Ain’t that the truth. I know this one guy who always looks like he was just in a bar fight, largely because he has kinda crooked teeth. He is, in fact, a highly intelligent engineer, but the first impression is bar fight.
That sounds like a weird ad–a kid asking for braces? But it is something that’s a lot more easily done when the kid is young. Kids don’t exactly stop growing to let you get your income level up.
I don’t think these orthodontists are encouraging debt so much as helping. My kids’ orthodontists were quite willing to sit down and work out a payment plan. He was even willing to have his designer look at my husbands paintings as a trade for some of the amount.
I would have done what I could to get my kids’ alignment problems addressed even if I didn’t have any money (and with the older ones I didn’t have much!) but I’d let something like that gap between front teeth go, as fixing that apparently is purely cosmetic. I don’t even think it looks that bad. That would be on the “fix if you have money” list.
Still a weird ad, but I don’t think it is so odd that a kid would ask for braces. My step kids asked for braces repeatedly. (Of course their Mom may have put them up to it, but it seemed to come from them.) Two kids, different ages, but both began asking us for braces right around the same time (one was 10, one was 15) but neither had egregious alignment issues or any teeth sticking straight out (or threatening to) and to both of them it was about correcting mild overbites and that adorable, common situation of pointy k-9s (now they like them as they bear a resemblance to fangs if you are imaginative ;))
I think they are encouraging debt, and I also think that you found an amazing orthodontist.
We consulted with two of them who were more than happy to work out payment plans, providing they were paid in full by the end of the treatment (an estimated 18 months). The first was really awful about it too, when we expressed concern over the costs (estimated at $5000 per child) and the fact that it would not be covered by our insurance because it was deemed purely cosmetic, we were told that we were horrible parents, that our children would be outcasts and have absolutely no self esteem or self worth and that they might suffer horribly in the future and for the rest of their lives if we didn’t put on braces Right. This. Minute. He helpfully offered his in-office financing plans which would only cost us 6-800 dollars/month depending on which option we choice for both kids. That’s when we went for a second opinion.
The second ortho was worlds better than the first but still did the hard-sell and claimed imminent “need” even though when pressed he admitted that it was cosmetic and the “need” was for self-esteem, emotional/psychological reasons (for the record both kids’ teeth are relatively straight, and the overbite is only noticeable if they point it out and hold their mouth open in such a way as to demonstrate it, and the pointy fangs are just that, but normal sizes and not creating any hidden caves, nooks or crannies). His estimate was a little cheaper than the first at $4200 for one child and $4600 for the other and he offered more flexible payment plans for lower monthly payments but higher interest rates which could be spread out longer than the 18 months of treatment if necessary.
Somewhere during all this assessment and financial numbers crunching, both kids decided they no longer wanted braces. The oldest after telling everyone how excited he was to be getting them and buying “braces are beautiful” buttons and stickers…very odd I thought. Anyway the kids saved us a bunch of money and still have less than perfect (but not bad) teeth, but can eat and speak without pain, have healthy self esteem and well-adjusted relationships while both of the orthodontists we consulted insisted they were in dire need of braces.
My oldest has a gap between his front teeth (almost identical to my mother’s so I think it is kind of sweet) and any mention of his getting it “fixed” will set him off. He likes his gap and as a teen every dentist visit would end with a referral to the ortho to fix the gap and each and every time he would refuse to even entertain the notion. As far as he is concerned there is nothing to “correct” because it is already the way it should be and he is very happy with his appearance (of course it helps that his teeth are straight and well aligned).
I haven’t seen those ads. They sound offensive. I didn’t realize any orthodontists were so hard up for clients. The good ones are so overbooked, you can hardly get an appointment outside of school hours six weeks out.
My kids had serious problems and couldn’t have gotten by without correction, but even if it were only for cosmetic purposes, I would have done it anyways. But I wasn’t broke, either. I guess if you’re the kind of person who would be spending what little you have on $100+ basketball shoes, big-screen TVs and other wasteful things, you may as well be spending it on something to benefit your kid instead.
They are weird ads - in one, a 12? year old girl is begging mom for “cool braces” like her BFF has. When mom tells BFF’s mom that they just cannot afford it, BFF mom goes on about how X Dental made it fit their budget - as if those are the same thing.
This isn’t just an ortho service, it is a local dental chain that has a - ahem - less than stellar reputation. I am not surprised that they are pushing expensive work, even onto people who cannot pay. I just don’t see braces as something the majority of children need, particularly not OMG RIGHT NOW, LET’S GO INTO DEBT WE CAN’T PAY OFF. 
Unless what rhubarbarin says is true?
You have cosmetic issues versus acutal issues versus REAL issues.
For example if I have a problem with my bite, that is an actual issue. But suppose I can cope by adjusting my bite or chewing on the other side of my mouth. Then I have an actual issue but not a real issue.
You can live without teeth, millions of people do it, so it’s a matter of cost of teeth versus quality of life. I am a person who has had nine root canals. Root canals are worth it in terms of quality but not necessarily of price. For example, I had two root canals fail. One failed in year the other after ten years. So that was over $2,100 dollars wasted and I lost the the teeth anyway. I could’ve had them pulled for $80 (back in the 90s).
I say dental procedures are very remarkable and if you can afford them great, it should be done. But the quality of life you will get must be measured against cost.
I got jumped and got 7 teeth broken, that started my dental issues. Since I had no insurance, I couldn’t get them all fixed at once, So it took 4 years to straighten out the mess and in the time, the broken teeth shifted and moved and caused other issues.
Today I have functional teeth but there are still issues. Looking with 20/20 I’d have rather spent the $20,000+ on a new car and had them all pulled and replaced with dentures.
My parents made me get braces when I was a kid. I am glad I did, but it was really for cosmetic reasons. I have no cavities and could eat just fine. So no, I didn’t really need braces. I’d say a lot of people I know didn’t need it, either. It was like getting a nose job or something. I think it’s funny how getting braces for cosmetic reasons has been so normalized in the US that we don’t even blink twice; but if you were to have some other cosmetic surgical procedure, there’s some sort of stigma attached to that.
I put some thought into this one.
Yes, I think braces are too often pushed for cosmetic reasons. That said, there are a significant number of people who, for lack of a better term, have a deformed oral cavity and that if these problems are not corrected they can cause problems way beyond just bad looking teeth. When I was in high school two of my fellow classmates required several surgeries under general anesthesia to correct badly deformed mouths. Their health insurance paid for the surgeries, but not for their braces on their teeth which were a necessary part of the whole process. Fortunately, their parents were able to pay for the braces.
The other issue is that braces are not something you can simply quit halfway through the process. At the very least, at some point they need to be removed and that’s probably best done by someone who has some clue what they’re doing rather than a “friend” with a pair of pliers.
So… for the subset of people who have a genuine physical problem, an orthodontist willing to work out a payment plan is a godsend. There are also people whose children are in the middle of orthodontic work when they lose their jobs or suffer other financial set back and they need some way to resolve that treatment. On the other hand, if this orthodontist is trolling for ways to extract money from people for frivolous reasons… that is reprehensible.
Currently, I work with someone who, like many of us, is suffering financially. His kid is 2 years into a 5 year plan with an orthodontist. The parents are putting off several other things until after the kid is finished getting his teeth fixed. The kid wasn’t enthused about braces, but by this point he’s mentioned that he is experiencing a LOT less pain from his mouth and is kicking in his own money to help pay for them. So while his teeth were never that messed up to look at under normal circumstances they were causing him real pain and trouble and getting them fixed is a definite important issue. Their orthodontist has mentioned that he’ll work out an extended payment plan if things get rougher for them, but not everyone is so accomodating.
No. More than 50% of American kids have problems with crowded teeth. In most cases it isn’t severe enough to impede normal function, although it can make cavities more likely, lead to painful impactions, and if the front teeth are bucked, it makes them much more likely to be damaged. About 1/5 of those have severe enough problems that it will impair normal biting and chewing, and their speech.
I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary for kids with the milder crowding/crookedness to have it corrected, it’s mostly a cosmetic problem.
And no, this isn’t the normal state of the human animal, as you can see from looking at any ancient skull. It’s very much a modern problem.
Maybe there are utter disasters that absolutely need braces, but in most cases they are cosmetic. I have an overbite, not large but certainly noticeable. My lower teeth close on the alveolar ridge (where English speakers, or at least Americans articulate “t”). Someone sold my parents a story that if I didn’t correct it, I would face all sorts of dental problems when older.
The reality is that while I face all sorts of dental problems, they are not from the overbite but from the braces. They were put on and I went to the orthodontist for a tighteneing for a few months and then my parents omitted one week because they didn’t have $15. And the next week and the next,… Finally two years later, anotherdentist ripped them off and found bad decay underneath the 12 teeth involved (three on each side and in each jaw). Since then I have had nothing but trouble in those 12 teeth, two of which have been removed.
I had never had a cavity until then and still have never had a cavity except in those 12 teeth. (Incidentally, I have an aunt who was incensed because she had the first cavity of her life at age 80. My father never had a cavity in 63 years.)
On the other side, I knew one girl whose front uppers stick straight out. It was really was pretty ugly. In the fullness of time, she got married and got enough money to have orthodontia as an adult and turned out to be a real beauty. So I see it as mainly cosmetic. I expect orthodontists to disagree.
Ah America! A whole nation with dental work so perfect that your first impression when they smile is false teeth! There’s such a thing as too perfect.
(Yes, I’m a Brit, and, yes, I’ve heard all the jokes.)
Cite? Depends a lot on your teeth and not just behavior. Some folks just have strong teeth that don’t decay regardless of abuse.
This is what the ads look like to me, but since I didn’t do the kid thing and know very few young children, I didn’t know if my first reaction was right or not. OTOH, it appears that the ads are working which leads me to believe even more strongly that the average person in the US is blowing money on things that are not at all necessary. :smack:
Do you have a cite for this? If true, it’s got to be genetic and I find genetics fascinating.
This is what happened to me. I had a fairly obvious underbite, but as far as I remember lo those 40 years ago, it didn’t affect me at all and wasn’t visible as I pulled my lower jaw in most of the time. But my parents were convinced I had to have braces and what I ended up with were three teeth needing crowns due to damage and I can no longer close my mouth all the way because my teeth don’t mesh anymore. I still have to pull my lower jaw in and I don’t even have perfect straight teeth! :eek:
Anecdote alert: When I was a kid, the dentist insisted that I get braces. My dad, being the penny pincher, said that was ridiculous and that I should just put my bottom teeth over my top teeth to “train” them into position. No need for money.
Well, here I am thirty years later with a perfect bite, and I still have the habit of pushing with my lower teeth.
I think that it is more common to need them now because we brush and have fluoride in our water supply, so we don’t lose teeth. Back in the day, three or four teeth would rot away making you happy you had all of those extras. Now they just crowd each other out.
Chewing on only one side of your mouth will lead to “real” issues down the road.
You’ve seen toothless people with shrunken jaws, right? Dentures don’t slow that jaw shrinkage down. Sure, you can live without teeth, just like you can live without your left leg, but you wouldn’t want to.
No, your problem is not from your braces, your problem is from leaving them on for 2 years. That’s like leaving a cast on your leg for two years and blaming the cast for your decaying skin.
Retainers are supposed to take care of this. Most people stop wearing them soon, instead of realizing that many people have to wear them their entire lives. I have an aunt who is an actress, in her late 70’s who still wears hers.
I wore it until the orthodontist said to stop, but I don’t see how a retainer made any difference in the fact that the ortho screwed up.
Two years is too long to keep braces on? I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone having braces for less than two years. I had mine on for three years as an adult. When the orthodontist pulled them off (finally!) the smell was so bad that it literally made me cry. Nasty stuff.
And yes, I’m in my thirties and if I skip a couple of days with my retainers, my teeth do move.
I had braces as a kid and still have a slight overbite, as well as a crowded front lower jaw. I can chew fine and have no mouth pain. Humanity muddled through for millennia without braces; I’m very skeptical of dentists who insist all or even most children must have them now.
Two years with no monitoring or followup, no checking for decay, no checking to see if food is stuck, if gums are swollen, or if any of the things that can go wrong are going wrong. My daughter had to have her lower braces removed earlier than planned because of these same problems.
Sure, there are genetic aspect to jaw formation, tooth decay, and tooth loss. As well as to nearly every other health problem. But it’s not the whole story by any means.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/doh.htm
This is really an epidemic of tooth decay, especially among children, and it is being described as such by the health authorities. The situation is so much better now than it was for the last 50-100 years for most Americans, but still very bad.
Increased rates of tooth decay are linked with low income, obesity, and the chronic diseases of civilization such as diabetes and heart disease. People with tooth decay and gum disease are at an increased risk of death.
http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/diabetes-oral-health
Hint: it all comes back to cheap, nutrient-poor, sugar-rich, modern diets.