I was told i needed braces as a child, I have crooked teeth I want a straight row of pearly whites, what are my options and how much will it cost ?

Q. As a child I was told I would need braces, but for this I needed to have several teeth removed as I have too many teeth. This frightened me when I was young and I refused. Over the years I have always been concious about my smile and I try not to smile as much as possible so that I can hide my teeth. Now that I am 21 I feel that this behaviour is foolish and yet I still wont smile! My teeth overlap and my canines are so prominant that I look like a vampire. I want to have a perfectly straight row of pearly whites, but I\’m unsure of what treatments I would need. I dont want to have adult braces that have to be in for years. I would like to get the whole thing over and done with asap so I can actually smile with pride to all my friends and family. What can I do to acheive this and how much will it cost me? I would like to do this as close to home as possible.

A. There are 2 main ways to achieve a beautiful smile- sometimes a combination of them both:

1. Braces. These can move poorly positioned teeth into their correct position. Depending on your problem you can have “train track” braces or ” invisible braces. In my practice we use invisalign braces to solve a lot of our tooth position problems. Once the teeth are in their improved position we still sometimes need to place veneers to improve the shape and colour of the teeth. The treatment time is usually between 6 months to 2 years.

2. An alternative approach, and one many of my patients opt for due to the speed of the treatment, are veneers. These are thin pieces of porcelain bonded to the front of your teeth. When the teeth are in a good position very little shaping of the tooth is necessary. However when the teeth are badly aligned a lot more tooth needs to be removed to allow us to give you the smile that you want. The real plus is that this treatment only takes up to a month to complete in most cases. In fact in my practice the treatment is completed in a day using Cad/Cam technology!

From a cost point of view this can range from about £3000 to £ 4000 for brace/invisalign to £10000 for veneers. Although this cost may appear high do remember that your new smile is being made specifically for you and that you use your teeth 24 hours a day! The cost is in the region of the cost of a small car but should last considerably longer! Many practices have finance available to help spread this costs over a few years

Hope this helps.

Dr Julian Caplan – Director on the board of the BACD View My Profile Dr Caplan

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