How much would you pay to ensure that your child’s pearly whites are straight as an arrow when she flashes a winning smile?
Depending on how crooked your kid’s teeth are to start, the cost of standard orthodontic care runs between $5,000 and $7,000 with most dental insurance plans covering only a fraction of the total.
So, imagine how poor you’d be if your kid had to wear braces for 11 years.
As in 11 years straight. Or, basically, your kid’s entire childhood.
For the record, most kids wear braces for two to three years.
I was forced to wear braces for five years straight–during my agonizing adolescence years–and I still haven’t lived it down. However, when it comes to being teased “Metal Mouth,” I’ve got nothing on Devin Bost.
The 22-year-old Oregon resident was first fitted for braces when he was just 7 years old. He then spent the next 11 years wearing the metal train tracks, but didn’t get the results he was promised.
Now, Bost is suing his orthodontist for nearly $200,000, but not because his teeth are crooked. Rather, according to court documents, Bost claims his extensive orthodontic treatment led to irreversible tooth rot.
The Oregonian reports that Bost didn’t visit his orthodontist as regularly as he should have, still, after 10 years his doctor never removed the braces. According to court papers, in June 2008, Bost, who was then 18, got an “urgent” call from the orthodontist saying he had to come in and have his braces removed. However, by then many of Bost’s teeth had rotted and his gums were a mess too.
According to the American Association of Orthodontists, braces alone wouldn’t cause gum disease or tooth rot, though the series of wires and brackets make cleaning teeth much harder and could hasten decay if the person wearing them isn’t vigilant about brushing and flossing.
I feel bad for Bost, but worse for his parents. I wonder how much they forked out to keep their kid in braces for 11 years?
And not for nothing, but every time I stepped foot in my orthodontist’s office I asked him when I was getting my braces off. How could you go more than a decade without begging your doctor to remove the metal from your mouth?
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