<p>The biggest surprise and upset with the move to USC concerns the orthodontal work. The local orthodontist gave us the impression that only 6 more months is needed to finish the work. This is after almost 2 1/2 years of orthodontal work which I thought was going to take 1-2 years. I paid in full here only to find more work to be done. Anyways, the Orthodontal dept. at USC Dental school did not want to be responsible for taking off the braces and would just do some wire work. So, we found another orthodontist in Westwood and have to wait and see if he will take on the job. Even with only a once a month visit, going to Westwood without a car, is quite time consuming. And what happens if the new Orthodontist does not want the case? I wish the USC Dental school had an Orthodontal division to take care of USC students.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard of zipcar? Maybe this would help get your son to his monthly appointments:</p>
<p>This is a shame, but I am not surprised. It is rare that one orthodontist agrees with the work done by another. They all have been trained in their own methods and timetables, so it isn't unusual that they don't want to take on the responsibility of a case that was started by another and (in their eyes) not done the way they would have done it to begin with. I can imagine how frustrating it must be since your S still needs braces. </p>
<p>What does his local ortho say? Can he/she recommend a peer to take over the work in L.A.? Can he schedule appts back at home (over Thanksgiving, Winter, spring?) I don't know what stage he is at, but that might just mean delaying the procedures (since tightening won't happen every 4-6 weeks) but still progress would be made and he might be out of braces by summer? </p>
<p>Just a few thoughts.</p>
<p>I wonder if you could get the wire tightening done at SC and then have the final removal done while he's home on a break? It might cost less to buy a plane ticket (and give him a welcome trip home) than to pay a huge fee to turn the entire project over to a new orthodontist. Have you thought about calling the student health services people to see if they can recommend someone to do the minor work for just a few months?</p>
<p>I would agree with Madbean--when we moved to Singapore from California, our orthodontist gave us the name of three doctors in Singapore we could choose from, and we had other friends using the one we eventually ended up with. It's worth a shot.</p>
<p>To much of my surprise, the local orthodontist said he knew no one in LA. Couldn't he have consulted with a professional organization for a name closer to USC? My husband went to USC dental in person during move in. USC does not want the liability of an orthodontal case started by someone else. The attitude of our local orthodontist is once our son left his practice last week before move in, he is no longer on his case. I thought of flying our son back and forth, but his schedule is such that he only has Friday afternoons off. If he had all of Friday or all of Monday off, then we could consider flying back and forth. I can't tell you how upset I am over this matter. We will give our son the money for zipcar, but he is not yet 18 and does not have his full drivers license yet. Our state takes a long time to give a full drivers license which you need to rent zip car.</p>
<p>Faux Nom: According to the Westside orthodontist (who came highly recommended), my son needs another year of work. Not a few months. Thank you all for your support. I miss my son and worry about the orthodontal work.</p>
<p>I meant to say that my son will use zipcar once he has his full drivers license.</p>
<p>How often will your S need to visit the orthodontist in Westwood? It is possible to take public transportation (bus) to Westwood, although it might take over an hour each way (due to stops) but it would take time to go and rent a Zipcar and then return it, too. If he has one day a week with fewer classes, he could schedule appts on that day and read textbooks on the bus. Not perfect, but if the Westwood Ortho will take his case, this may be the best you can get--and much cheaper than flying him back and forth out of the country!! Good luck. He'll do great at school and his smile will be perfect in a short while.</p>
<p>I wonder too, when he bonds with friends, that it might be possible that a friend would take him with a zipcar. Your son could reward him with a nice lunch in Westwood, ....besides, the area is attractive and could offer a nice break. After all it's only once a month. Not something you could rely on perhaps, but who knows?</p>
<p>You should make absolutely sure that there's not someone at USC who will take on the case.</p>
<p>Note there's a distinction between the dental school practice (which is a clinical training environment), and the individual private practices of faculty. </p>
<p>It is pretty probable that the dental school will not take on cases like this for clinical training, which leads me to think that you were denied from that. Faculty have their own practices and would probably make their own choices with regards to what cases to take on.</p>
<p>When I called the USC dental school and spoke to the rep who knows about the orthodontal care, no one mentioned any private practices of faculty. Do you know the name of a faculty member who teaches orthdontics and has a private practice at USC? This would be great. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>Sequoia--I agree that Westwood is a very nice break. But, I worry about the intense traffic at Westwood Blvd. and Wilshire for a young driver. Also, I worry about getting back late afternoon on the bus when it starts to get dark earlier. Every morning is packed with classes on this semester's schedule.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your kind and caring replies.</p>
<p>mdcissp, I sent you a PM</p>
<p>Since we are very familiar with the Westwood orthodontist, (as is your husband:) )I can tell you that when we interviewed orthodontists we saw 4 and he was by far the most conservative in treatment/fairest in cost/and easiest to work with. My personal favorite was the orthodontist in BH who said that my oldest daughter's teeth needed 3 years of treatment..with blah blah...and $8,500! (She is now 21 and the treatment was begun when she was 12). The Westwood guy was $2,900. Oh, gave the SAME DIAGNOSIS but said it was very straightfoward.</p>
<p>I actually don't know very much about USC's dental services, but you could try contacting the "oral health center" (which is what I think you want, but I'm not sure) if you hadn't called this number already:</p>
<p>USC</a> Oral Health Center
For Appointments Call: 213-740-2012</p>
<p>It's possible that no orthodontics faculty have private practices, I suppose.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I am going to make more follow up calls tomorrow. I really appreciate all of your help.</p>