The cost for each of my kids was $7500 but we had good insurance. Then the orthodontist refused to provide the retainer as part of the cost, which I thought was a violation of the contract, but I ended up paying another $400.

NW DC and Arlington and got quoted in the 7000-8000 range at three places, so all in line with each other, for 3M clear braces.

Ended up paying about 4K out of pocket because insurance covered the rest.

Interestingly, when I got braces 25 years ago (!) in a HCOL area my parents paid about 4K after insurance for my metal braces.

Gap, overbite, and two teeth coming in almost sideways for my 11 year old.

Our ortho in Friendship Heights quoted us 7k whether we did metal or invisalign. If we chose the latter and weren't happy, we could switch to the metal ones at any time.

Anonymous wrote:Shop around. We go the $7K price for several orth's but another one told us to wait but it wouldn't cost that much.

Could you give the name of the last one? Sounds honest.

OP here. Thanks for this info! My son's overjett is pretty significant (100%) and given my own jaw problems that could've been avoided with braces as a child, I am all for fixing it. But the sticker shock...

My DS had overbite and overjett and had to have two treatments. First was this horrible retainer that was about $1500, if I remember correctly, and completely changed his jaw line. Then, brace a year later for $7000. So, if they can correct that with just braces, go for it. I had braces and my dentist didn't do a very good job, so I personally wasn't interested in doing it on the cheap. I wanted the best especially for this issue because overjett can cause serious problems if you fall.

Shop around. We go the $7K price for several orth's but another one told us to wait but it wouldn't cost that much.

Most of the world kind of laughs at Americans for their unnaturally straight teeth. It’s crazy we all (myself included) pay so much for perfect teeth. From what I have found, orthodontists are a bit like car salesmen, you can haggle on the price and you can shop around. They don’t all recommend the same treatment either. But they will tell you that it’s all really important for your kids long term health and try to make you feel guilty for not just doing whatever they say. You can get wildly different costs. Our orthodontist gave us a price of $8000 for phase 2 braces. We waited a year to save money, then went back and that time we got a price of $5000. They had changed systems and didn’t even remember quoting us $8000 the first time.

I take my kid to a place in Friendship Heights. The cost for phase one is $4500 and that is just a pallet expander and retainer. I suspect I’m overpaying, and will shop around more with my other kids.

I'm trying to gauge if I need to seek another ortho or if this is in line with current rates - as background, I sought my own ortho treatment this year, got several quotes from orthos in NW DC and Bethesda, and selected my ortho for convenience but also for slightly lower cost than the other 3 quotes. I just took my 12 year old in for his overjet/overbite correction and his quote is basically 7K for lower and upper metal braces with rubber bands for 2 years. Does that seem too high? Do I need to parade him around, too, for pricing? For more sticker shock, my dental plan doesn't cover ortho at all, even for my dependents

TIA!