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Author Topic: Braces in her 50s  (Read 5920 times)

Offline Sparky

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Braces in her 50s
« on: 12. February 2017, 23:14:12 PM »
In her 20s, my wife had braces, mainly to fix her 2 front teeth. The treatment included removable expanders (not to expand the palate, but to help move teeth backwards), fixed metal brackets, and headgear.

For me, it was great, although I never dare let on that I had a "thing" for braces.... my wife is very straight-laced, and would find the idea of a braces fetish to be weird and maybe close to gross.

She never kept on with wearing her reatainers, and now, 30 years on, she has a similar problem with her teeth: the top front one are both twisted outwards, plus the lowers are a bit crowded.

So, I was amazed and pleasantly surprised when tonight she told me that she was considering having orthodontic treatment. Of course, I had to do my best to pretend not to know too much about braces, yet at the same time, encourage her.

The even better thing, from my perspective, was that she said that, whist she was aware of "invisilign", because she was hardly in a public-facing job, she feels that she will probably go for "train tracks".

So, she is going to ignore her dentist (who pointed her to a single local orthodontist) and plans to see maybe 3 orthodontists to see what they suggest!

I wonder if she'll get headgear again? I n a way, I rather hope she does!

Offline Sparky

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #1 on: 28. February 2017, 03:10:24 AM »
My wife went and saw Ortho #1 last week. She was not very impressed, as she never ACTUALLY got to meet the ortho himself, just his #2 ("Treatment coordinator", I think) who looked at her, chatted with her, and took pictures. I must admit, if *I* was going to be potentially spending £3950 on treatment, I'd like to meet the person who would be treating me. So he is not in the running!

She went to see Ortho #2 today, spent 20 minutes with the ortho (a lady) and her assistant. The price was a little lower, at (I think) £3250. After my wife returned from seeing Mr #1, she was quite negative about things, but after Ms #2, she's feeling rather more positive about the idea of having braces.

She's off to see #3 on Wednesday....

Offline MikeB

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #2 on: 28. February 2017, 18:17:39 PM »
Quote
She was not very impressed, as she never ACTUALLY got to meet the ortho himself

That's interesting. My wife had a similar experience with one of her recent consults. The treatment coordinator took pictures, x-rays and scans and apparently presented them to the orthodontist who was elsewhere in the practice. He then generated a treatment plan without ever seeing my wife in person. This made my wife quite uncomfortable, so she dismissed that practice, despite the fact that it was VERY nice.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #3 on: 01. March 2017, 01:31:03 AM »
Yes, when I saw that your wife had the same issue, it was pleasing to see that shee had the same reaction as my wife.

Getting braces, especially as an adult, is quite a personal thing, and the relationship between patient and ortho IS important.... so how can a patient decide if "that person is right for them" if they don't actually meet them.

I'm quite impressed how many visits your wife is making in order to "find that right person".

My wife makes visit #3 tomorrow.

Offline Sparky

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #4 on: 02. March 2017, 12:50:21 PM »
Visit #3:again she was seen by the orthodontist himself, and from what I can gather, the practicalities were similar to #2.

One slight difference in the treatment: whilst #2 would have brackets all the way back, as "normal", #3 only wants to place brackets on her front teeth (not quite sure how far back), as her bite is actually very good, and he doesn't want to upset her bite.

When she came back yesterday, I took a look at her teeth: lowers need tidying a little, the main issue on the uppers is that the front two have rotated... so in principle, just need rotating back. There's a small gap between her front two teeth, and a couple of tiny gaps between her 2nd and canines.... so I guess enough to no need to create more space (which makes sense, because if her molars haven't shifted since her original treatment about 30 years ago, the space should still be there)

And #3 is marginally cheaper, and something like £2800.

I don't remember if it was Ortho #2 or #3 who suggested it could take under a year for the treatment.

What has surprised me is (a) you look online, and you hear about "braces between £2000 and £2500" (https://dereferer.me/?https://dereferer.me/?http://www.thedentalguide.net/braces-cost-uk); (b) her treatment seems to be fairly simple... so why are all her quotes above that magical £2500"?

(and yes, ceramic brackets and invisilign have both also been offered, at a higher price)

Offline Sparky

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #5 on: 02. March 2017, 13:04:02 PM »
My wife went and saw Ortho #1 last week. She was not very impressed, as she never ACTUALLY got to meet the ortho himself, just his #2 ("Treatment coordinator", I think) who looked at her,

I was just looking at this Ortho's web site. He majors in Invisilign, and down the bottom of the front page of his web site are 3 logos: one for "Invisilign", one for "Invisilign Teen" and finally one that says "The Invisible Orthodontist"..... ahhhh, right, so THAT'S why my wife didn't get to see him  :D

Offline Sparky

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #6 on: 13. March 2017, 12:54:08 PM »
My wife had a letter from Ortho #1 (the "invisible Ortho") asking if she was wanting to start treatment with them (standard letter, I guess, when they've not heard from the potential patient). She emailed back with her concerns (that she didn't see the ortho) and received a very pleasant email back, saying that yes, maybe they need to explain better to potential patients what to expect during the initial visit. She's still not planning on going there though!

Today she's off to see ortho #4.

Looking online at some other "not as local" orthos, she found one that doesn't advertise metal brackets for the private patients, but offers invisilign, lingual brackets, and "Glam" braces (= clear ceramic).... she got a bit interested in the ceramics, but I pointed out that, whilst the brackets don't stain, the clear ligatures used will stain. So she's back to metal brackets, and probably the Damon brackets.

(It was amusing, when reading about ceramic brackets, the manufacturer etc sites say "less pain, because ceramics move your teeth more slowly", but other sites then highlight that ceramics have to use less force as higher forces can damage the ceramic brackets. Talk about making a feature from a limitation!)

It's also interesting to note that the prices here are well above the "£200 to £2500 typical prices" for private treatment in UK. So I looked in other surrounding areas, to find that there were hardly any private orthos around: clearly, where I live is an "affluent area", which attracts orthos.... the other areas are less affluent = fewer people willing to pay £££ for braces!

Offline MikeB

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Re: Braces in her 50s
« Reply #7 on: 14. March 2017, 20:44:33 PM »
It's funny that you mention Practice #1. My wife got a letter in the mail today from Practice #4, where the orthodontist couldn't be bothered to see her. This letter was personally signed by the ortho, and of course encouraged her to start treatment at his practice.  So I guess he can be bothered to sign letters to collect money, but not to actually say hello to a prospective patient!

Glad your wife is steering clear (heh!) of the clear brackets. My wife also studied the pros and cons and decided traditional metal braces were the best for her. It doesn't hurt that I prefer them, though!