Budget buster - - BRACES!!!

[Minnie_me]

My 10-year old DD needs braces, and thank God she needs them for only 1 year (just a little bit correction/crowding to take care of).

I have great insurance, or so I thought. So when they presented me with the amount of the "investment" (LOL!), and it was $4000, I figured that insurance would be covering like 60%.

My insurance will cover $750.

I see so many kids with braces --- how the heck do people afford them!??!?!

My orthodontist is wonderful, and presented us with a couple of payment options. One is interest free, and requires $850 down (after the insurance's $750)........I think that will be my best bet.

They told me about another flexible payment plan through CareCredit - has anyone heard of that?

 

[jodifla]

I think these days a lot of kids get braces who don't need them. People in recent times (well, before the recession) have had extra cash and fewer kids, so they make the kid's teeth perfect.

I have a front gap in my front teeth and a crossbite, and they wanted a lot of money to fix my teeth...my parents passed, we just didn't have that kind of cash. And it hasn't really mattered.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

Wow, I feel lucky now! We are on DD8's first phase (bringing upper jaw forward and expanding her palate). Ortho says $199 down and then, since we chose clear brackets instead of silver, $102 a month for 17 months, all interest free. Insurance is paying $2000. When she has lost all of her baby teeth we will have to do full on braces and will have no help from insurance then, unless we get new ins. Sigh. Luckily DD10 has super straight teeth.

 

[mjkacmom]

Lucky you. Dd14 still has hers on, and hers cost $6300 (insurance paid $1500). I go for a consult for ds13 and dd8 in a couple of weeks (already did xrays and mouth molds). Dd8 might get away with just an appliance, and ds13 came close to not needing them, but his bite shifted when his adult teeth came in, so he now needs them.

Dd10 and ds8 definitely need them, as well. Our orthontist lets us make interest free payments, and we will struggle, but pay them. Today, everyone has perfect teeth. Not doing braces for a slighty smile is like not getting braces for a snarltooth back when I was a kid, setting your child up at a disadvantage.

I had them, and my teeth are still perfect. DH didn't, and although they weren't bad when he was a kid (I knew him since the age of 12), they've shifted, and are a bit crooked.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Yes, my son's cost $6500, insurance paid $1500. We paid half and now make monthly payments.

Plus we have 4 more to go!

 

[crystaldawn]

Tell me about it lol. Our oldest ds now 12 has had two phases of treatment, although his mouth was not terrible to look at as an 8 yr old there simply was not enough room in his mouth for all of his adult teeth. His bite was "off" by a whole centimeter on each side. We ended up doing a palate expander, retainer, now braces... all together we will have put approx 8 grand into his mouth!! But we do have a flexible spending acct which helps, we do the downpayment and interest free option. I believe using care credit is more like a credit card?

Ok onto dd now 8, she has a palate expander currently as she's still in phase one. Total for both phases for her is around 5500. I got a second opinion on her mouth because I just wanted to be sure. Both orthos (different towns) essentially said that if we did nothing til she was a preteen that her eye teeth would not come down or could become impaled in her palate! At that point there would be nothing they could do. That was not a risk I was going to take.

I know that some kids are blessed with great (or even okay, functional teeth), ours are not that lucky. I also understand that some ppl cannot afford it. But to us we had to find a way...

PS we joke that if we would have had a quote on ortho work for the oldest two, there wouldn't be the younger two hehe. In all seriousness, it will be worth it in the end.

 

[monkey30]

I am not looking forward to braces, at 5 my dentist has already warned me DS#2 will need them, his mouth is tiny like mine and big teeth. I know how I hate my teeth and how I do not like smiling and showing them, so if we can help his out a bit we will.
Hoping he will just have an appliance for awhile, then when his adults come in he will get braces for a shorter period of time that way. We have already spent $2500 on dentist bills due to meds and such helping the decay process on a already weak teeth, so what another 8000 right!!LOL

 

[Frannie115]

My son gets his braces next week. $5300 for 18 mos. Insurance will cover $1000. The rest will be no interest payments.

This is when I'm glad there is a 6 year difference in my children's ages

 

[Kellydelly]

Did you get more than one consultation done? $4,000 sounds pretty steep for a 12 month slight correction job.

 

[momto2inKC]

My daughter had a good sized gap and quite an overbite, so braces were pretty much a given.
The total for hers is $5,400, insurance paid all but approximately $950, which included a $100 Sonicare toothbrush. We paid 1/2 down and have 10 monthly payments of $50 to pay the balance. That good of coverage for orthodontics is very rare I hear.

 

[amberlynnhawkins]

Honestly, I've never had any experience with braces (my teeth aren't perfect but they're OK, and my son is only 8 months old so no need for that discussion yet). I DO have a CareCredit account. If it's the same as mine, it's a credit card that's only good for medical/dental (and possibly veterinary) expenses. The card is through GE MoneyBank. I had some unexpected dental expenses a few years ago, so I signed up. At the time I signed up, I was eligible for 18 months no interest. So I paid more than the minimum (just like any other credit card) and had it paid off before the 18 months. That's all it is: a medical/dental credit card. I never had any issues with it.

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

My oldest is 15 and we are going in next Monday for a consultation. I know our insurance only covers $1000. I know my middle DS won't need them, how he got such perfect teeth is beyond me, although I am sure if I took him to the ortho, he might think differently. We had to put it off because we just didn't have the money when he was 12-13 like everyone else was when they got them. Hopefully it won't be too bad when we go.

 

[21yankees]

I'd look for a second opinion. My oldest dd had hers put on in February of 2009, they're still on. The total cost was $3200. My insurance was billed $1500. I paid $200 the day they were put on. After that I paid $100 a month on an interest free plan through the orthodontist. I paid them off February of 2010, and haven't seen a bill since.

steph

 

[indimom]

Yeah, it's pretty ugly.

We started our son's braces last year, total estimate $5,500. Insurance will pay $1,000.

Then we got a BIG surprise this month. DD has really nice straight teeth with ONE problem molar. The diagnosis: a full set of braces at a cost of $4,500. We were soooo not expecting that. We are getting a second opinion because it's such a huge undertaking for one tooth. But, if a second ortho agrees, we'll have to find a way to manage it.

I have a friend who has used Care Credit for a root canal and crown and had no issues with it. I think it can be useful for some dental care as it allows you pay off over time, but most orthos already do 0% interest payment plans so I doubt you'd have to go that route unless you get a better deal somehow???

Good Luck!

 

[HugsForEeyore]

OP - you'll love the results when your DD gets her braces off and has a beautiful smile. All worth it!!

I swear, all kids have braces today as part of the status game we all have to play - if you want your kid to go to the best colleges, and have a professional job with medical and retirement benefits, you must have perfect straight teeth. How many of us have doctors, lawyers, bosses, financial investors, etc who have a mouthful of crappola teeth? Probably not many, if any at all. You MUST have that great smile (or at least "good enough") to enter and stay in the professional world nowadays.

I pity the child who goes to their first job interviews with a mouthful of unattractive crooked teeth (I was that kid, sadly ). Since almost every kid gets braces and has great teeth, the unsightly unattractive ones stand out, badly. Our society has come to the point where your teeth show your class, and crooked ugly teeth are associated with being poor and "inferior".

My career went nowhere when I had a mouthful of crooked teeth. It defined my whole appearance and messed with my speech, unfortunately. I finally fixed them in my 30's (paying almost $10,000 with no insurance and going into debt to do it). Now in my 40's, I can clearly see I lost so much potential income back when I couldn't land a professional job that I will never catch up now (aka I will never retire). It haunts you - if I had a better appearance, things would have been very different.

Fortunately I think nowadays just about everyone understands the connection between teeth and potential careers and earnings (my parents still don't get that one ) so parents will do whatever it takes to get that great smile for their kids.

 

[sskem96]

DD 14 just got her braces off a couple weeks ago. Her treatment was $5,200. DD11 got hers 1 year after DD 14 and hers were $5,600. Insurance paid $1,000 toward each, and I put a chunk of my paycheck in my flex account to cover the monthly payments. DD 11's will be paid off in about a year, and then DH wants to start his treatment. His teeth are worse than either of the kids' were, so I expect his will cost even more. It's very much worth the cost, but it's definitely a financial sacrifice at the time!

 

[jodifla]

OP - you'll love the results when your DD gets her braces off and has a beautiful smile. All worth it!!

I swear, all kids have braces today as part of the status game we all have to play - if you want your kid to go to the best colleges, and have a professional job with medical and retirement benefits, you must have perfect straight teeth. How many of us have doctors, lawyers, bosses, financial investors, etc who have a mouthful of crappola teeth? Probably not many, if any at all. You MUST have that great smile (or at least "good enough") to enter and stay in the professional world nowadays.

I pity the child who goes to their first job interviews with a mouthful of unattractive crooked teeth (I was that kid, sadly ). Since almost every kid gets braces and has great teeth, the unsightly unattractive ones stand out, badly. Our society has come to the point where your teeth show your class, and crooked ugly teeth are associated with being poor and "inferior".

My career went nowhere when I had a mouthful of crooked teeth. It defined my whole appearance and messed with my speech, unfortunately. I finally fixed them in my 30's (paying almost $10,000 with no insurance and going into debt to do it). Now in my 40's, I can clearly see I lost so much potential income back when I couldn't land a professional job that I will never catch up now (aka I will never retire). It haunts you - if I had a better appearance, things would have been very different.

Fortunately I think nowadays just about everyone understands the connection between teeth and potential careers and earnings (my parents still don't get that one ) so parents will do whatever it takes to get that great smile for their kids.

THis is what I was talking about....in the '70s, you got braces if your teeth were really crooked. Now, parents pony up thousands for one crooked tooth! Seems over the top to me.

I wonder if that's changed in the past few years. LOTS of folks down have an extra 5 grand to plunk down.

 

[bjscheel]

Wow, I feel lucky now! We are on DD8's first phase (bringing upper jaw forward and expanding her palate). Ortho says $199 down and then, since we chose clear brackets instead of silver, $102 a month for 17 months, all interest free. Insurance is paying $2000. When she has lost all of her baby teeth we will have to do full on braces and will have no help from insurance then, unless we get new ins. Sigh. Luckily DD10 has super straight teeth.

You mention they are bringing her upper jaw forward- did she have an underbite? I ask because DD9 has an underbite and I am curious to what this will involve. We go to the dentist tomorrow and last time he said she should start something at the time of her next visit. Something she should do young, while her bones are more flexible.

He wants DD12 to start braces, she has a gap between her front teeth, but she just lost an eyetooth last month- IMO that can wait a while to see if having more adult teeth pushes it together. I had an underbite AND a gap, and it all corrected itself as adult teeth grew in. If her gap doesn't close, we'll have something done, but I am not one to push braces for little minor imperfections.

 

[CrAzY4DL]

You mention they are bringing her upper jaw forward- did she have an underbite? I ask because DD9 has an underbite and I am curious to what this will involve. We go to the dentist tomorrow and last time he said she should start something at the time of her next visit. Something she should do young, while her bones are more flexible.

He wants DD12 to start braces, she has a gap between her front teeth, but she just lost an eyetooth last month- IMO that can wait a while to see if having more adult teeth pushes it together. I had an underbite AND a gap, and it all corrected itself as adult teeth grew in. If her gap doesn't close, we'll have something done, but I am not one to push braces for little minor imperfections.

No, she has a perfectly even bite. Her top teeth and bottom teeth line up perfectly; tooo perfectly, LOL. Already you can see the difference in wear on her front teeth compared to DD11. She has a very small mouth also, already had 2 top teeth pulled 6 months ago. I'm hoping the expander will make more room because her bottom teeth are really crowded.

 

[BabyTigger99]

DS will be getting his braces in a few weeks. His are $5700. Insurance pays $1500. We have to make a downpayment of $1500, and then it will 16 payments of $170. He will have his braces for 18 months.