be paying up front. No debt for us if we can help it. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 (edited) My DD8's get braces next week, they have spacers in right now. They will have two phases. First phase now for 18 months and a second phase again when they are 12-13 years old for another 18 months. For my DD's this will lessen their overall time in braces and eliminate the need for jaw surgery for one. Two phase, from everything I have been told only effects about 20% of patients, mostly where it will impact the placement or advancement of adult teeth. My older DD will only have full braces when she is 12 or 13. We also had two evaluations done before we committed, but in the end we went with the orthodontist who did all the work on my brother and sisters teeth when we were younger, I trust his judgement. Our orthodonist set us up on interest free monthly payments after the initial down payment, around here it saves about $50 to pay upfront, which wasn't worth waiting longer for my DD's. Edited June 16, 2011 by melmichigan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 I have no dental insurance either and pay my orthodontist monthly ($200/month). If I had waited to put my daughters braces on her back teeth would have come in crooked and messed up even further her bottom teeth. She had spacers in for close to a year which thankfully created enough room to avoid overcrowding. I would also take her to a dentist to have her teeth checked out before the braces go on. Just because she is not having any pain does not mean that there are not cavities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 We were told to wait until all Calvin's adult teeth (apart from wisdom teeth) were in before looking at braces. He got braces at 13 and they have worked beautifully. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negin Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I personally got braces at a dental school as an adult. The price WAS much lower. Often there is a waiting list and you have to pay upfront...it's a great deal, though. :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 For thereof my kids their actual mouth structure needed changed so it was an earlier the better thing. They will usually give you a free exam to start. I'd call around for that and get some ideas of cost and treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 We were told to wait until all Calvin's adult teeth (apart from wisdom teeth) were in before looking at braces. He got braces at 13 and they have worked beautifully. Laura Our orthodontist had the same advice. DD's adult teeth came in earlier than DS's, so she's already had her braces and is done. DS (whose teeth are actually worse with a bad overbite) will be getting them next year. We were going to do them this year, but I had to have dental surgery and that took all our FSA money. Our ortho does an interest-free loan over the course of the braces. So if your child is in braces for 2 years, you have 2 years to pay them off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 (edited) We had one orthodontist tell us we needed to pay for a model of dd's mouth before he could even begin to discuss the treatment plan, but others gave us a free consult. It's amazing how much the orthodontists vary. Also, the patients vary: my older dd needed help at an early age due to a cross bite (some of the lower teeth were outside of the upper teeth when she was biting -- the upper teeth should typically be outside of the lower teeth -- so she had a palate expander, then the braces happened much later), but dentists and orthodontists look at younger dd's teeth and say, "eh, whenever you get around to it -- probably better to wait a bit". I've had several friends do braces as adults. They seem very satisfied with how things worked out. OTOH, my nephew had them when he was in college, and he had to have his jaw broken to reshape it -- too late for a palate expander once he'd passed the point of rapid growth in his early teens. Additionally, one orthodontist pretty much guaranteed he'd need to pull 4 of older dd's teeth, while another pretty much guaranteed he'd not need to pull any teeth (and another said he couldn't tell until we paid $300 for a model of her teeth). We went with the "no teeth pulled" plan, since once the teeth are gone they're gone -- what if in later life she has something else that happens that causes tooth loss? We have a finite supply of these things. So, shop around. Start asking questions now. Edited June 17, 2011 by GailV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KS_ Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 right now we are in the process of looking for an orthodontist for my ds9. He has crowding but the main concern is the underbite that is causing damage to his teeth. That is the only reason we're looking at this young of age, our dentist recommended it. This would be considered phase I treatment where he's suppose to get partial braces only on his adult teeth for 9-12mths then they come off and they wait for him to grow. and then later once all his permanent teeth have come in around 13 or so (depending on the child) he would get braces on again. I myself had a lot of crowding and had my braces on at 13 with no issues. Some of the orthodontists here have free consultations so you may be able to have someone check out her teeth to see what would be best. We've been to 2 and they both had different suggestions so we're waiting to see a 3rd. I'd recommend looking around before you commit to anything. We ended up doing a Phase I treatment w/ braces on my dd (9 1/2 now - the first round of braces are off) because she had a lot of overcrowding. The dentist mentioned that she didn't have enough room for all her teeth coming in and so we went to consult with an ortho. He gave us a couple choices - one, to pull 4 permanent teeth to make room and then do braces later, or two, to do a 2-step treatment to move things around enough to make room for all her teeth. There's a small possibility she won't need the 2nd round of braces, but that won't be determined til all her permanent teeth are in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.