Metal Mouth Message Board

As a kid I never cared for braces and had no desire to wear the things, but at the age of fifteen I changed my mind. I was babysitting a four year old boy who innocently asked me "When did you lose your front tooth?" in front of my friends naturally there was an awkward silence my friends seemed at a loss for words and I blushed in embarrasement. Ever since that moment I have been self cautious about my smile. I began to notice that when I talked people would look at my teeth instead of my face. I have a huge gap between my two front teeth and its far from unnoticable.

My dentist suggested an orthodontist who I recently visited just last Wednsday for the free evaluation. The estimated price is $4.200. The job will take approximatly 16-20 months to complete. I only have 1/2 that amount saved up and my parents said they cannot afford to make payments. I feel like I could cry sometimes I want them sooo bad. I want a part time job, but that is out of the question. I attend college now and my parents do not want anything to affect my grades, so I must wait..I have been waiting for 4 years.At this moment I feel really depressed what should I do?

Keep saving.... they are a pain but the results are well worth it.

This summer, get a job and save as much as you can. That could get you close enough to make a reasonable down payment and budget out the payments at a rate you can afford.

There is another concern. What year are you in college? If you start now, will they be off before graduation? Not a good thing to be limited in your job hunting by needing to be near your ortho.

Good luck!

Mike

Depending on the college you go to, you might be able to have the college's orthodontic school do them for a lower price. I'm getting mine through Ohio State's dental clinic and they've been awesome so far. The head of the department looks over them before they're "in place", but they're about half the cost of regular braces because grad students do them for training.

I am in college right now also Most orthos understand that people cannot pay all at once and generally offer a payment plan. Mine was estimated at $4832 and then 1000 was taken off assuming insurance would pay it. I paid a downpayment of $958, with monthly payments of $191.60 for 15 months. Now I have to pay the other $1000 because insurance won't cover me because I'm over 18.
If you have half saved up, thats enough for the downpayment and quite a few months of payments. You don't say anything about your other finances (such as how you are paying for college or if you have monthly bills or anything) but if you can work a part-time job, you could probably save up enough money to pay some each month. [Say 200 per month. Thats 50 a week. At minimum wage, you could make that working only 10 hours per week. Thats only 2 hours a day! Most schools are very accommadating about working around student workers schedules, and also can help you find a job. Working on weekends is even better if you don't have anything else to do because on some campuses its hard to find students willing to give up their weekend. Now, with all of this said, this scenario is assuming you don't already have a job, and have no other expenses. )

I really hope you find a way to get what you want, and if you want any more of my advice (although I'm not sure how helpful I am) you can message me.

Good luck!

A couple of possible options -
1. Try talking to the staff at your orthos office. I'm sure they've helped many people in your situation before and have many resources available to them
2. Not sure what your college situation is like but there is usually some money to be made with helping others that are struggling with grades. Check the schools bulliten boards for money making oppurtunities. Not necessarily a job, but maybe helping others to improve there study habits.
Hope this helps and good luck. don't give up, something will come up !!!!!

Not sure where you're at but in my area there are a lot of Orthodontists that offer free consults. You might want to meet with a few more and ask them about payment options.