This is the place to post general questions and comments about all areas of orthodontic treatment. Before you post a question, use the forum's SEARCH tool to see if your question has already been answered!
New Members: YOU MUST MAKE A POST WITHIN 24 HOURS OF REGISTERING OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED. In other words, don't sign up unless you plan to actively participate in the message board immediately. This is necessary to keep out spammers and lurkers with bad intentions. Of course, you can read most forums on the board without registering.
DO NOT POST FULL-FACE PHOTOS or personal contact information on this website. We have had problems with people re-posting members' photos on fetish websites. Please only post photos of your teeth, not your whole face. Keep your email and your personal information private. Thank you.
Let me introduce myself, i am Dawn, 22yrs old from England and considering getting braces
I went to an orthodontist when i was younger but was too scared to get the treatment but now am starting to regret it, i hate having my picture taken because of my smile and i always think how much i would hate my wedding pictures (if i ever got married!) with my teeth!
My main concern is the money side, can any english people help me out on this? I can afford to pay a monthly amount but not sure if most places make you pay upfront, i can't afford £2000 in one go!
My ortho needed 20% up front. I pay monthly on the remaining balance. Most ortho's that I have heard of let you make payments. Good luck on getting started!
Congratulations on considering braces. When I read your post I thought 'I can relate to that'! I hated having my photo taken for the same reason. Although delaying the treatment for far too long, I haven't regretted it for one minute. I am also in England and my ortho asked for a deposit followed by 18 monthly instalments. There was the option to pay in full which gave a slight discount. I really hope that your considerations lead to treatment.
Good Luck to you.
Julie
[/url]
Jun06 Lower brace on
Aug06 Root Canals completed
Mar07 Upper Brace on
July08 Braces off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had the upper brace fitted on Thursday, the lower one to be done in about 6 months. I am paying monthly payments only, no deposit. The only costs I've had to pay so far are for the appointments, which total about £220, it makes it a lot more achievable..
I am from Bedford in East Anglia, about 50 miles north of London.
I have a dentist appt on 16th May with a new dentist (i am a bit useless with dentists, i join then forget to go and get kicked off the books! ) and am going to talk to her about it then....if i don't chicken out!
The orthodonist that I was referred to by my dentist wanted to extract 3 teeth and I was only given the option of metal brackets, he didn't even take any measurements or moulds.
I found another one on the internet, it is 30 miles away, but the consultations were £10 less a time and they are a lot more professional. He did everything well and thinks everything can most likely be done without a single extraction.
I'm not sure how much I trust my dentist now...
I called one orthodontist who a friend went to when we were younger and even though they only take on private adult patients you still had to be referred so i will see what the dentist says first before i keep looking.
Hi there,
I can't tell you about prices except mines costing $5900AU approx.
But your story interested me, because you pretty much have exactly the same concerns as me, as well as the wedding pictures concern! My advice, GET THEM. I was too scared for years and years, and now im 20 and although Ive waited too long, I think mentally I am capable of getting over the esteem issue! (it also helps to have a boyfriend who loves you and wouldnt leave you over such a trivial issue!)
But yes, get them, whats a couple of years in the long run with the end result! Everyone comments about how fast the years are flying by these days, itll be done before you know it.
I haven't got them on yet, but i have to get extractions first, which all has to be organised around certain events, but after that its full steam ahead. Also, go and see an ortho and get the ball rolling asap, you probably feel like youve already waited too long like I feel, so just get in there and go for it.
Goodluck, remember the support network that is in this forum as well!
Thanks Ava . I am probably going to go for it, luckily i have a boyfriend who will support me although he thinks its a little weird so at least i don't have the dating worry lol
hi, i'm from england too (staffordshire) and have been going through treatment now for over a year so hopefully i can help...my payments are monthly and interest free, initially i was gonna take out a bank loan for the full amount and then pay that off monhtly but it turned out there was no need. my practice has split my treatment into 3 parts to work out the payments...the moulds, extractions and removable appliance cost me approx £100 per month for 6 months, next stage fixed braces (i chose metal for both top and bottom), the payment for these has worked out at approx £230 per month for 12 months and then the last payment stage will be for tooth reshaping, retainers, whitening etc etc (i could work out the exact cost but we haven't got there yet so i'm not too sure). i'm sure all ortho's work differently and charge differently but this seems to be working out ok for me. i was unhappy with my smile for a long long time although to be honest it was never so bad anyone else would have even noticed...and at first i wouldn't even CONSIDER getting braces, it was only when i made enquiries about veneers that i started to seriously consider it after the practice i had consulted suggested them. i had my extractions last march then wore a removable upper retainer for approx 6 months before getting fully braced, i've now had my fixed braces for approx 6 months also and the time really has flown. it's likely i'll only need another 6 months before the braces come off and i move onto retainers. like has been said, it is a minimal amount of time to correct a problem you'll otherwise have to live with for the rest of your life...also the money aspect, it's costing me in total probably about £4,500 - such a small investment really for a healthy pretty smile for the rest of my life (i'm hoping it'll last longer than a car or similar! ) self esteem wise i have to be honest and say that for me yes, it has had an effect but i know it will be worth it in the long run and for the most part i really don't mind people seeing me with braces. i was in a steady relationship when i got my fixed braces on and my boyfriend was very very supportive and it does make it easier not to want to go out to meet guys to date! (boyfriend loved the braces, couldn't imagine me without whem after a while, thought they were cute etc etc). if you think you'll end up getting braces one day then it may as well be as soon as possible because the sooner you start, the sooner you finish and the sooner you will have a gorgeous smile to be proud of! anything i can help you with at all then feel free to pm me or email me, i don't know as much as a lot of people from this site but i can certainly tell you all i can about my treatment and my perspective from living in the same country. good luck!
I would definitely go for it as well. Same story with me as some others..thought about it and procrastinated and wish I had done it sooner! I am still having a WTF moment cause I got my lowers yesterday and am still coming to terms with how rotated they really are. If I had started when the idea first came to me I would be done by now and as you said ....spending the money on my wedding instead!
Funny story..I had two consulations and called to let down the loser.I had actually lost confidence in her but she assumed it was her price.She actually started bargaining with me as to how I could pay.I was trying to be polite by not going into the details of why I lost confidence so I simply declined.She went on to actually drop her deposit requirement further!! She seemed ready to take whatever I had to give her. Believ me it was tempting but I was not willingto compromise my treatment for a bargain payment plan. The other ortho was cheaper overall anyway lol.
Well i have been to the dentist today but i didnt ask about the braces as didn't get a chance. Was told i need my filling sorted (which i knew anyway) and that i was getting gingivitis so had a good clean and told to floss!
Anyway am back in 2 weeks for a filling so will ask then.
She said 1 of my wisdom teeth was through and another was following so quick question....would i have to wait for my wisdom teeth to all be through anyway before i could get the braces?
Also i have a tongue bar so am guessing that will defo have to come out if i want braces??? (dentist gave me a telling off about it today )
Hi lilmissmup, great that you've decided to get treatment!! About the wisdom teeth, well, let me start off with I didn't even know I had them until I had an x-ray done. Obviously for me, they are still underneath the gums and have not come through. My dentist told me I should have them extracted as soon as possible, recommended the summer when I don't have classes. Initially, when I heard this, I was very disappointed because I thought I needed to take those out before I can get my braces on. But, I had a consult at my ortho's and they said it wasn't a problem and that I didn't need to have those extracted beforehand. She even told me that with braces and getting the bicuspids extracted, it'll help for those to come through. So, I don't think you need to have them extracted beforehand but I'm no professional so talk to your ortho. Dentists want to try to get as much money from you so they'll recommend certain procedures but they don't necessarily have to be done right away.
Well the wisdom teeth thing is definitely a case by case basis. I did not have to take mine out for treatment but was told if I waited much longer to have the treatment I would definitely have to. I had a friend who went through full treatment in her teens and was told near the end she needed to get the teeth removed to mainatin her arch sinc ethe teeth had just started coming in .Of course she never bothered and her teeth moved so she ended up rebraced for another two years in adulthood.
As for the tongue ring, yeah I got a bit of roughing up from my ortho as well. She said she would prefer If i took it out. However I am mysteriously attached to it and did not want to. I compromised with her and explained that in my case my piercing was done at a deep angle so it does not hit the gumline on the inside of my teeth. It settles in the fleshy area in bottom of my jaw and I have never had problems in terms of biting down on it, gum irritation etc. She was concerned that the dynamics of the tongue movement with the piercing might conflict with the treatment which can cause changes in your tongue placement and bite. Our final compromise was for me to get a soft , flexible fully plastic retainer barbell that was shorter. That way it should not cause any tongue thrust issues and it would not have metal parts to damage the braces hardware. I must admit I am currently cheating cause the ring I have on now is plastic with one metal ball, no wait, its all metal.LOL. But thats because after stocking up on retainers from ebay I ate like 3 of them this week. Not the whole barbell but the oring that holds it in place sometimes slips off under heavy chewing( and sometimes spontaneously) and its hard to find it in the pile of mush once its gone. I will be a good girl and put the right one back in ..soon
) and am going to talk to her about it then....if i don't chicken out!
. I am probably going to go for it, luckily i have a boyfriend who will support me although he thinks its a little weird so at least i don't have the dating worry lol 
)
About the wisdom teeth, well, let me start off with I didn't even know I had them until I had an x-ray done. 
