Get a winning smile

What qualifies for NHS funded orthodontic treatment?

The 'need' for treatment is graded upon a broadly agreed national clinical convention using the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). Problems with a more severe grading on this scale are likely to derive a significant dental health benefit from orthodontic treatment. The IOTN has two parts:

1. Dental Health component (DHC) and

2. Aesthetic component (AC)

The Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust has set the following criteria for the purposes of rationing NHS orthodontic treatment to those most likely to gain a dental health benefit; this may be varied in the future:

• Rule 1 - There is either a great (Grade 5) or moderate (Grade 4) treatment need in the Dental Health Component

• Rule 2 - There is a borderline (Grade 3) treatment need in the Dental Health Component and the appearance of the teeth is grade 6 or above on the Aesthetic Scale

What qualifies for NHS funded treatment (Grade 4 and 5)? Listed below are some of the common problems that qualify - only for the technically minded!

1. Missing teeth; including developmentally missing teeth, ectopic and impacted teeth (excluding wisdom teeth)

2. Overjets (increased horizontal overlap between upper and lower front teeth - protrusion) and reverse overjets; overjets usually need to be 7 mm or more and reverse overjets greater than 3.5 mm.

3. Cross-bites with jaw displacement on closing of more than 2 mm

4. Crowding of teeth greater than 4 mm displacement between adjacent teeth. Less severe displacement of teeth (2-4 mm) may qualify under 'Rule 2' (see above) where the crowding is noticeable in the alignment of the upper front teeth

5. Overbites (increased vertical overlap between upper and lower front teeth) causing damage to the gums