Options for Paying for Braces

Spring Break. Summer Break. WInter Break. MLK Day. Presidents Day. Memorial Day. Labor Day. Teacher workday. There are enough holidays that kids get off that you should be able to work around school for the most part.

Make them as early in the day as you can she go to school after she's done. My kids never stay out the full day of school for routine appts.

That seems like a lot of school to miss, in addition to any sick days she might have to take. $500 is a good discount, but have you tried negotiating that same discount "just because"?

I have never done it myself, and I hate negotiating, but you could tell your orthodontist that money is tight and ask him for a discount. Maybe if you pay by check instead of credit cards or bypass your insurance plan, you can get a better rate. You also might want to see if any of your friends' children see another orthodontist and see if they charge any less. It's weird to think about negotiating medical/dental bills, but even doctors are willing to discount their fees -- especially when these are relatively elective procedures.

I had a co-worker once tell me that everything is negotiable. He shopped around for braces for both his daughters and got a good deal with a reputable orthodontist. When the time comes for my own children to get braces, I will probably do the same thing. Given the fact that I spend every Sunday afternoon clipping coupons to save a buck or two, it will be worth it to me to at least ask for a discount :-) Good luck to you!

I agree with your husband, not about the money because that issue of importance is different for everyone, but about missing school in general. I don't think that 1 or 2 hours out of school every month and a half to two months is a big deal, and some of it will be during summer. Schedule during breaks or days off if you can, maybe try to coordinate with lunch time so less school will be missed.

I would absolutely pull her out for $500 and I could afford not to. Then again my kids miss 7 days of school every year for vacations. School is important to me but I rather teach my kids the value of a dollar: ).

Do it. That's a lot of money and you're child won't miss too much. Like the other posters said take the school calendar with you and ask to schedule those dates ahead of time.

What kind of student is your daughter? If she is an excellent, grade A, top-notch, self-motivated student, then 5th grade shouldn't be a big problem. My daughter is in a gifted pull-out program and missed one entire DAY every week, and does fabulously. But 6th grade is a different animal.

You should check into more regarding 6th grade. When my son started 6th grade, that is middle school where we live. They will change classes for every subject. So rather than missing an hour of class that the teacher can flex around and help her make up anything she missed, it might be 2 different classes that she is missing. At my son's school, they use the block system, and in 6th grade had "exploratories" for their first two classes. That meant PE and either health, band, computers or art for the first 2 hours of school. But that means 8am -10am. The rest of the day was the core subjects. In 7th, they start the day with one core class (Social Studies or Science) and then have 2 exploratories, then go back into core subjects the rest of the day. It might not be a big deal for her to miss PE and half of Art 1 day every other month for the first grading period of 6th grade. But I would get LOTS of info from the school your daughter will be attending before I made that decision. Particularly if the appointments will be considered excused absences or not.

I don't have middle schoolers yet so i don't know what their day is like, Depending on what time school starts,If you could guarentee that all appointments could be made for the first appointment of the day, would she actually be missing class time or just pledge of allegience?
I guess a better way to ask it is, Will she be missing instructional time or just school time that isn't necessarily acedemic in nature.

If my kid had a study hall or homeroom or something for the first hour I woudlnt' ahve a problem with them missing, but if they were missing out on math or english and were already stuggling then no.

I think that regardless of WHEN during the day, you will have to pull your kid out regularly for braces. It's just how it goes. I'd figure that way I knew when the kid would be out and just plan for it. There may be other times when she'll have to get a wire fixed or something, or her plan may not go according to plan and it will take longer. My stepkids were in the 10-13 range when they were in braces or getting wires or teeth pulled or whatever. We managed. I would contact the teacher(s) to let them know so you can work to not schedule an apt. on a day that there's a review or a test or something they really can't miss. I don't see why the apts. wouldn't be excused. It's a medical procedure. It's not like the kid is skipping class.

I'd actually be more concerned how the payments were going to go. One orthodontist nickle and dimed us to death and we think was deliberately breaking things to ring up more money (we ended up leaving his practice). The other was more $ (out of network) but everything was upfront, so when a wire spronged and my stepdaughter had to see an associate near her mom's house, they didn't charge us.

It's been a few years, but I think the younger child's braces was more like $5K (I lost track of what the older kid's ended up being since we had to swap and the ortho kept adding fees. He also wanted to put the younger one in braces so soon we'd have to do them again later). Now, it may be that she didn't need what your child does, but you might want to shop around before you commit. Our ins. required two pretreatment plans for approval.

Yes, I would do it to save that much money. I'd talk with the teacher and find out when would be the less disruptive day and time to do it. Her class has a schedule for such things as library. Your daughter could miss library and then go to the library during lunch, for example.

Also there are numerous holidays and teacher planning days.

No, I wouldn't have them miss school for that (and I wouldn't be able to take that time from work). No discount like that was offered. We had a down payment and then a monthly payment plan. The ortho gave us a $400 sibling discount for our 2nd kid. Your doc is trying to entice you to fill up the part of the day where she doesn't get many appointments booked. It's too much school to miss. In niddle school, she'll get zeros for assignments as classwork not done, may not be able to make up tests, etc.

Get a calendar from school and try to plan a lot of appointments for days she has off, Presidents day, teacher conferences, spring/christmas/fall breaks. That would cut done on missing a lot. You could probably get at least half the appointments when shes off. Thats when I plan all of my daughters appointments.

I completely agree with hubby. If you take into consideration a few of those appointments could be scheduled during school vacations, or other days (holidays, teacher workshops, election day) when there is no school. The few hours she will miss won't be a big deal. Also, what time is her lunch period. It's often as early as 11:00. You could make the appointments arround that time.

No, I wouldn't do it. That's too much school to miss. It seems like they inflated the rates only to take off the 8%. Is this for two phases? $6,400 seems really high for one...even for here in CA.

The orthodontist simply does not have enough time in a day to see all of their patients outside of school hours, hence the discount for appts during the school day. It's pretty much just the way it is when kids get braces. Call the school. I'll bet they confirm.

Good luck. If she's a good student she shouldn't have any problems. Maybe mix up the times each appt so she doesn't miss the same 'class' every time. D.

I would take her out. One hour every 6-7 weeks is no biggie to me. If it is first thing in the morning, that is usually when they are just getting settled and talking about what is going on in their day. She probably wouldnt miss any major tests or anything.
If it makes you feel any better, I take my son out of school every other Thursday for 2 hours. I am getting him the help he needs (im not saving money by doing this either--it is just what it is)

Can you afford them otherwise? Do you need this discount? If you do, then done deal. If you can make the payment, I would just go ahead not make her miss school. One hour a week plus drive time, it adds up, considering most doctors open at 9 am.

It depends on your finnaces...If you can afford to foot the whole bill then don't pull her out...If this savings helps you tremendously then do it.

I would check with her teacher and see what she thinks....how she thinks your daughter is doing and if she thinks missing that much school would affect her academically or not....and see if you can work with the teacher to help her make up what she might miss. If the teacher thinks it wouldn't have a negative effect and you can work together to make things up, then I'd totally go for it. If not, well, then of course over all your child's well being has to come first. I think it depends on the child.