Orthodontist - private or NHS?

[Goose Green Grump]

My son has just been referred to the Dulwich Orthodontic Centre and had his assessment (after a 6 month wait) there last week. The orthodontist says our options are:

- go private and pay for 3 years of treatment OR

- get further referred for NHS treatment at the dental hospital and wait quite a bit longer, for less effective treatment. (He would do just braces; NHS dental hospital likely to do tooth extraction too; apparently extraction makes the profile look squished after 3 years).

He isn't authorised to provide the treatment under the NHS, for some reason.

Anyone had any experience of navigating orthodontists and the NHS? My main questions are:

- how do we get a second opinion?

- how long is the waiting list for the dental hospital?

- how do we evaluate whether the private treatment is more effective than the NHS treatment?

- can't we ask for the more 'effective' treatment on the NHS?

Thanks all... Feeling a bit lost and need some hive mind help!

[bawdy-nan]

hmmmm - that sounds a bit odd.

We were referred to the Dental Hospital for orthodontic treatment with our 11 year old son and got astonishingly good care.

It took a little while (a few months) to get the initial appointment.

We're waiting for treatment to start until later in the year, not because the NHS is offering a "less effective" treatment but because our son still doesn't have a full set of adult teeth and it would be wrong to start treatment before that. I'm absolutely happy to take their advice. It's a world class research and teaching facility, not needing to flog treatment to generate profit.

I wonder why they cant do the treatment on the NHS? Perhaps you could ask them to spell it out because, according to the guidelines issued by the General Dental Council:

"1.7.4 If you work in a mixed practice, you must not pressurise

patients into having private treatment if it is available to

them under the NHS (or equivalent health service) and

they would prefer to have it under the NHS (or equivalent

health service)"

On their website they suggest that some situations may not warrant nhs treatment ....but this seems to be where teeth are pretty ok already. I suppose that if you think the teeth really need attention you could ask from a referral to the hospital.

[Mutrik]

Sounds odd to me too. I have had private treatment as an adult from Dulwich Orthodontic Centre. The treatment took a lot longer than it should have done, mainly due to the orthodontist in my view making mistakes and wasn't listening to me when I explained how my teeth were moving. I would have preferred using the other orthodontists (who do nhs treatment) in the practice but had to stay with The owner as he is the only one doing private treatment for adults apparently.

He is only in on Mondays and Tuesday's which gives you as a lot less flexibility.

If you get the treatment on NHS I would wait. Just because something is private doesn't need to mean it's better :( alrthough of course waiting times are shorter.

[cactus]

My 11 year old has just had his initial assessment at King's, he's been put on their waiting list, and we've been

told it could be about a year before he's assessed again and treatment starts.

However similar to bawdy-nan, the length of wait will be about right, as he doesn't have all of his adult teeth yet

and growth spurts could change the treatment plan.

It seems he'll need couple of extractions, functional brace, fixed brace and then a retainer, done over an 18 month period, or possibly a little longer.

[Ruffler]

My son had orthodontic treatment at King's dental school 6 or 7 years ago and the whole experience was excellent.

[murphy]

From my experience of Dulwich Othrodontic Centre the standard policy seems to be:

Do the assessment

Tell you it will take ages to get treated on the NHS

NHS funding is short

You only get NHS funding for extreme cases not cosmetic treatment

Why risk all the above when your child can start the treatment with them now?

After chasing DOC with what had happened with applying for NHS funding they were very vague and reticent. We went back to our dentist who referred us to Kings. King's said it was outrageous that in the case of our child DOC could have suggest treatment could be considered cosmetic. Had absolutely first class treatment from King's for two children.

I am not doubting DOC ability to treat, but our experience, and a couple of others I know is they will do everything they can to persuade you to go private and have no hesitation in suggesting treatment on the NHS is hard to get and will take a long time. Get your dentist to get you an appointment at King's and save yourself a few thousand pounds.

[Goose Green Grump]

Thanks everyone. My son does qualify for NHS treatment - he has a sufficiently severe overbite. We're actually having some excellent experiences of the Kings Dental Hospital at the moment for my daughter after a horrible bike accident. But it's the waiting list game that particularly confuses me. My son has just lost all his baby teeth and so he's ripe for intervention. Anyway, this is all helpful and I've got more ability to weigh it up now. Thanks.

[bli]

Interested to read this. My daughter has just been referred by our dentist to the Dulwich Orthodontic Centre, and is on the waiting list for an appointment. I know it's early days, but am worried about the waiting time (she has lost all her baby teeth) and not reassured by these posts.

We've had fantastic treatment at Kings Dental Hospital for a broken tooth in the past and I would feel much more confident if she was assessed there. Does anyone know if you can ask to be referred to Kings or is it determined by the dentist? I.e. Could I insist on a referral there? I wasn't given any choice at the time.

Or am I jumping the gun and just have to wait for initial assessment with DOC to see if it meets the NHS criteria?

Thanks

[murphy]

Ask your dentist if he can refer to Kings rather than DOC. For many treatments they sometimes want to wait until the child is a little older so wait for NHS treatment isn't necessarily an issue. If the dentist says you need to see DOC first then do that, but if they look as if they are steering you down the private only route ask the dentist to refer you to Kings. There is always the option of contacting Kings direct and asking them for advice on the process.

[DenmotherSmith]

My 13 year old son has been having treatment for the past 12 months, braces etc, with DOC as a NHS patient and I have to say our experience there has been great. He's needed an emergency appointment twice due to brace unhooking, always easy to sort. Never had any pressure to have private treatment.