Ortho Prices and NHS?

[lucy23]

Hello everyone,

When I was a very young child I had a fall which broke many of my baby teeth and also caused my adult teeth to be crowded, uneven as well as an overbite. I asked my dentist for braces for many years when I was around 13- but my dentist refused saying that my decay rate was too high and it wasn't worth it! I then went to a NHS orthodontist who said my front teeth 'may have a week root' so they wouldn't give me braces. Instead they sent me home with a retainer which did nothing except wear a groove into my front tooth- hardy an improvement! Since then i've lived with rubbish looking teeth, not a good bite and problems with my jaw.

I'm now 20 and I have been intending to have veneers to correct my uneven smile for a while now. However after a consultation, it was recommended that I would get better results if I were to have braces 1st!
Since i am now an adult this will cost me thousands of pounds! Looking back now I feel that when i was a child the my dentist and the NHS didn't want to give me the FREE braces that I was entitled to, and now I want to correct my teeth to the way they should've been, I'll have to pay them LOTS of money- which i cannot afford (i'm only a poor student!)

My question is, does the NHS offer adults braces for free or a reduced charge, and also in a timely manner? Or is there any way to get braces privately and recoup any cost sinces it is a continuation of treatment from when i was younger?
Or am I just going to have to wait many more years till I can spare a few thousand pounds!?!

Any info welcome!

[Dr Sepehrara]

Hi

Unfortunately the NHS will provide orthodontic treatment only to a small number of children and adults. Patients with severe problems are more likely to get orthodontic treatment under the NHS. Therefore not all children and adults can get NHS orthodontic treatment.

If you don't fall in the right category to receive NHS ortho treatment, you will have to consider having the treatment privately.

If cost is an issue, you can consider finance to help you spread out the cost.


I hope this helps.

Best of Luck

Raha

[Dr Pav Khaira]

Dear Lucy,

It is impossible to say what the circumstances were when you were younger and so its not possible to comment. The NHS does still occasionally pay for adult braces, but as with all cases will only pay for very severe problems. Even many children now are being refused brace work as their teeth are "not crooked enough".

If you were suitable it would depend on your local waiting list for the NHS. Your first consultation may be a few months or years away and the same again to start treatment. There would not be any way to recoup costs if you decided to have private work done

Unfortunately there is not simple answer to your question

I hope this helps

Kindest regards

[lucy23]

Thanks for your info!
I'm thinking that the situation of not all children being given braces if they want them is quite a recent situation- as I can remember probably around half of the people I went to school with having braces!
I suspect that if I pushed it I could probably eventually get NHS braces, however with the long waiting lists and the treatments probably not being the most modern, then it is not an option either.
I will now look into the private orthodontis options. Since I am older now, I would want either braces fixed behind the teeth or invisible ones. But i would also really like the method to be as quick as possible- as well as the most cost effective way- Not a lot to ask then!
Thanks