Does your kids have braces? How much were they?

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Tabitha

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I need to get braces for my daughter’s teeth and just wondering what the going rate is in the USA. Someone local just told me they were over $3000 for his daughter’s which I thought was high because were we came from they’re only $1500.

If your son or daughter has them please share what they cost (paid in cash and financed). Please PM me if you prefer.

Thanks,
Tabitha
 
I would first of all get a second opinion about the need for braces unless you can see for yourself that there is a problem in the kid’s mouth. The dentist pressured my mom to have me in braces because of *one *tooth on the side of my mouth that was coming out too high. He wanted us to make room for it to come down in line with the others and “hated to pull a good tooth.” But we had the darn thing pulled, my teeth are nice and straight, and the problem is solved! I can’t imagine what a waste of time, energy, discomfort, and MONEY having braces for a few years to fix *that *silly problem would have been :rolleyes: I’m so glad we didn’t do it!

Sorry I can’t help you on the cost question though.
 
My daughter started in them back in April. She had a bite issue which required an expander, so extra $$. Anyway, total cost was $5280 which I could finance interest free or I could get a 10% discount if I paid in full at the start. HTH.
 
SOLD…for $5000. Our ortho offered a similar deal as above–financing or 10% discount with payment in full up front.
 
$4700 for my daughter. Also had to have the bite expander. We’re financing it, and using our flex spending plan at work to help save a bit of $$.
 
get multiple opinions.

My dentist suggested my son see an ortho.

First one said, “top only, bad overbite, $2,000 please.”

Second one said, “top and bottom, really bad overbite, $3000 please.”

Third one said, “we can pull 2 teeth, wait and see, $350 records fee, please, and insurance will cover the rest.”

We opted for #3. Everything is as straight as can be. When the 2 years of watching was over, she said I could, if I wanted, get braces for a small cosmetic “repair” to bring 2 teeth a smidge closer together, but we opted not to do that. My husband has the same look, he did have braces for 3 years, and once they were removed, his teeth moved back to that smidge again.

Besides, I think it kind of cute!
 
Most insurances will not cover braces. What our dental insurance (Medica dental) did cover was the cost of pulling the teeth. However, if we had elected to go with braces, it would have been out of pocket.
 
We paid $4,000 for our oldest son’s braces three years ago. Thankfully our dental insurance paid about $1,800 of that. They aren’t cheap!
 
Our 16 year old is obsessed with teeth–she looks at everyone’s teeth!! She wants braces. I really don’t think her teeth look bad, but this is important to her so I took her to an orthodontist for a consult. Of course he found problems that could be corrected with braces–I was SO surprised.:rolleyes:

Anyways, the estimate he gave us was around $5000.:eek: I walked out of there feeling kind of like a big dummy, because I honestly had no clue what braces cost. I guess I naively figured they’d be around $1000 or so. Well we decided she’d have to wait till next year so we could put enough in the medical spending account.

Hey, maybe it would be cheaper to take her to a shrink and find out why she has this obsession with teeth:D .
 
5000, 3800, and 3500 for each of the 3 kids respectively, insurance covered about half, but when we moved during no. 2’s treatment, the coverage did not carry over, because the insurance company had made th deal with the first ortho. don’t forget the cost of replacing the retainer when they drop it into the garbage at McDonalds or lose it at school. If they don’t wear the retainer you have just wasted all that money.
 
look into a permnant retainer for the teeth…it doesn’t even show and it will help correct small problems…i have one to keep my teeth from moving…
 
Reconsider waiting. The problem with braces is that the fix is not permanent. Which is why more and more adults are getting braces. When done as a kid, you’d be surprised how the tteth go back to their original crooked state later in life. I had braces when I was twelve. My teeth were perfectly straight for about 15 years and then slowly they turned. Many dentists now recommend waiting. Good luck.😃
 
Yes, both children have (had) braces. My out-of-pocket expense was $1,000 each. I think the total cost was $3,500 each.
 
Two of our had braces … one was $6K and the other was $3.5K - and insurance paid $2K
 
No help on price. But I agree that there are an AWFUL lot of orthos out there who will SAY braces are needed when there is no functional problem with the teeth.

Personally, I find minor uniqueness to teeth sometimes charming.

My own lowers would light up the eyes of an orthodontist, but have no functional problems at all.

So make sure it is really necessary. That might end up costing you ZERO.
 
Have you considered porcelain veneers (sp?)?

Would that be cheaper?
 
Just another heads up:
Most insurace companies cover something for children’s braces
They cover NOTHING, ZERO, NADA for adult braces!!

I had braces when I was a child for 4 long years with headgear and retainers. YUCK! When my wisdom teeth came in the bottom ones come in sideways and messed up my lovely teeth. Now I have some bite issues that really should be addressed (it’s causing damage to lower teeth) and we have no coverage for me. The children are partially covered, however, so that’s something. I know that nearly all of the 5 will have to have some work done. I pray not too much, though.

Jennifer
 
Tabitha said:
I need to get braces for my daughter’s teeth and just wondering what the going rate is in the USA. Someone local just told me they were over $3000 for his daughter’s which I thought was high because were we came from they’re only $1500.

If your son or daughter has them please share what they cost (paid in cash and financed). Please PM me if you prefer.

Thanks,
Tabitha
Click to expand...
I had two oral surgeries when I was 15 and I wore braces until I was 19.5. I wore retainers up to now and finally quit and boy am I glad I did.

I now have a chronic sinus infection on the left side where the surgeries were (for an impacted tooth) and constant bubbling, popping and pressure. Since I stopped where the retainers abouit 2 months ago, much of the sinus infection has stopped. I still have the pressure. In fact, if you were standing next to me you would hear me going snap, krackle and pop! just like the cereal.

The dentists and doctors told my parents repeatedly from age 10 that I needed braces. They heckled and pressured and whined and scared my parents into thinking I needed the braces and surgery to be a happy, normal adult. Now I will have chronic pain for the rest of my life, and my teeth aren’t even straight. As if I even cared about the aesthetic reasons after the first batch of infections. :rolleyes:

I am very much against braces. A partial retainer or wire to straighten specific misaligned patterns in the mouth is much less invasive and cheaper. In a situation of an impacted tooth like mine, there would have been no harm in letting it stay there. It hadn’t gone anywhere for 15 years and it wasn’t going anywhere fast. Now I have a scarred hole in my maxillary sinus and middle conchae.

BTW, the surgeries were covered by insurance, I don’t know the cost. The braces were 2500 which my parents paid in full. The retainers were 800 which I paid for. (I think mine were more expensive as they had special spacers and a screw in them)
 
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