Braces part 2

In June last year I wrote about getting my daughter braces for her teeth.  She coped really well with them and I think in the end was a little sad about getting them off.  But, on Saturday she had them removed and spent the next few days smiling and smiling and smiling some more!  She chose not to tell anyone that she had had them removed and it was interesting that no one actually noticed.  She has to have a retainer for another 2 years, but the orthodontist managed to attach one on the inside of her teeth so nothing is visible from the outside.  She is finally starting to enjoy eating foods that require a bit of extra chewing and biting - something that she was unable to do with the original positioning of her teeth.

As I have never had any orthodontic work done in New Zealand I can't compare the service etc., but my experience here was very positive.  They told us up front exactly what the costs were going to be, they told us how long each appointment would take and it took exactly that time, we never waited after our appointed time, they had free tea and coffee in the waiting room for me and lots of comics for my son to read.  Of course the final result also looks pretty good.  The only advice I have for people who are thinking about getting orthodontic work done here in Japan is to do it before the children enter junior high school.  Apparently the costs rocket even higher after that....