So I got 3 kids, and apparently they are all going to need braces, the fist one turning 13 now and apparently very soon for him…
My question is, any type of dental insurance cover this? Mine does not, looked at other options offered me through work, and nothing. We were told he needs upper and lowers, and then 2 years of every 6 week adjustments. Can you get one dentist to put them on, and then another to do those adjustments? I mean what if we find someone a lot cheaper for installation, and then use local for those 6 week check ups, is that a thing??
Anyway looking for advice here as looks like I will have 3 going through it and prices are like buying a car for each!!!
So I got 3 kids, and apparently they are all going to need braces, the fist one turning 13 now and apparently very soon for him…
My question is, any type of dental insurance cover this? Mine does not, looked at other options offered me through work, and nothing. We were told he needs upper and lowers, and then 2 years of every 6 week adjustments. Can you get one dentist to put them on, and then another to do those adjustments? I mean what if we find someone a lot cheaper for installation, and then use local for those 6 week check ups, is that a thing??
Anyway looking for advice here as looks like I will have 3 going through it and prices are like buying a car for each!!!
Oh ya, live in LA in CA…
Our insurance covered braces…I think we ended up paying about half of the price, and she had them for a little less than 2-years. We knew it was coming so we upped our FSA contribution, and they hit the account once a month. They provided us a two-year course of treatment, and the cost was cut up across 24 months. It was, for the most part, invisible and painless. Our treatment and payment plan also included a retainer for when she was out of braces.
I don’t think I would swap out, but I would shop around. I suspect that whoever puts them on is not going to want to just put them on and then have you do adjustments elsewhere. Plus, you may have broken wires and other issues that pop up. Our kid had none of these issues, but she was really good about following their directions and not eating the stuff they said she should not eat. We have friends with kids who seemed to break a wire every other week.
Can you get one dentist to put them on, and then another to do those adjustments? I mean what if we find someone a lot cheaper for installation, and then use local for those 6 week check ups, is that a thing??
I can’t help you with the insurance stuff, but the answer to this question is no. I can get into the why of this, but it won’t change the answer.
Smile Direct Club went bankrupt for a reason.
So I got 3 kids, and apparently they are all going to need braces, the fist one turning 13 now and apparently very soon for him…
My question is, any type of dental insurance cover this? Mine does not, looked at other options offered me through work, and nothing. We were told he needs upper and lowers, and then 2 years of every 6 week adjustments. Can you get one dentist to put them on, and then another to do those adjustments? I mean what if we find someone a lot cheaper for installation, and then use local for those 6 week check ups, is that a thing??
Anyway looking for advice here as looks like I will have 3 going through it and prices are like buying a car for each!!!
Oh ya, live in LA in CA…
I’m not sure what cars you buy but that sounds nuts. My middle kid is halfway through his first round (upper and palate expander) and the all in cost is <$3k in NYC. We’ve made a point of getting our kids in early and this particular guy has been excellent about helping us think through when and how much to up our FSA contributions. I’d personally be uncomfortable changing horses through a treatment.
Unfortunately this is the cost of being beautiful in a modern world. For the most part it is an accepted form of plastic surgery we are told our kids need to have to avoid being mocked for their natural form. It is less likely that it addresses a functional shortcoming.
Clearly I have little value to add, these are just the rants of a parent who has also gone through this three times. I will, however, offer up a warning based on personal experience…
Make sure they wear the retainers afterwards. The short term pain of speech difficulties is worth a lifetime of daily reminders (tv, movies) of where that rogue canine should be!
My son supposedly needed braces. He was so miserable after the anchors where put on his molars that in a rare instance I put my foot down and decided no braces.
Apparently he is still alive and doing okay as a software engineer south of some place called San Francisco.
I don’t know how badly kids need straight teeth. It is nice to have straight teeth. My nurse has braces in her 40s.
Thanks everyone for all the advice and stories, that is what I was looking for. And yes if up to me, they would look like 1960’s hockey players, but mom is having non of that nonsense…
And wish I was in NY, that 3+k price is half of what I’m getting quoted. Gonna get some 2nd/3rd opinion before going ahead, but looks like there will be bullets to bite here in the next months and years…
Keep them coming, will be in this check it out phase for a few months at least. Grabbing for the brass ring until this Merry Go Round finally stops…
Well…
You are close to Mexico, kinda. Insert facepalm 🤦â€â™‚ï¸ emoji.//
Funny think is I have some very well off friends that go there for big work, and other folks just to save some money. They have whole streets that just cater to gringos, and from what I hear the service is good…
But this requires 6 week trips for at least 2 years, so no way doing that slog. Thus my question about splitting the install and then upkeep…
And no way in this world does his mom let me take him to Mexico for witchcraft… (-;
Even in the relatively cheap Midwest we paid over $5k per kid 4-7 years ago for braces that were not exceptionally complicated. We didn’t bother with second opinions, but if you’re getting quotes of ~$6k in California, I don’t think you’re going to find anything much less expensive. Good luck! It is painful, we just upped the HSA contributions to make sure we had enough tax-free funds to cover it in one payment to get a discount.
And on the insurance front, ours paid maybe $500 per kid. I briefly considered going to our local dental school where the cost would have been less, but when I realized the frequency of adjustments, it wasn’t worth the hassle and missed school.
I would second looking into dental schools in your situation if you live near one.
Having caught a baseball with my face as a child (I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS), it set up a cascade of dental problems that has continued to this day. A great deal of my mouth rebuild was done at dental schools around the country. Faculty practice for the hard stuff, with students watching and the students doing the work with multiple faculty checking for the easy jobs.
There is the equivalent to a mid level Mercedes inside of my mouth, for the money spent on crowns and implants to hold in the missing teeth. I also had two sets of braces, not one, so be prepared for the worst.
Maybe I should change my screen name to Sally Sunshine 🤣🤣🤣
Consider a flex spend account. At least you save some tax dollars.
I’m sure you could find 2 different dentists. People move all the time, or decide they do not like their doctor, BUT a lot of times the installation cost includes the check-ups and adjustments.
3. $6k X 3 = $18k. What kind of car do you drive… //
1996 Jeep Cherokee… Well once I get it smogged again…(-; Perhaps the cost of the used cars I will be getting those straight teeth kids when they are of age, if driving is still a thing that is…
I think I wont go flex at my age, have enough write offs and will try and get as big as of a cash discount as I can
No orthodontist will adjust someone else’s installation. My BIL is an orthodontist and he explained it as they’d be liable for anything that went wrong during initial installation and everything that happened up to point he took over. Plus braces are always priced as a full treatment plan with adjustments for multiple years. The worse the initial situation, the more adjustments needed and the higher the total price.
Don’t think anyone would just do the installation anyways, at least not in US. My BIL sees some patients who have had braces installed overseas and then ask him to continue treatment and answer is always no.
Most corporate large group insurances cover braces but they just pay up to $1k or $1.5k of total cost. Dental insurance works much differently than medical. A lot of policies out on exchanges for individuals or small businesses likely don’t cover since it’s usually considered cosmetic.
2 kids concurrently in braces. Kid 1 got them when he was 13 I think (maybe 12 but it would have been close to turning 13). Still has them - he’s 15 now. Would be getting them off in another month if he’d wear the damn rubber bands every day and night instead of just every other night.
Kid 2 is on round 2 of braces. He was 9 and had a pallet expander and then got braces for 9 months or so to bring the gap in his front teeth back together and move other teeth around to make room for the rest of the permanent teeth to come in. In December they put on round 2 (he was 12). No clue how long he’ll have them.
Kid 1 was about 6k.
Kid 2 round 1 was 2k
Round 2 was 3500
Kid 3 keeps asking when he gets to get braces and all I can say is after I sell a kidney. We’ve got 6 more months of payments on kid 2. As for the new age way of doing 2 rounds/pallet expansion/etc early, it’s very different from when we were kids and hard to adjust to doing it multiple times but kid 2 was going to have a very rough time fitting teeth in his mouth (had some growing in behind others) and getting his pallet expanded while young and flexible was the way to go. We also live in the sticks and although there are a couple of options one local, one 100 miles away), we went with the closest instead of doing your equivalent of going to Mexico. That decision was worth the extra cash we may have paid with how often we’ve had to pop on in for a broken wire, a broken bracket, a wire poking a cheek or any of the other weird shit that happens when little kids have braces.
Thanks for that RMC, I’m right where you were with first kid turning 13 this month, and twins that are 9…Guess I should just brace myself for the inevitable, momma wants her kids to have straight teeth…
Too bad they are not these incredible singers, and no one would touch what is going on in their mouths in fear of messing up that sound… (-;