My daughter's braces are never coming off!

[spaamie1]

I'm getting totally frustrated here. She's had her braces on for three years. The Herbst came out in early May, and they told me she'd have her braces off by the time school started.

Now we're getting broken brackets and making no progress and they refuse to give me any kind of time frame. But they still want to see her every three weeks, which means I have to pull her out of school all the time. This is a real drain on my time and hers. At this point it looks as though she could be doing this for the rest of the school year (which just started...) To make matters worse, none of the "flunkies" in the office seem to realize she's supposed to be on a three-week schedule. They keep scheduling her for eight weeks out, as if they have no clue that her braces are supposed to be coming off. Will they just keep doing this indefinitely? I've already finished paying them, so they've got no reason to keep me... Do I have to march back every three weeks and tell them that she's nearly done? Should I find a new orthodontist?

[HeadJam]

Wow what a horror story. I couldn't imagine being dragged around by retards like this. Before making the choice to outright switch, just take her into another ortho for a 2nd or 3rd opinion. They may know the current guy and have heard horror stories as well.

[Sunny]

Spaamie1 sounds like it's time to phone your daughter's ortho's office and ask for an appointment to speak with the ortho. You need to talk about what you and your daughter are feeling and get these issues sorted. Hopefully that will help, but if the ortho won't see you, then tell then you're taking your daughter for further consults and looking for someone else to treat her.

Appointments three weeks apart must mean something 'delicate' is being done, that it requires that much human intervention, so hopefully the work is about detailing your daughter's teeth. Maybe you'd be best to talk to staff at reception when you leave after each appointment, to remind them when you'll be back. If the ortho says three weeks, then that's what it is, no matter what the staff at reception think. If the staff who work at reception, do that job and do not assist the ortho, then they may not know your daughter's braces are coming off. Plus they see many faces each day/week, and it's usually not their job to remember information like that.

Good luck talking to your daughter's ortho, and I hope you sort things out. It would be a shame to have to change at this stage, as that means extra expense and possible changes to your daughter's treatment plan. But, if you're left with no other option ... then action is better than doing nothing.

Take care!

[Zoso]

A move at this stage would seem about as likely to prolong things as to conclude them more quickly, and would almost certainly incur additional costs.


It does seem though that the time has indeed come to request an appointment to chat with your child's orthodontist, with the express goal being for him to help you understand what remains to be done, why the current timeline and frequency of appointments seems appropriate to him to achieve these goals, and how much longer you should realistically expect treatment to take. You could also enquire whether there might not be appointments available that might minimise the hit on her school timetable (later in the afternoon perhaps) and ask for some preference in having these slots scheduled due to the frequency of visits that are being required.

Don't be too down on the staff at reception - unless they have immediate access to her clinical notes, they are probably unaware when you head up front of what scheduling is required. Just march up to the desk and say that you need another appointment in 3 weeks. (And, Headjam: your choice of perjoritive was entirely inappropriate)

Good luck.

[HeadJam]

Said so much better than the way I did.

[coolestSamantha]

Wow I'm really sorry thats terrible! Just imagine how your daughter feels getting pulled out of the orthodontist all the time and after three years in braces. I agree with Sunny, Headjam, & Zoso here. Go talk to your orthodontist and see what the hold up is. If after this you feel that this is really silly you should go talk to other orthodontist in your area and see if they feel the same way about your daughters situation. Good luck & Hope to hear back from you soon.