Specialist orthodontics
Braces &
Clear Aligners
Dr Frances Aldridge holds specialist registration in orthodontics and has treated roughly 1,900 cases since qualifying in 2003. She treats adults and children at both clinics, and every quoted fee includes retainers and two years of review appointments — the part that decides whether the result holds.
Four appliances
Which one suits you depends on how far the teeth have to travel, not on preference. Aligners are excellent for mild to moderate crowding and poor at large rotations and bite correction; we will say which camp you are in at the consultation.
Clear aligners
Removable, near-invisible, changed weekly at home. Best for crowding, spacing and mild relapse after childhood braces. Typically 6–14 months. You must wear them 22 hours a day — the ones that fail are the ones that sit in a drawer.
£2,900–£4,600
Ceramic braces
Fixed braces with tooth-coloured brackets and a white wire. Visible close up, largely invisible in photographs. Handles cases aligners cannot.
£3,800–£5,200
Fixed metal braces
The fastest and most precise appliance there is, and the cheapest. Most of our under-16s choose these, usually with coloured elastics.
£3,100–£4,400
Retainers
Included in every treatment fee: a bonded wire behind the front teeth and a removable clear retainer for nights. Replacements afterwards are £180 a set.
included
Teeth move back. Plan for it.
The uncomfortable fact about orthodontics is that teeth drift for the rest of your life, treated or not. Straightening them does not stop that. Retention does, and only for as long as you keep it up.
Which is why retainers are in the price here rather than a £250 extra at the end, and why the fee covers two years of review appointments after the braces come off. That is the window in which relapse actually happens, and it is the window most practices stop seeing you in.
What we ask in return: wear the removable retainer every night for the first year, then three or four nights a week indefinitely. Come back if the bonded wire behind your front teeth ever feels loose — a debonded retainer that nobody notices for six months is the single most common reason a good result goes backwards.
Common questions
No. A little over half of Dr Aldridge’s current cases are adults, and the oldest patient she has treated at Ashcroft started at 68. Teeth move at any age provided the gums and bone supporting them are healthy, which is what the assessment checks.
Not here. Moving teeth without first checking the gums, the roots and the bite is how people end up with straight teeth and loose ones. We take x-rays and a periodontal chart before any aligner case starts, and we have declined cases on that basis.
A free intraoral scan and a simulation of your likely result on screen, twenty minutes each, twelve places per clinic. Treatment booked on the night is 10% off. Next dates are Thursday 18 September at both clinics, 6pm.
Book an orthodontic assessment
£110 with Dr Frances Aldridge, including x-rays, a scan and a written plan showing what each appliance would and would not achieve in your case.