what to do?

mbjerkness

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Our dentist recommended we take our son to an orthodontist, I took him this afternoon, he definately needs braces, his lower jaw is smaller than his top jaw, they gave me a choice $7500.00
now. he will have full braces elastic and head set for 22-24 months , or wait 12-18 months, have surgery, where they correct his jaw and teeth, $12,500
and heal in a few weeks. my husbands work only covers $2000. I am having a major panic attack.
 

crazyforinfo

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Originally Posted by mbjerkness

Our dentist recommended we take our son to an orthodontist, I took him this afternoon, he definately needs braces, his lower jaw is smaller than his top jaw, they gave me a choice $7500.00
now. he will have full braces elastic and head set for 22-24 months , or wait 12-18 months, have surgery, where they correct his jaw and teeth, $12,500
and heal in a few weeks. my husbands work only covers $2000. I am having a major panic attack.
I honestly think 7500$ now is better than the pain your son will have from getting his jaw fixed. I know some friends who had it done in their adult years and it was very painful.
 

sharky

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GET a second opinion.. at least here there are orthodotist s that take payments 50-100$ on ave for a few yrs
 

strange_wings

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Definately get another opinion, and ask about financing. There may even be some separate groups that will help provide it.
I think there's something in this state called HELP? Recently my brother in law needed emergency surgery and has no health insurance, but was able to get some financial aid.
 

duchess15

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I would make sure to get a second opinion. Mine only cost a little over $4000 and my monthly payments were only $145. My dental insurance covered $1000 so it only took about 2 years to pay off. I think what they are charging is a little high.
 
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mbjerkness

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William is only ten. my main concern with getting him braces now, is that he would be wearing the full headgear kind for up to two years, He is a very shy, self conscience little guy. They said I could do payments $1890 down and $255 a month, Dh just came home, he said we could always remorgage, we have a lot of equity in the house, our morgage is up in 6 months. I am just shocked, at how much. If I wait and get the surgery he is going to be in pain, but everything will be over in a few weeks. it is such a hard decision.
 

natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by mbjerkness

William is only ten. my main concern with getting him braces now, is that he would be wearing the full headgear kind for up to two years, He is a very shy, self conscience little guy. They said I could do payments $1890 down and $255 a month, Dh just came home, he said we could always remorgage, we have a lot of equity in the house, our morgage is up in 6 months. I am just shocked, at how much. If I wait and get the surgery he is going to be in pain, but everything will be over in a few weeks. it is such a hard decision.
With surgery there is a risk of infection, and it's much more traumatic than having braces for a year or 2. In my mind he would still need braces after the surgery. I've never heard of surgery where they go in and knock your teeth around until their straight and in their right position. That's what braces are for. Unless they are talking about filing down his teeth to nearly nothing and putting caps or crowns on them?
 

sharky

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I had oral sugery to get braces ...long story....

at ten I would seek out like I said before a second opnion... and are all his perm teeth in otherwise it will be a big $$$ waste
 
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mbjerkness

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Most of his permanent teeth are in, the problem is his bottom jaw is much smaller than his top jaw. none of his teeth match up and he is having trouble eating
 

mom of 4

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The jaw surgery is a huge deal. I would make that a last resort.

All three of my children had braces - the final one was around 3,000 and that was 8 years ago.

My daughter did head gear with her braces, a palital expander, a body brace for scoliosis and broke her arm playing soccer. We called her the 2 million dollar girl. She was so good about wearing her head gear, she was able to get rid of it 6 months early.
 

stacyd1987

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I had mine in for 4 years. That's pretty much the norm but I was so glad to get them off for my Senior high school year!
I've heard that it's harder in Jr. High than any other school time for kids and IMO, it is/was. But, I survived.
 
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mbjerkness

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Originally Posted by Mom of 4

The jaw surgery is a huge deal. I would make that a last resort.

All three of my children had braces - the final one was around 3,000 and that was 8 years ago.

My daughter did head gear with her braces, a palital expander, a body brace for scoliosis and broke her arm playing soccer. We called her the 2 million dollar girl. She was so good about wearing her head gear, she was able to get rid of it 6 months early.
William is my difficult child, he fights about everything, If he doesn't cooperate, then he'll have to have the surgery, I would much rather do the headgear braces and get it over with, but knowing William he is going to make it as difficult as possible. If it was one of the other kids, I wouldn't even consider surgery,
 

lunasmom

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I think my total orthodontial work was 5,000 - 6,000 dollars...this was from 1989 - 1992(??) I don't exactly remember when I started.

I would definitely get a second opinion though. He's still young enough where even if he has his perminant teeth, his mouth and teeth are still shifting and growing. Not that I'm saying he won't need any in the future, just that it might be a little early to start. Only reason why I say this is because my friends that got braces in 4th and 5th grade had to get them redone in high school because they started to early.

I was in braces for 1-1.5 years, however I had a lot of prep work done that increased the cost. I didn't think my ortho work was ever going to end
.
 

catlover19

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My cousin just had a jaw surgery and now she looks like a completely different person. I didn't even recognize her the first time I saw her after.

I would go for the braces. I need to get braces but I just can't afford it.
 
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