Farmboy1892

Good Morning Folks,

We have three kids and it looks like they will all require Orthodontic treatment in some form or another but based on a recent assessment which our oldest daughter (12 yr old) had done it looks like it will cost a small fortune!! I do have some cover but in comparison to the quote it is still wildly expensive in my view. Obviously when I was growing up and I presume like most other 40 something yr olds on here braces were not a big thing in their day!! now its fashion or running with the herd. Or we better get it done as they will be teased at school otherwise!!
How have you guys on here navigated the process? Did you accept your 1st quote or get another opinion?
Always funny when an an Orthdontic practice has its own in house financing dept!!!

Thanks

Farmboy

Almost Canadian

IIRC my daughter's cost $8,000 ish. We paid $300 a month from the date of the first visit to when it was finished being paid for, allegedly, interest free!

Siouxie

I'd be getting a 2nd opinion, personally. Some of these dentistry places seem to be money making machines!

Danny B

$5k here in BC, this seems to be the going rate if their teeth aren't like Austin Powers.

enak

Circa $5k in Ontario too, although quotes did vary. For us it was much cheaper to pay up-front than to do the monthly options, although I suppose you have to be sure you won't be moving away any-time soon.

For sure get another quote.

dbd33

I don't remember the sums involved but I do remember that it made sense to pre-pay so as to exceed the 3% of income in a year and so achieve tax broken teeth.

Jerseygirl

Do it for your children. My husband’s dental treatment in the last 10 years has run well into 5 figures...and he now requires further treatment. As a child he regularly saw a dentist, but UK dentists were really only interested in decay.

We moved to the US when our daughter was 11. She was the only child in a class of 18 not to wear braces. Thankfully all her teeth are perfectly straight and white. Her dentist here in Toronto couldn’t believe she had never worn braces or had her teeth whitened.

Almost Canadian

Our one billed us but allowed us to pay via instalments. In our case it made little difference as the insurance premiums I have to pay for each year exceed the minimum amount to qualify for a tax break irrespective of additional costs.

scilly

I think we paid around $4000 over a period of 3 years back in the 1980s in an attempt to correct my daughter's overbite.

We did have Dental coverage through OH's job, but it only covered a %age of the cost (about 70% if I remember correctly).

I second Jerseygirl's post re getting work done ....................

OH paid over $80,000 over 3 years about a decade ago to get implants and new crowns. He does take care of his teeth, but they have always needed a lot of work.


Why don't you look in getting a Dental Insurance policy. It might be worth it if you have 3 children coming "of age" to need treatment.

I will say that my daughter's teeth are now pretty good and she hasn't cost her husband very much!!


Just think ............ one of the things that used to happen up until possibly WW1 was that fathers would pay to have their daughter's teeth taken out and replaced with dentures, so her husband would not have to face the cost. It was supposed to make her more attractive to a suitor in that it wouldn't cost him.

I've never worked out whether the teeth were in bad shape or whether they were removed regardless!

Aviator

Extended dental outside of a work plan has a long waiting period (12 months I believe), usually with small limits, such as $1500 and only 50% of major work covered.

Siouxie

It was through victorian times, mainly in Glasgow, apparently!
https://bizarrevictoria.livejournal.com/95923.html

glendem4

Book a holiday to Spain, Hungary, Mexico or Panama and pay 1/3 of the price for dental work.
https://www.health-tourism.com/dental-braces/

The cheapest and best place in the world for dental work is India.

Allie73

2 of my kids had orthodontic consultations last week. One is going to cost $7000 and the treatment will take 2 1/2 years. The other is going to cost $4000 and the treatment will take 18 months. So quite a difference between the two. I took them for consultations with 3 different orthodontists. Two wouldn't give me a price for the total amount of the treatment. One said it was because of the price of metal might go up. The other would only give me a price for Phase 1 but wouldn't say how many phases there would be. The consultations were free so there is no harm in getting a couple. We have some insurance coverage, but it's only about $1000 per kid.

Siouxie

An adult friend went to the dentists a few weeks ago for a check up - they determined she needed a couple of fillings and a cleaning. She asked how much. They said 'it depends how many layers of plaque we need to remove - and how many layers of filling you need for the teeth - and which type of filling we use.

So no quote any longer, just a very vague guesstimate and the price gets fixed only once the work has been done - so could be $250 or $1200+! Not good if you are on a limited income and need dental treatment!

scilly

We opted to continue to pay for a Dental Plan after OH retired ......... along with MSP and Extended Health.

We both go to our dentist twice a year, and the Plan covers about 50% of the cost. But the dentist is very good, and has never recommended any unnecessary treatment since I started going to him back in 2001.

This was not the dentist who recommended OH go to see a specialist re the implants!


Siouxie ............ it sounds as if your friend had not been to a dentist for some years, and was going to a new guy.

That's how I found the dentist I now go to ............. I had 2 gold crowns that had been put on by my dental student flatmate back in about 1963/64.

In 2002, one came off when I was chewing a candy. I went on spec to the clinic near where we live .... they were unsure what to expect was needed as it was about 10 years since I had last been to a dentist. Actually, I needed very little hygienist work after the crown had been replaced. The other gold crown was replaced about a year later.

BUT I have strong teeth ............... they have needed very little treatment apart from the school dentist back in the early 50s who believed in taking out molars rather than fill them.