Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the answer lies in OP's question itself. She's asking how families of TEENS are affording braces.

As another PP pointed out, best practice is now to have the orthodonia completed before a child hits that age. Third through fifth grades, mostly.

So, these families are saving until their children are older than the ideal, because they DON'T just have $3K sitting around. It took them a while to save enough to pay. Hence the beater cars, etc.

Uh, we are high income & our orthodontist would not touch my child’s mouth until they were almost 13. It is very context delendent.