Length of treatment to open up a closed bite

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#1 Post by **statbear** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:47 am

Hi all - I've been searching for this in the forum, but I've been unable to find it. If it's already been discussed, could someone please point me in the right direction. That said...

I have a closed bite, and I'm the process of opening it up. In particular, my lower teeth need to move down, as it were. Based on my uninformed visual inspection, it looks as though my lower front teeth need to move anywhere from a half to an entire tooth length downward (I'm guessing 5-10mm). I've had some sort of 16-gauge reverse curve wire last month, and I saw no real improvement, and this month I have an 18-gauge wire - though not a reverse curve. And, again, I'm not seeing an improvement.

1) Assuming this treatment will work, how long does it usually take closed bites to open up?
2) I thought 18 was the thickest gauge wire they make... if this current wire isn't working, what happens next? How big do wires get? Are certain wire materials better than others at opening bites up?

Thanks,
Craig

#2 Post by **platinum** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:18 pm

I have had lower braces almost 6 months and my bite has opened quite a lot. My premolars have been pulled upwards leveling the teeth nicely.

#3 Post by **DaisyMay66** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:32 am

It took 41 months to open up my deep bite. The process can be time consuming and include many archwires and different types of hardware configurations depending on the severity of ther bite. Relax and go with the flow, things will get sorted out.