Best Orthodontists on the North Shore

We assessed 11 orthodontists on the North Shore and ranked the top 5 on public rating quality, review volume and how recent the reviews are. The businesses listed below hold 890 Google reviews between them. No business can pay for a place in these rankings. Last updated 19 September 2026. How we rank

Top 5 Orthodontists on the North Shore

The top 5 orthodontists on the North Shore are #1 North Shore Orthodontics, #2 Shakespeare Orthodontics, #3 Dr Kimberley Timmins, #4 Anna Meyer Orthodontist, and #5 Takapuna Orthodontic Group, ranked by Top5 Score.

  1. 1 North Shore Orthodontics ★ 5.0 · 298 reviews · Score 174
  2. 2 Shakespeare Orthodontics Takapuna ★ 4.9 · 262 reviews · Score 170
  3. 3 Dr Kimberley Timmins Specialist Orthodontist Ltd ★ 5.0 · 147 reviews · Score 165
  4. 4 Anna Meyer Orthodontist ★ 5.0 · 66 reviews · Score 154
  5. 5 Takapuna Orthodontic Group ★ 5.0 · 45 reviews · Score 149
  • 1

    North Shore Orthodontics

    ★ 5.0 298 reviews Score 174
    5★ 295 4★ 2 1★ 1

    North Shore Orthodontics takes on challenging cases, including impacted teeth, bite correction, and aligner retreatment for adults, where other orthodontists have suggested more invasive paths like extractions or veneers.

    14 Auburn Street, Takapuna, Auckland

    Call 09 488 7488 Map Is this your business?
  • 2

    Shakespeare Orthodontics Takapuna

    ★ 4.9 262 reviews Score 170
    5★ 251 4★ 4 3★ 1 2★ 1 1★ 5

    Shakespeare Orthodontics corrects crossbites, overbites, underbites, crowding, and open bites across plates, braces, and Invisalign, with a track record of results that patients describe as life-changing.

    39 Taharoto Road, Takapuna, Auckland

    Call 09 216 6888 Map Is this your business?
  • 3

    Dr Kimberley Timmins Specialist Orthodontist Ltd

    ★ 5.0 147 reviews Score 165
    5★ 146 1★ 1

    Dr Kimberley Timmins gets results for children and adults through braces treatment, including complex cases that require coordination with other dental specialists.

    4 Knights Road, Rothesay Bay, Auckland

    Call 09 479 6263 Map Is this your business?
  • 4

    Anna Meyer Orthodontist

    ★ 5.0 66 reviews Score 154
    5★ 66

    Anna Meyer Orthodontist builds multi-year treatment plans for crossbites, overbites, overcrowding, impacted teeth, and jaw misalignment, including cases requiring coordination with oral surgeons.

    3/326 Sunset Road, Windsor Park, Auckland

    Call 09 479 7963 Map Is this your business?
  • 5

    Takapuna Orthodontic Group

    ★ 5.0 45 reviews Score 149
    5★ 44 4★ 1

    Takapuna Orthodontic Group completes braces treatment for children and teens across multi-year courses, with a number of families bringing two or three children through the same practice for full treatment.

    2 Byron Avenue, Takapuna, Auckland

    Call 09 486 3461 Map Is this your business?
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Before you choose an orthodontist on the North Shore

Orthodontist is a specialist title in New Zealand. It belongs to dentists registered with the Dental Council of New Zealand as orthodontic specialists, which takes a postgraduate orthodontic qualification on top of a dental degree, and the council publishes a public register you can search by name. A general dentist can also offer braces or clear aligners but is not an orthodontist, so ask who will plan and carry out your treatment. Braces are a private cost for almost every family, so ask whether the quote covers records, every adjustment visit, removal, retainers and replacement retainers, and how long follow-up reviews run.

The questions below are drawn from 422 customer reviews collected for this page.

What do braces and clear aligners typically cost in New Zealand?

Orthodontic treatment is a private cost for almost every family in New Zealand. Free dental care for under-18s covers check-ups, fillings and extractions, but the government is explicit that braces and other orthodontic treatments are not included.

The exceptions are children with special medical needs such as a cleft palate, and cases where an accident caused the problem, which ACC may partly cover. For a full course of about 15 to 24 months, the New Zealand Association of Orthodontists publishes these national ranges: metal braces $3,000 to $13,000 or more, ceramic braces $3,500 to $13,500 or more, clear aligners such as Invisalign $4,000 to $14,000 or more, and lingual braces fitted behind the teeth $10,000 to $15,000 or more.

Limited treatment of around six months runs about $3,500 to $7,000. The fee follows the complexity of the case more than the type of appliance, which is why the ranges are wide.

Most practices take a deposit and spread the balance as monthly payments across the treatment, and some offer this interest-free, as reviewers here confirm. What varies most between quotes is what they actually cover, so check whether yours includes the initial records and diagnostic workup, every adjustment visit, urgent appointments for broken brackets or wires, removal of the appliance, retainers, replacement retainers, and how long follow-up reviews run after treatment ends.

How do I check that an orthodontist is a registered specialist?

Orthodontist is a specialist title in New Zealand, protected by law. The Dental Council of New Zealand (Te Kaunihera Tiaki Niho) registers orthodontic specialists in their own scope of practice under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, which requires a postgraduate orthodontic qualification on top of a dental degree, plus a current annual practising certificate.

You can search the public register at dcnz.org.nz by name or town and filter by practice type, where orthodontic specialist is one of the listed options. A general dentist can also offer braces or clear aligners, but the Dental Council of New Zealand's Advertising Practice Standard tells general dentists not to suggest they are an orthodontist, so ask directly who will plan and carry out your treatment and check that person on the register.

The New Zealand Association of Orthodontists is the voluntary professional body, and all its members are registered specialists; it runs a find-an-orthodontist directory by region, which is a useful starting point. If care falls short, complaints go to the Health and Disability Commissioner.

How long should orthodontic treatment take, and what makes it run over?

A full course of orthodontic treatment runs about 15 to 24 months, and limited or early treatment around six months; a good practice gives you an estimate at the start and explains clearly if anything changes that. Reviewers here mention treatments running from one and a half to four years, with complex cases involving impacted teeth, jaw issues or extractions taking longer, and one review describes how delays in appointment scheduling and treatment planning allowed an impacted tooth problem to worsen over time. Broken brackets, aligners or elastics not worn as directed, and new dental findings mid-treatment can all extend the timeline, and retainers worn afterwards are not an optional extra but a core part of keeping the result, since teeth move back without them.

What are the warning signs of an orthodontic practice you should avoid?
  • –A quote that does not clearly state what it includes: records, adjustment visits, urgent appointments, removal, and retainers are all items practices sometimes leave out.
  • –Payment terms that require the full multi-year fee paid off within one year, or that bundle future treatment stages into a single upfront package with no staged option, as one reviewer here experienced.
  • –Long waits for urgent issues: a wire poking your mouth or a broken bracket should not wait months, and difficulty getting those appointments quickly is a red flag.
  • –Appointment gaps of two to three months as routine, especially when a time-sensitive issue such as an impacted tooth has been identified and needs a prompt treatment plan.
  • –No clear explanation of progress at each visit and no proactive communication with parents about how a child is tracking against the original plan.
  • –A different clinician at every visit with no one person owning the overall treatment plan, leaving you uncertain who is responsible for the outcome.
What should you ask before starting treatment with an orthodontist?
  • –Ask who will plan and carry out your treatment, confirm that person's name, and check them on the Dental Council of New Zealand public register filtered to the orthodontic specialist scope.
  • –Get a written breakdown of exactly what the quote covers: the initial diagnostic records, every adjustment visit, urgent appointments for breakages, appliance removal, retainers, replacement retainers, and how long post-treatment follow-up reviews continue.
  • –Ask for the expected treatment length and a specific explanation of what factors in your case could extend it, such as impacted teeth, jaw growth, or the need for extractions.
  • –If options such as metal braces, ceramic braces, or clear aligners are available for your case, ask why one is being recommended over the others so you can make an informed choice rather than a default one.
  • –Clarify the deposit amount, the monthly payment schedule, whether payments are interest-free, and what happens to money already paid if you move, change providers, or need to pause treatment.
  • –Ask whether any extractions or other dental work are needed before or during treatment, who carries that out, and whether those costs are included in the orthodontic quote or billed separately.

More rankings

Orthodontists elsewhere in Auckland 2 links
Related services on the North Shore 1 links
Orthodontists elsewhere in New Zealand 2 links
More health rankings on the North Shore 6 links

About this ranking

What the 10 orthodontists listed above hold, at the 19 September 2026 check.

298
reviews held by the #1 ranked business
45
reviews held by the #5 ranked business
4.6
lowest rating among the 10 listed
1.1%
of their 890 reviews are one-star
How are the top orthodontists on the North Shore chosen?

We build this page from Google Maps results for orthodontists on the North Shore. Each one is scored on its public rating and review record, using the same published method on every page. Businesses outside the area, or whose reviews describe a different line of work, are left out. Every category and city is rechecked on a rolling cycle, about every two to three months. See how we rank for how rankings are made and who is left out.

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Not listed? The usual reasons are a Google Business category that does not match, too few reviews to score near the top, or an address outside the area we cover. Check where you rank first, and if you think we missed you, get in touch.

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