11 year old orthodontic question, please give me your OP

[AMum]

Hi All,

My 11 year old has been told he needs braces. The orthodontist we saw says we should start as soon as possible, but not to wait more than 9 months. We could save $1000 if we take him to the local orthodontics school. I'm finding out that several of our friends take their kids there. But we'd have to wait eight months for an appt. I went ahead and booked the appt, but can we wait that long? Why or why not?

Thanks,

Ashlea

[Masel]

The SLU ortho school is really good. My sister had her braces done there many years ago.

Your orthodontist is possibly anticipating a growth spurt which is why they gave you the timeline. Did they take x-rays to try to see where your LO is growth wise? It isn't an exact science. You should be able to ask your orthodontist about why they gave you that time frame.

I'm not an orthodontist but I did work in the library for an orthodontic professional association for many years.

[AMum]

Thanks Masel. I did make an appt. for my middle child/daughter for April, so at least she'll be in the SLU system.

I talked to my dh a bit more. He said the orthodontist noted that one of ds' teeth is coming in twisted, so that may be why they want to start asap. They can catch it now before it twists further, but if its fully in, they would be more likely to pull the tooth. Dh said the ortho told him the later we start the more likely it is that perm. teeth will have to be pulled. So, I guess we'll start now and pay the extra $$. Its the same amount up front, just more monthly payments of $100. A big hit to our budget, but we'll figure it out.

[A&A]

Please consider the Damon method of orthodontics:

(it's much less painful, and a lot of times it doesn't require any extractions)

http://www.damonbraces.com/q02.php

No, I don't work for them. But I got my own dd Damon braces.

[AMum]

A&A, thank you, I did look and we have a consult appt. for both my ds & dd for Monday at 3 p.m. with a dentist who offers the damon system. He also offers invisalign (which I'm sure is out of our budget) and SureSmile. The consult is free and they'll talk with us about all of the options.

Can you tell me about your dd's experience with the Damon system?

Thanks,

Ashlea

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by A&A

Please consider the Damon method of orthodontics:

(it's much less painful, and a lot of times it doesn't require any extractions)

http://www.damonbraces.com/q02.php

No, I don't work for them. But I got my own dd Damon braces.

My 7 year old just got a consult for this and I was impressed. Since I had the traditional banding and tooth pulling, that narrowed my palate and I want to avoid that at all costs for DS. I love how the Damon system pays attention to facial shape... the palate width can govern the whole shape of the face and chin.

[A&A]

Originally Posted by AMum

Can you tell me about your dd's experience with the Damon system?

Thanks,

Ashlea

Oh sorry, I didn't see this before.

My dd inherited my problematic teeth, and it only took her 15 months of braces vs. the almost 3 years it took me as a teen. She seemed to be in SO much less pain that what I remembered being in. (Some discomfort sometime, but not the PAIN I remembered!!) And she has a BEAUTIFUL smile now. They also take into account what the overall facial profile is going to look like when they are done, which I think matters.

And I was able to take money out of my 401k to pay for it.

[AMum]

We had a consult with a very nice orthodontist. We'll be using the damon system for 11 year old ds. It works out to be about $1000 more than the traditional braces. $2000 more than the orthodontist's school, but we would've had to wait too long for that anyway. Since I know cost is a consideration I'll share real numbers.

The traditional braces would've cost us $3800 + $700 for a retainer & possible further costs.

The Damon system will cost us a little over $5000, but that includes the retainers.

The office that offers the Damon system is much "fancier" and has a lot of bells & whistles to appeal to the kids. I know we're paying for that too. Some things I think we could do without, but I know the kids will always be happy to go to their office. Other things I think are awesome. For instance each child is assigned two dental techs that will work with them each & every time they go in for a visit. I think that is great, they establish a friendship with the child & the child wants to take good care of their teeth to show their friend at the orthodontist. They spend money on training for their staff to ensure good rapport between staff & patients & parents. Excellent. They have an in house lab where many of the dental devices are made, which decreases wait time & # of trips to their office.

The damon system seems more "natural" in a sense. The ortho we consulted with said that initially he offered traditional braces & damon. After a few years he dropped the traditional b/c it wasn't as good for his patients. He explained how the traditional system forces the teeth with a lot of pressure put on each tooth which actually thins the blood supply to the tooth. The damon system consists of brackets with little doors & a wire that fits into those brackets, but isn't attached to each tooth. There are no bands. The wire is some space age material that wants to hold its shape, so it gently pulls each tooth into line, while widening the palate a bit to make room for that tooth. That is my simple understaning anyway, they have a website & youtube videos that explain it quite well.

My dd, who is 8, requires a palate spreader on top & a retainer on the bottom that will also work to spread her lower palate. Her device looks uncomfortable, but will help her so much.

My youngest is 5.5 & I'm going to read through the threads on nutritioning & see if there is anything we can do to help her nutritionally at this stage of the game. Of course I know that good nutrition is always benefitial & we do eat healthfully. But I know there are gaps, especially since my youngest is terribly picky & has never been a big eater. She mostly refused solids until maybe 18 months ..............

[mamafish9]

We just finished an ortho consult as well. There is a second brand of self ligating braces, innovation - seems to be more or less the same thing, in case that helps people looking for an orthodontist (ones in my area seem to do damon or innovation, not both).

Here's a ppt with some info on the existing research:

http://www.umdnj.edu/opengweb/Semina...ngBrackets.ppt

From what I can tell from the research, which is limited, self ligating braces are more comfortable, may cause less plaque build up, and haven't been shown to actually work more quickly.

So I think there's a lot of marketing on all sides, and not a lot of hard data for any of it. Sigh .