In addition to improving children's confidence, straight teeth make cleaning easier which helps to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. It's right to treat those in most need, but at the same time, you have to look at the psychological effect of having crooked teeth on children. Shortage The UK has a fifth the number of orthodontists in relation to the number of children than France and Germany. The BOS has called for an increase in the number of training places for orthodontists to tackle the problem. Last month it emerged children are waiting up to four years to get braces for their teeth because of a shortage of NHS dentists.
Orthodontists are also angry about a proposed reduction in fees.
They currently receive 762 in NHS fees for fitting a brace and monitoring the patient for the following two years. But the fee of 80 for the fitting of a temporary brace before the fixed brace is fitted will be cut, and just 20 paid to the lab technician who makes it. It is about money so we can provide better health care. And he said the public needed to be aware of the plans - and warned if specialists hadn't spoken out, people would only have found out about the restrictions when they took their child for treatment. A spokesman for the Department of Health confirmed there were plans to reform the way orthodontic treatment was delivered.