Achieving a healthy beautiful smile is a team effort that involves the patient, parent, orthodontist and family dentist as well as other dental specialists as needed. Your role is essential in ensuring that dental hygiene is satisfactory, that your child regularly sees the family dentist at least every six months during the orthodontic treatment and that your child follows the orthodontic treatment plan. If difficulties arise, you should discuss these with your orthodontist as soon as possible so that effective problem-solving can take place.
If your child should experience a loose bracket or wire, there are some steps you can take to make your child comfortable until the orthodontist can repair the problem. For information, please see “Orthodontic Emergencies and Other Problems”.
Help your child make good food choices during orthodontic treatment. Remember that your child needs to avoid foods that are hard, sticky, crunchy and chewy.
The cost of orthodontic treatment will depend on many factors, including the severity of the problem, its complexity and the length of treatment. Your orthodontist will be glad to discuss the cost with you before treatment begins. Patients are finding that braces are more affordable today than ever. Most orthodontists have a variety of convenient payment plans. In addition, many dental insurance plans now include orthodontic benefits. Dollar for dollar, when you consider the lifetime benefits of orthodontics it is truly a great value.
