Orthodontics Today – all about braces and orthodontic devices

Who will take care of you? Who can offer you the orthodontic treatment you need? Should you rely on your dentist? Does someone else get into the “game”? How do I chose the best orthodontist? There are some questions we’ll try to answer in this article.

Your dentist might not be your orthodontist!

We all know you got used to your dentist. He’s done a great job with your teeth, they have no cavities now and you think about doing something more: making them align perfectly and also look better.

I still recall my previous dentist who was the first person to tell me my crooked teeth can look better and I can solve this problem too. But he wasn’t able to do this since he didn’t have the license for this. The clinic I go to now has the main doctor an orthodontics specialist. I can go for my cleaning and cavity treatment and now I can also have my teeth straightened.

An orthodontist is a specialist in this area and had some more special schooling to be able to perform such miracles. Now let’s see how you find this “god”.

• Ask your friends. You’d be amazed to see how many people had kids in orthodontic treatment or they are patients themselves. Just discuss this openly and get some recommendations.
• Do some internet research .. google for orthodontist or try to see some links in this topic. You’ll find tens of clinics in your area and you’ll have what to chose from.
• Magazines, newspapers, the Yellow Pages .. anything that might offer you some information about this.

And now that you have tens of addresses and phone numbers is a good time to do the actual “shopping”. We need to know now: how many patients your prospective orthodontist had, what systems can he offer (maybe you want Invisalign and there’s no one in your city to have a license), how much this will cost etc.

I do advise you to write all these down and then you’ll be able to chose from the list.

The price might not matter!

Don’t be cheap! I have friends who would chose a less experienced orthodontist since they don’t want to pay too much. Most top doctors don’t work for pennies, but their success rate is HUGE. My orthodontist is one of the best in my coutries, a reputed doctor in Europe too. He’s got more than 1000 (ONE THOUSAND) patients in treatment (currently or finished treatment) and I have seen some AMAZING pictures of them.

Sure, he doesn’t come cheap, but the results matter in the end. Instead of having a beginner test his skills on my teeth, I have a specialist who has the solutions and already showed me how good he is.

In this case it would be a good idea to hear some reviews about the doctors. Maybe find out something on the web or discuss with former patients (if you happen to know some of them). Even if the price is “right”, you might face problems. I have a friend who’s 36 and she wore ceramic braces for 3 years (quite a lot) and after the end of her ordeal she found out she’d have to wear them some more since the molars weren’t aligned. HELLO! The treatment is over and now you come to tell me I need some more?

She got sick of this and refused to continue the treatment. She doesn’t have the teeth perfectly aligned, but she choses to let this as it is since she doesn’t want to go through this again. In such case the orthodontist wasn’t able to do his job as asked and the treatment, succeeded only partially.

So be careful when it comes to chose. Get the best doctor possible so that you wouldn’t have such surprises. It’s not a game, you’ll wear some orthodontic devices for 1-2 years and you need to cooperate with your doctor the best both of you can.

Careful with that price, Eugene …

Now … another trick.

In some cases your doctor will tell you: “your Damon treatment costs 1500 Euro”. You have to know if the treatment includes ALL the services or will you pay for the braces and then for each service?

This trick is used by some doctors who try to mislead you when it comes to price. I have doctors in my city who “sell” braces with 600 euros for instance.  So, 900 Euro “discount” you’d think. My orthodontist might rip me off.

Hold on. The Damon braces are 600 Euro for instance, but I pay for everything else: consultations: 20 Euro (these are done every 4-6 weeks). For a 12 month treatment, we already have over 200 Euro. Archwire replacement: 10 Euro (might be done few times in a treatment, maybe each time you visit, depends on the case), a bracket fell .. 10 Euro, professional cleaning (you’ll have to remove the tartar .. it occurs more frequently when being braced since you can’t clean the teeth too well) .. 50-70 Euro (done sometimes every 2 months, depending on how clean your teeth remain) etc. So, in some cases, you might pay MORE for this, even if you thought it’s all so cheap.

Some clinics ask for 1500 Euro for instance, but this covers everything, from the moment you have your first moulds taken till you receive your retainers. Try to be careful with this too, so that you don’t end up paying more.

The most important aspect in the end is to get a good doctor. Even if you pay more (few hundreds of USD or Euro) you know your treatment has a HUGE chance of excellent results. It would be a pity going through the entire process for months and months and then end up with something that just didn’t work.

Popularity: 2% [?]