Reply to Please tell me if this is completely insane (estimate from orthodontist)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think some of the kids getting expanders and such prior to middle school are getting hosed. My child needs braces, but dentist said he wouldn't recommend it until most if not all of DC's adult teeth are in. Dentist is very well respected and recommended pediatric dentist in NOVA. 8 -10 years old for anything- expanders, braces, etc., is just too young for orthodontics in my book.

I never got braces as a kid, and eventually straightened them as an adult. 4 months of an expander, 12 months of mental braces on upper jaw, 8 months on lower jaw, and a permanante retainer on the bottoms once the braces came off. Teeth were really jacked before I got the braces, and now they are still straight 8 years later. Every circumastance is unique, but I'm highly skeptical of this "phase 1 and phase 2" approach orthos are pushing on parents, especially at such young ages when jaws and teeth are still growing.

Also- find an dentist that also does ortho. When I had my teeth done as an adult, my regular dentist did them. I'm sure this helped cut costs. Think it ended up costing $3200, with the expander (granted, I had the work done back in 2006, so costs may be 4K or more now). [/quote]

That's a big generalization. Every situation is different. I know I would have been much better off if my parents had not waited until I was 13, nearly finished growing, plates fused. My ortho pulled teeth, had me in awful headgear, I was in braces for 4 years, and after it was all over things shifted everywhere and my mouth is a mess.

My DC's palate was so narrow that it affected his nasal passages and ability to breathe through his nose. He had become a mouth breather. The expander has improved that by a lot.

Our costs for the expander were about 700 out of pocket, in a fancy part of NoVa.[/quote]

Actually, you don't KNOW this to be true. You think you might have been better off, but there is no way to know.[/quote]

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