Metal Mouth Message Board

I have impacted canines, one of which seemed to erupt in Feb 17 at the back of my lateral incisor but not moved since. Not sure if because it's on the move or due to gum recession, but my lateral incisor has moved in the last few years. There is not much bone now around the lateral incisor so the plan is to extract both lateral incisors and bring both canines down to replace them. It seems this movement of canines can fail so this is extremely worrying. I also have an overbite, heard 80% mentioned (no measurement, just by sight)

According to the IOTN scale that applies to children (https://www.bos.org.uk/Public-Patients/ ... s-The-IOTN) "when teeth cannot come into the mouth normally because of obstruction by crowding, additional teeth or any other cause" it is classed "Grade 5 for severe dental health problems". So how bad do things have to be to get NHS funding for adult orthodontic treatment, if a severe dental health problem is not considered? I was just told no, unless I was claiming relevant financial benefits. I would have preferred an application, even if it was refused, but cannot find any information anywhere on adult criteria. If NHS funding was approved, would that apply to my current orthodontist (who sees adult NHS patients with relevant financial benefits) or would I have to change to a hospital-based orthodontist?

Apparently there are different categories of 'severe'. Got a reply from the British Orthodontic Association, "To receive NHS funded treatment as an adult, the problem would need to be very severe usually involving surgery such as orthognathic surgery".

I asked my dentist to refer me for orthodontic treatment, which he did. Personally my teeth weren't in too bad shape, I was just unhappy with them aesthetically. The orthodontist was hospital based so I'm not sure if I could have gone elsewhere on the NHS however he was happy to treat me even though my case was mild.
As it turned out I ended up going privately anyway because I wanted ceramics.
A few people have said to me that they don't think their teeth are "bad" enough for NHS treatment but like I say, the NHS ortho was happy to treat me and my teeth really weren't that bad.
Good luck