# How expensive should we expect 'braces' to be?



## Tad (Jan 12, 2010)

Our son is going to get molds done of his teeth today, the big consult with the orthodontist in a couple of weeks for planning braces for him. Unfortunately my benefits package does not cover these.....I have a vague expectation to expect costs on the order of five grand, but I'm not sure where I get that number from. 

Anyone have a kid who has had to go through braces in recent years? Do you recall what the costs were like overall? 

(we are just desperately trying to re-jig the budget, and trying to figure out what else gets dropped, would be good to have a clue of how big a hole we are talking about....)


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## Isa (Jan 12, 2010)

No kids but I had braces a few years ago and the cost was about $3500. I did have insurance but they only paid half of that (and nothing on the molds). My orthodontist provided reasonable payment plans/packages for those with and without insurance. Hopefully yours will do the same.


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## Melian (Jan 12, 2010)

It depends on area, discounts, if you are getting him full banding or invisalign....expect to pay between 5-7.5K. And this is for "normal" adjustments - it could be a few K more if he has some serious problems, eg. if he needs to correct a severe overbite at the same time.


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## JerseyGirl07093 (Jan 13, 2010)

Sorry I can't help you as far as the cost goes, my son's were paid for by insurance and I don't remember the cost. He got them as a young teenager, he's 21 now.
I do have a little advice though. If your son is worried about the process of braces or the pain, etc. tell him not to worry. The braces of today are nothing like the braces of our youth which seemed like torture devices. The process was so much easier than I or even my son thought it would be and even when he went to have the braces tightened and maintained it was not really bad at all. Plus when they put the rubber bands on the braces now they have all different cool colors and they can give you whatever you want. Favorite color, school colors, fave sports team color. Pretty cool!
The most important thing I will tell you, even though you won't be dealing with this for a while until the braces are off is, if your son is given a retainer to wear at night (to make sure his teeth stay where they are supposed to) please make sure he wears it. Because, especially in the beginning, those teeth don't want to stay where they're supposed to. My son broke his and I couldn't afford a new one (What the heck, braces are covered but not a new retainer?! ) and his teeth are not as straight as they used to be. All that hard work for nothing. Well, his teeth are better than they were but not as good as they should be.
Good luck with the braces!


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## mel (Jan 16, 2010)

my son has had braces about 5 months now....an avg amount is 4500.00-6500.00 depending on type of braces, length of time to wear and what insurance may pay


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## Tad (Jan 18, 2010)

Thanks for all the feedback! We'll see how it goes.....


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## Tad (Feb 17, 2010)

After a delay due to the person we were going to see being sick, we finally got the braces info. I decided to take Lent off from posting at Dims, but I wanted to give the follow up in this thread. So I'll not be responding for a few weeks

He'll be starting with upper braces and an internal aparatus that pushes the sides of his upper jaw further apart, then after a few months that apparatus will have further additions added to such that it pushes the lower jaw forward and outwards, encouraging it to grow more, hopefully). After 12-18 months of that hopefully his lower jaw has grown appropriately, and if so then the apparatus comes off and he gets lower teeth braces as well for another 12-18 months. Add it all up and he's looking at about 3.5 years of stuff in his mouth, and we are looking at close to seven grand.  Ah well, looks like the "dream vacation fund" is getting diverted to the braces fund


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