DS has been seeing an orthodontist for check ups for a couple of years, he has been very late with teeth. We knew he would need braces eventually. The time has come. I was kind of surprised to find out the cost- $5800 or $5500 if we paid up front. This is one stage and his main problem is the bottom teeth, although there are small problems on the top. Total time will be around 2 yrs. Friends have shopped around and this seems to be the going rate. Dosen't it seem a bit much to you??? I guess I am just in a bit of shock! Of course there is not an orth. on our dental policy...no one seems to have that these days. What is the "going rate" in your area of the country?

Wow!!! That is high

My son is seeing an orthodontist and is not at the braces stage just yet (he is 9, waiting for more adult teeth). The going rate for our orthodontist is right at $4000...but our insurance pays for 1/2.

We are in Washington state.

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We are lucky. My son is getting his done for only $2,000.00 and insurance covers part of it. Another dentist was going to charge 3k-4k.

sounds about right for here. We are paying around $5K for our 9 year old. That included his expander to start out with. He has had his braces for over a year now (almost 1.5) and hopefully gets them off before xmas. He will most likely have to have them again as a teen but the ortho will credit us the portion we have already paid ($5K) towards the new set. So hopefully, it will only be a few hundred dollars more then

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Got 2 prices here . $5800 and $4300.

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We paid anout 4 grand for braces about 4 years ago, so that seems about right.

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Ours was about 4500 and insurance covered about half, I had to pay about 2000 after they paid their portion, and our ortho office took monthly payments from us, of 200/month. There was also a 'cash discount' like you described, if we had paid 2000 upfront we would have gotten a discount.

Sounds right- I am here in Western Ma. We are bringing DS next week for another evaluation for orthodontics. He is 14 and still has 10 baby teeth. I picked up a dental plan almost 2 years ago with a two year waiting period for orthodontia coverage. It will pay 1/2 up to $3 K in benefits.

DD just got hers off and now DS needs them $5200 in Va. Beach minus $2000 insurance, -$200 for sibling discount,-$250 for paying all at once. So $2750 out of pocket.That includes everything from start to finish.

My 11 yr old dd has braces right now with an expander and it is costing us $4,350. She had many, many problems with both her upper and lower teeth from thumb sucking and tongue thrusting. They say she should have them on for around 18 months. Our insurance only covers $1,000.

My 12 year old has braces, they were $4000, our health/dental insurance pays for $1800 of it. My DD had perfectly straight teeth though, however there was a tooth in the roof of her mouth that is a permanent tooth that could only be seen in an x-ray (found in a regular 6 month dental checkup). So we had to take her to an oral surgeon to have surgery to get it exposed, then the orthodontist attached a thing to pull it down and into the slot it's supposed to go into (which we're not at that point yet). All this went on for 2-3 months before she got the actual braces on.

That did not include the cost of the oral surgeon or the cost of the regular dentist that will have to pull the baby tooth that is not coming out on it's own.

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$4000 here for my soon to be 8 year old. Insurance will pay 50% as soon as she is 8. My 12 year old needs them as well but they are waiting for him to lose more teeth.

Yes, that is about the going rate here too. Our insurance paid $1,000.00 only. But, when you need it, it only gets worse the longer you put it off. (I had 2 in braces at different times)

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Thanks for all the replies! I am surprised at how many of you have orth. insurance. Seems like folks around here are lucky just to have regular dental ins. Very few have any orth. coverage. We have one of the best plans around but no orth. coverage unless there is trauma and that is only $600. Too bad DS dosen't play sports, maybe we could have worked some trauma in there!!!

Va. Beach ortho quoted us just under $6000.
This is his 2nd set of braces and we weren't told that was even a possibility. I found out when we moved here and read his dental records about the first set being "phase 1". I am TICKED!, I asked the 1st ortho if it was even necessary at his age for the first set and he acted like I was evil for even asking when he had no obvious problems.

It is not this orthodontists fault but I feel ripped off and our dental insurance has already covered as much as they will cover from the first set. Hubby starts a new job soon and I can only hope they will cover a tiny bit of it when we can afford to do it but since it is the same insurer I am not hopeful.

Whew, that was bugging me, can't tell huh ?...lol

Just to put some perspective on this I had braces put on in the fifth grade so about 73-74. It cost $1500 and my Mom talked about that $1500 as though it was a very big amount of money.

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Oldest got them 3 years ago for $4400 I believe. We only have $1000 ortho insurance.

Youngest just had an evaluation last Wednesday. She will have them on about 6 months less and less appliances in her mouth and hers will be $5150. At least they have a 5% discount for the 2nd set and a 3% discount if you pay up front!

Guess they've gone up in 3 years!

Lisa

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DS is 9 and he will have braces twice. Stage 1 current is 2250 and will last a year.

stage 2 will be around age 12 and is 2 years in legnth and is 4650.

He has extensive issues with his teeth. we are in savannah ga , not quite sure if location affects cost.

My oldest DD (13) is getting hers off in 2 weeks after 2 1/2 years! The cost for hers was just shy of $5000 -- but the nice thing about our orthodontist is that that is an all inclusive price (including her retainer and even a replacement should she lose hers.) Also, even though prices rise, any other children in your family will be treated for the same price as the first. So, in a couple of years, we know it will be another $4700

$5,100 times two, both going thru it at the same time. Minus $1,500 for each, from insurance.


No insurance for me, and I think mine are $3,800??? $800 up front, then $200 a month for 12 months. Oh, and $245 for the records fee??? This is my second time in them, too.

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My youngest dd Cailtin got her off 2 years ago total cost was about 5,000.. Its alot.. Also it seems so many kids today wear braces... Peace... Catherine

Forgot to mention- do you have a flexible medical/dental expense plan through work?. You can pay the ortho with pre-tax dollars which should save you several hundred. We did this with DD's braces for which we had $0 insurance coverage. Spread the payments out over one year. which came directly out of paycheck.

Try a general denstist instead of an orthodontist.

Kathie

We were very lucky - both my children now ages 18 and almost 19 had them and it was covered in full....

I only paid a $50 co-payment for each but that was it!!

My daugther had an expander (her mouth is small, so they put this to expand the jaw area), she had another appliance on the roof of her mouth, the braces, and then when braces came off she had the retainer......none of these cost me a dime
She did lose the first retainer and needed a second....i believe that cost me $100/$150

my son had the braces and retainer...not a dime either

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My DD got her braces 3 years ago and they were $4200 and 10% off if you paid in full (no paper work for them). She is "brace-free" now and has a beautiful smile ! It was money well-spent!

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