Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

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.

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

I don't know it to be true, but I don't know how I could have been worse off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

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.

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

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't fall for the the two-phase BS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15179390

"After a second phase of fixed appliance treatment for both the previously treated children and the untreated controls, however, early treatment had little effect on the subsequent treatment outcomes measured as skeletal change, alignment, and occlusion of the teeth, or length and complexity of treatment. The differences created between the treated children and untreated control group by phase 1 treatment before adolescence disappeared when both groups received comprehensive fixed appliance treatment during adolescence. This suggests that 2-phase treatment started before adolescence in the mixed dentition might be no more clinically effective than 1-phase treatment started during adolescence in the early permanent dentition. Early treatment also appears to be less efficient, in that it produced no reduction in the average time a child is in fixed appliances during a second stage of treatment, and it did not decrease the proportion of complex treatments involving extractions or orthognathic surgery."

Thanks for posting this. (not the OP)

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thank you, everyone, for the responses. The consensus seems to be that the price I was quoted is inflated. I knew getting braces was not going to be cheap, but I was a bit startled to be quoted nearly 10K for pre-braces work (which I'm guessing means the whole thing will top out at 20K+ ?). I will shop around. I've also heard good things about Dr. Gerlain. Has anyone used Darlene Byrd? She's been recommended, but I'm told she's expensive, too.

Thanks again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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).

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.

Anonymous wrote:PP here- and no, expanders can be used beyond ages 8-11. As mentioned, I had one as an adult for 4 months (maybe longer) before my braces were put on. Any dentist or ortho saying otherwise is lying and just taking advantage of a parent who doesn't know any better and is fearful if they don't purchase the expander now, it will forever affect their child's teeth.

Anonymous wrote: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).

Anonymous wrote:Don't fall for the the two-phase BS:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15179390

"After a second phase of fixed appliance treatment for both the previously treated children and the untreated controls, however, early treatment had little effect on the subsequent treatment outcomes measured as skeletal change, alignment, and occlusion of the teeth, or length and complexity of treatment. The differences created between the treated children and untreated control group by phase 1 treatment before adolescence disappeared when both groups received comprehensive fixed appliance treatment during adolescence. This suggests that 2-phase treatment started before adolescence in the mixed dentition might be no more clinically effective than 1-phase treatment started during adolescence in the early permanent dentition. Early treatment also appears to be less efficient, in that it produced no reduction in the average time a child is in fixed appliances during a second stage of treatment, and it did not decrease the proportion of complex treatments involving extractions or orthognathic surgery."