<p>Have any of you had a kid away at college who needed braces? </p>
<p>My son needs braces but I am concerned about logistical difficulties. He’s at Ohio State and might be able to use their Orthodontic Clinic but he’d be locked into a certain day/time for appointments over the entire length of his treatment which might conflict with classes/exams that change every quarter. If anyone has had any experience with the OSU Orthodontic Clinic, I would love to hear about it.</p>
<p>Waiting until he graduates might be an option but he would risk that his condition could worsen to the point where they’d have to break his jaw to straighten his bite (happened to my sister) and the dentist is seeing gum recession that she feels is due to bite problems. Frankly, I think he brushes too hard which doesn’t help. </p>
<p>I do think going to a orthodontist off-campus might be your best option for continuity of care. Do you have dental insurance that covers orthodontia? Your insurer may have participating providers in Columbus.</p>
<p>Basically we get $1500 towards braces no matter who he sees but preferred providers also have a limit on how much they can charge. Anyway, the closest preferred provider is maybe 4 miles away and he only has day time, weekday hours. Likely, my son would have to cut a class or two to see him and would have to rely on buses to get him back and forth.</p>
<p>The way treatment works today, after a few initial visits that may be close together, you only have to go back every 6-7 weeks. In any case, who would better understand scheduling problems of university students than a clinic at a university.</p>
<p>My D was contemplating whether to get her orthodontia re-done in HI or in LA. The doc in HI encouraged her to figure out where she’s planning to be for a while. As far as I know, she’s still thinking it all over.</p>
<p>If your child is considering using any orthodontia school to do his work, it can take considerably longer but be MUCH cheaper (a trade-off). Something to explore if there is a school nearby and your child has a lot of patience and willing to make repeated visits. D was considering this as well.</p>
<p>My d’s total ortho bill for her 22 months of braces is 6500. dollars of which insurance paid 1000.00. Compare that to what your son can get braces for. I’d think you could do a lot better at school.</p>
<p>Ortho bills can vary, depending on region, what treatment is planned and required and other factors. My D & S each had ortho treatment a while back. Unfortunately, D’s teeth and mouth shifted since she had her braces removed & she will need to have it done again. :(</p>
<p>Actually my son did not have braces as a younger kid because his teeth were straight, but as his jaw grew, they shifted. When he had his wisdom teeth out, it helped, but not enough. Now that his jaw is done growing and his wisdom teeth are not a concern, I think he can proceed with braces without as much worry that he will have to have the work redone later. Hopefully, the work will not take significantly longer at the clinic but even if it does, he is still has at least 3 more years at school anyway. I suppose if he gets a co-op sometime down the road, it might throw a wrench into the works. </p>
<p>The cost at the university’s dental clinic will be about $3000 after our insurance benefit. However, I think it would be the same if we saw a preferred provider- the only problem is that there isn’t a preferred provider nearby. </p>
<p>I think the school’s clinic tries to accommodate scheduling issues only to the extent that they have night hours 5-7 every other week.</p>
<p>D started doing a “tongue thrust,” that threw things off. The orthodontist said there isn’t a whole lot that can be one when someone is doing the tongue thrust and it’s disheartening for all of us that it needs to be re-done.</p>
<p>Summer plans can also throw a wrench in, especially at the begining when visits to check things are more frequent. We may just wait until D is done with school & figures out where she’ll settle. She doesn’t have any insurance covering her orthodontia in any case, now or probably in the future.</p>
<p>HImom- If I was sure he’d have the option of getting braces in a few years without possibly breaking his jaw or gum grafts, and that he’d still want them then, I’d wait. I had mine done right after I finished school and got a job, but I was already engaged and the orthodontist was right across the street from my office so I didn’t have a good excuse to put it off. However, my husband never got the orthodontia he needs because it was never convenient enough for him.</p>
<p>Wow, the breaking jaw & gum grafts are matters far beyond anything we have experience with. It was enough that I & kids had braces. Am not happy we’re looking at round 2 for D, but for her, it makes sense to wait until she has a better idea of where she’ll be living and how she’ll get back & forth to the ortho. If she wants to start now in LA, that’s fine with us.</p>
<p>My d had her orthodontia done at college, more than 5 hours away by car. We had to drive there once for an appointment during the summer when she was home; otherwise, the major work was done at school. It really was much simpler since her appointments needed to be more frequent than her vacations home.</p>
<p>Is he a good candidate for InvisAlign? They give you 3 or 4 “trays” at a time, which you wear for 2 weeks each. So if it’s inconvenient to get to the ortho office, he could stretch out the appts. He could just take a taxi to get there, as it isn’t that frequent.</p>