Low cost orthodontist

Hi! I'd try calling Dr. Rebong and Agazzi at http://www.oakland-orthodontics.com to see if they can help, or if they can help refer you to someone they know. They're doing my son's braces. My husband and I do have insurance, however, it doesn't cover a whole lot so our portion for the braces treatment plan was pretty substantial… and Dr. Agazzi and Dr. Rebong have both been really great, both in our son's treatment plan and their care, as well as in the financial aspect. They set us up with a really low down payment and an affordable monthly in-house instalments payment plan (interest-free, which is awesome! ). Hopefully some other parents on here will have some other ideas for other Orthodontists you can try reaching out to as well.

My other thought is that you could try contacting Dr. Denise Bass Allen, Dr. Susanna Cheng, and Dr. Niekia Franklin, at Uptown Pediatric Dentistry ( https://www.denisebassallendds.com/ ). I know you are asking specifically about orthodontists and not about general pediatric dentists, however, Dr. Bass Allen's office came to mind immediately because she is our kids' dentist and as far as I know she does take Medi Cal, so she might have ideas about other orthodontists who may be able to help you. She and her entire office are also well known around the bay for how thoughtful and knowledgeable they are in working with kids with special needs. That includes anxiety and many other things/issues both physical and mental health. Our son for instance has a history of anxiety as well, and mild ADHD/Dyspraxia, and everyone at this office is just so wonderful and I really appreciate them.

Our son also desperately needed these braces so I understand what you guys are going through. Keep at it and you'll find someone. It's totally worth it even though it's expensive and we're so glad we're sticking it out for our son. Good luck, you will find someone who can help you!

I would recommend that you talk to Dr. Immi Song in Albany.  Even though we have insurance, she gave us a low cost option in addition to a higher cost option.  The office has enough volume that they may be more flexible about deposits as well.

Check out Uniform Teeth. They have an office in San Francisco but have recently opened a few more I believe. They use aligners that get switched out every few weeks, like Invisalign, but way better. They are less than half the price I was quoted for Invisalign. The doctors are all UCSF trained young innovative orthodontists. They use state of the art imaging and technology. The treatment does not require monthly visits, they send you the aligners in the mail after you take a picture of your teeth using their app, everything is done through the app. You do have to go in sometimes but it is like once every 4 months. You can make payments through Affirm, an app based financing company. I paid like $200 per month interest free for a year I believe and I may have paid a few hundred down but I can't recall. This was my daughter's second round of orthodontia. She had regular braces in 2nd grade but her jaw grew, of course, so she needed a tune up to correct her bite. I can't recommend them enough, they are also just ridiculously nice people, and my daughter's teeth look beautiful.