Ortho Rant Ahead...

[apnep]

So,

I had my son's teeth fixed to the tune of $5K which I thought was well worth the money. His teeth are beautiful. His bite is gorgeous. Etc. etc...

The ortho put a gold chain retainer that is bonded to his upper and lower front teeth to keep them from moving. However, the top one has become loose several times and now broken off twice. I had to pay to get it reattached the first time. Oh, he also has a set of silicone trays he wears at night.

Well today, when I took him in, they gave me another option instead of the chains since "it doesn't seem to be working for him." They will make him MORE silicone trays that are laser fitted to his teeth as opposed to the other silicone trays that were just molded so that there are NO gaps between the trays and the teeth. He will also wears these at night only and they will last 5 years or more. It will cost me $400 more. I JUST paid $185 to replace the broken chain several weeks ago.

I am SOOOO irked. They KNEW FULL WELL that these stupid chains are prone to falling off so why didn't they tell me that UP FRONT and give me the OPTION?! Orthondontics is a freaking racket to me and I cannot afford to pay $200-400 everytime something goes wrong. I really feel like I am being played and it ticks me off.

So I told them, I can't drop several hundred dollars on options. They took off his top retainer and added more glue to the bottom and said he should be fine with the retainers he has now but he has to be diligent about wearing them at night. Well DUH!!!!!!

SO MAD. That's the end of my rant.

Anyone else have an experience with this? I won't even TELL you right now what they want me to pay for my daughter's teeth and her "second phase."

Thanks for listening.

 

[HM]

My DD only has the permanent retainer on the bottom and we've had no problem with it. My DS wasn't given the permanent retainers at all after he finished. They both use the plastic retainers at night (sporadically though). So far so good...their teeth still look beautiful a couple years after finishing up. (knock on wood)

 

[holycow]

ugh! I haven't encountered that yet but it sounds like we might. My DD just got her braces off. She has the same. Permanent retainers and the removable ones.

Very frustrating! I'm sure I'll be back here complaining when my DD has problems with her retainers.

 

[mollymar]

My DS14 is in Invisalign. The cost was $3500 and that included everything to get his teeth straightened. He is almost finished (and his teeth look great) and anything else that needs to be done is included in the original cost.

I would look for another ortho for your daughter if this one continues to nickle and dime you to death.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I just got my braces off last Thursday. I have the clear retainer for the top, that I wear at night, and a wire bonded to the back of my front bottom teeth. My orthodontist also gave me an extra retainer for the top, just in case, and a clear retainer for the bottom, in case the wire should come off and I can't get in to see him right away. All of these things were included in my treatment cost. My son also had braces, and he has a clear retainer for the top and a wire attached to bands on the bottom. Again, I paid nothing extra. Now, if he should lose or break the top retainer, then I will have to pay about $300 to replace it.

If you're not happy, I would check around with other orthodontists. It sounds like there are several different kinds of retainers out there, and every dr. may handle things differently.

 

[apnep]

Well, let me be clear, all the retainers were included in the cost of treatment. He even got his gums lasered and that was included too.

I paid extra to have the top chain replaced. And now it's broken again so they are suggesting "better" silicone trays as an option to replace the current retainer system he has now (which is the chain + trays).

I am just saying, if they know the chains are prone to falling off, I wish they would have told me because i would have just opted for the "better" fitting trays. I have to be able to know what is available to make the best decision based on the behavior of my kid. KWIM?

 

[apnep]

My DS14 is in Invisalign. The cost was $3500 and that included everything to get his teeth straightened. He is almost finished (and his teeth look great) and anything else that needs to be done is included in the original cost.

I would look for another ortho for your daughter if this one continues to nickle and dime you to death.

I am going to shop around for my daughter. He's too expensive. I wish I had waited to start her treatment and NOT done the treatment in phases.

 

[apnep]

I just got my braces off last Thursday.

Congratulations!

 

[Leajess99]

My kids only have the clear plastic retainers. My 14 year old had her first set of braces at 8 but only to fix 4 teeth. She has to get another set of braces but not until her jaw stops growing as she will also be having jaw surgery due to her bottom jaw being out further than her top jaw.

My son only has the retainers and we have had no problems at all with them. He only wears them at night. They were included in his orthodontic care fees. the only extra cost is if he loses his retainer.

 

[mm1971]

My DS14 is in Invisalign. The cost was $3500 and that included everything to get his teeth straightened. He is almost finished (and his teeth look great) and anything else that needs to be done is included in the original cost.

I would look for another ortho for your daughter if this one continues to nickle and dime you to death.

My DS12 is also in the Invisaligns. They are working very well. The cost was around $5K for us. Included is 3 years of treatment, braces if the invisaligns did not work(seem to be working well) and follow up should the teeth move after treatment in the first 12 months.

I would definitely find an ortho that you trust and feel comfortable with. We originally started with one and after an $8K quote and they went through all the special procedures and equipment they wanted to use I decided to look around more. We spent $400 for impressions that ended up being a waste. Our current orthodontist did the impressions and digital measuring for free as a consultation. There really are places that are screwing people. The trick is finding an honest ortho that know what he is doing. Good luck.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

My permanent bottom retainer was on 16 years before it popped. Wonder why his is not sticking. I opted to just remove mine but I have tongue thrust so will need a new one. Ds goes for his consult in January. Interesting how things have changed.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[mefordis]

Question for the parents who got their kids braces:

Do you pay up front for everything? Just curious how it works. I will not be getting my daugther braces until she is in middle school. Teeth shift, etc. I don't want to do braces twice.

When I was growing up I don't remember kids in braces before middle school. Nice way for orthos to charge for braces twice: once in elementary school and once in middle school.

 

[dsneprincess]

My son had to do a phase 1 & 2 thing. We were VERY lucky our family dentist saw & issue & referred us to an ortho pronto. If we had missed the pre-puberty jaw growth, we would have had to have his jaw broken & bone added later. ( OW, no, I don't want to know more about that procedure!) He had an upper & lower expander placed at 9 & will return for phase 2 when he gets more adult teeth in place.

Our ortho is fabuluous! I couldn't pick a better one! He makes it a lot of fun for the kids with contests, give aways, & parties. We were given the option of paying up front with a discount or making monthly payments. Everything was quoted in advance & paid for/financed for phase 1 prior to beginning treatment. No surprises. I assume phase 2 will be handled similarly.

 

[Lizzybean]

I'm curious who has used dental coverage towards ortho and how much it helped...

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

I'm curious who has used dental coverage towards ortho and how much it helped...

I'm carefully following this thread as my DS10 sees the ortho for the first time next month... I have no doubt it's going to cost an arm and a leg

Our Dental Plan offers a once in a lifetime cap of $1000.00 per family member for ortho... we know we will paying at least four time that.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I'm curious who has used dental coverage towards ortho and how much it helped...

Not yet but soon ~ ours will cover 70%

My niece and her parents all recently got braces! Mom and dad are in their mid 30s, niece is barely 10. Mom and dad both have dental coverage and they "play" well together, their braces are basically free.

My ex and I are both federal employees and federal plans do not "play" well together - bummer.

I switched moments ago to a new plan *the same my ex uses to insure him and our kids* after 12 months I can use it for ortho - planning on braces on the back of my teeth *top at least* I wore braces for years but did not wear my retainers *stupid of me - I was a smarter than everyone else teen* so my teeth could use some cosmetic help.

 

[apnep]

Question for the parents who got their kids braces:

Do you pay up front for everything? Just curious how it works.

With all three we paid for everything up front and just got the money back from our flex accounts throughout the year. But I will caution you here, make sure you know how your flex account works because they only pay out over the course of the treatment. So if you pay out in full up front and the treatment lasts more than a year, you won't get it all back in full the same year. Does this makes sense? For our son who had only one treatment, we also got his tonsils and adnoids out the same year before we started treatment and that ate up some of our flex account so it worked out. They do have payment plans that don't charge interest and they just break it up into equal payments.

When I was growing up I don't remember kids in braces before middle school. Nice way for orthos to charge for braces twice: once in elementary school and once in middle school.

Yes to this. DD's second phase was not supposed to be that
extensive but now he wants to do the same treatment as DS! Oy...

 

[Lizzybean]

I changed our dental plan during open enrollment last month to a more ortho friendly choice. It forces me into an HMO BUT I live in a large area so I had a lot of orthos to choose from. I also setup a flex spend account so we could put down a deposit if need be.

We have 2 kids we need to get into treatment and I want to make it as cost effective as possible for a great doctor.

 

[angierae]

For my daughter's ortho treatment, the original estimate was about $8000. This included braces, all visits, and her retainers. My dental insurance covered a lifetime max of $1500, so we paid $6500 up front for her braces.

The dental insurance, on the other hand, only paid a % every month - so if the dentist said it would take 2 years, they paid 1/24th every month. But we only had to pay the $6500 insurance wouldn't cover.

They were going to do permanent retainers for her but decided at the last minute that she didn't need them, so she did her retainers 24/7 for 3 months and now only at night. (She got her braces off in August.)

(There was a refund back, too, but I don't know how much, as my ex-husband cut the check for the braces out of one of her savings accounts his grandparents have for her, so they cut the refund back to him. I don't think it was more than a few hundred dollars.)

 

[pantherlj]

My 13 year old is on the last few months of braces. She had a retainer for almost a year to help move her lower jaw forward. She is about 10 months into a year of full upper/lower braces. She'll then have a retainer to wear at night. She started the process just before her 12th birthday. They gave me a few payment options. 3% discounts if paid in full, and then something like nothing down and $300 a month. I paid $1000 down, $200 a month for 2 years. It all worked out to $5200 total. My dental insurance will pay 50% up to $2000 so I pay and then file a claim every month until I hit the $2000.

My just turned 10 year old needs them now - figures, just when I am down to my last 2 payments on older one. She has to wear a T Rex (?) to move her molars as she has no room for her canines. It's either that or remove 2 of her adult premolars. Otherwise, the canines won't come in or will come in sideways. Then, 18 months of full braces. $5400 total. Dentist said we need to start soon before the canines try to erupt.