Jaw Exercise/Training?

[bracefacewannabe]

hello all,

i'm a newbie to the board and was hoping to get your advice.

i had an ortho consultation regarding my overbite treatment, and the dentist recommended the following:

1 - no extractions (which is strange, because previous dentists indicated at least 2 teeth would be taken out from the top)

2 - upper and lower braces with another retainer type thing in the top to prevent me knocking off bottom braces

3 - the most odd thing he said was that i would have to do jaw exercises/training 24/7 in order to reduce my treatment time. essentially this means pulling my lower jaw forward so that the front upper and lower teeth touch, instead of the back teeth touching. he said this would train my muscles to correct my bite, and that holding my jaw like this all the time that i was not eating, talking or sleeping would be the key to my treatment. if i did this, treatment time would be 12 mos, if not it would be 18-24 mos.

does that seem reasonable? i hadn't been told this by any other ortho i consulted with in the past - so i hope you guys can give me some indication as to whether this is a common recommendation.

thank you for your help!!

[Lisa65]

I never heard of that, sorry.

[Clo]

And before you know it, you won't know anymore how to bite properly and your
bite is ruined completely. Didn't he also say that if you push your teeth in the right
direction with your thumbs you could reduce these 12 months to even 6 months ?
Nah, I am just being a bit ... sarcastic again. I think it is time to move on to another
consultation.

[Britlaw]

Is this something like twin blocks treatment?

http://www.alignortho.com/pdfs/twin_block_appliance.pdf

My youngest son wore twin blocks to train his lower jaw forward for 8 months (before braces not concurrently). His lower jaw now looks in a much better position and his side profile looks great - his jaw was a bit sunk back before. He still had braces top and bottom. I thought you could only do this with a child/young person thats still growing - how old are you?

[Clo]

Uhmmm, of course I assumed you are an adult, or at least fully grown. And I did
interpret what you wrote literally : just hold your jaw forward and hope eventually
it would stay there.

[Lisa65]

Functional appliances such as twin blocks or a Herbst can bring the lower jaw forward relative to the upper in growing patients. The Herbst can also be used to some effect in younger adults.

But thrusting the lower jaw forward when you remember to is going to have no effect as far as I can see, other than straining the muscles and possibly setting yourself up for TMJ problems later in life.

I agree with Clo that this sounds extremely odd and if I were you I would look for another orthodontist.

[ReneG]

I subconsciously postured my jaw forwards to cover my overbite. According to a TMJ specialist, this most probably caused my clicking jaw and occasional lockjaw. I now have to re-train my jaw/tongue in the correct position.

[bracefacewannabe]

thanks for your responses everyone!

glad to know i'm not the only one who thought this was strange. to answer your questions, yes i'm an adult, so i don't think that the herbst will have much of an effect on me.

i'm most definitely going to go to another dentist for a consultation, just to get a second opinion.

thanks again!

[gabi]

Training the lower jaw to a more forward position was what originally alleviated my TMJ problems, so in theory, what he is telling you is good. However, if you don't have a splint as a guide to where your teeth should meet, I'd be worried that the end position may be worse than what you started with.
Training the jaw forward with the splint is challenging anyway - you have to wear it 24/7, even while eating. I was skeptical at first, until it started actually working to relieve my pain.

[DireWire]

3 - the most odd thing he said was that i would have to do jaw exercises/training 24/7 in order to reduce my treatment time. essentially this means pulling my lower jaw forward so that the front upper and lower teeth touch, instead of the back teeth touching. he said this would train my muscles to correct my bite, and that holding my jaw like this all the time that i was not eating, talking or sleeping would be the key to my treatment. if i did this, treatment time would be 12 mos, if not it would be 18-24 mos.

Actually, I got the same advice, and it makes sense to me. I have an overbite and crowding, clicking since decades and recently pain when biting. As a result, the (lower) jaw and the muscles got used to a resting position too far back which has put a lot of stress on the joints. Correcting my bite alone will not be sufficient to solve my problems. I'll have to train the muscles to a new biting and resting position further front.

To me, that made sense. It is, however, not related to speeding up the process.

My orthodentist seems to be quite an expert who travels the world lecturing. I was referred to him by a well respected specialist in my home country... so I assume he knows what he's doing.

Are you living in Boston, too (i.e. are we going to the same ortho)?

DireWire

[DireWire]

3 - the most odd thing he said was that i would have to do jaw exercises/training 24/7 in order to reduce my treatment time. essentially this means pulling my lower jaw forward so that the front upper and lower teeth touch, instead of the back teeth touching. he said this would train my muscles to correct my bite, and that holding my jaw like this all the time that i was not eating, talking or sleeping would be the key to my treatment. if i did this, treatment time would be 12 mos, if not it would be 18-24 mos.

Actually, I got the same advice, and it makes sense to me. I have an overbite and crowding, clicking since decades and recently pain when biting. As a result, the (lower) jaw and the muscles got used to a resting position too far back which has put a lot of stress on the joints. Correcting my bite alone will not be sufficient to solve my problems. I'll have to train the muscles to a new biting and resting position further front.

To me, that made sense. It is, however, not related to speeding up the process.

My orthodentist seems to be quite an expert who travels the world lecturing. I was referred to him by a well respected specialist in my home country... so I assume he knows what he's doing.

Are you living in Boston, too (i.e. are we going to the same ortho)?

DireWire

[DireWire]

Interesting, have never before heard of an overjet. I think I have both. My teeth lock too far in the back and with an overbite which forces the teeth in the jar to being crowded.

I need to bite/chew and have the teeth lock further in front. For this, I need
(i) a re-adjustment of my teeth (to create a biting position in which the teeth lock in front... currently I can only chew with the jar far back)
(ii) get the muscles used to a healthier biting and resting position of the jaw.

The braces create (i), the jaw exercise (ii).

In Germany, I would probably undergo surgery to treat this. Here, I found a guy who is (hopefully) able to avoid this. He is even travelling Germany to lecture national orthodontists and has German orthodentists come practice in his office to learn this method... and I got a very trustworthy source recommend him.

In a year and half, we will know whether it worked

DireWire

[Boolajoojoo]

I could envision a scenario where a deep bite (aka an overbite) and crowding might force the mandible backward into an un-natural posture - and in fact there is one person on ArchWired who had just that sort of scenario - so relieving the malocclusion has allowed the jaw to come forward and resume a relaxed posture. But I cannot imagine why an overjet alone would lead to an artificially set-back posture - jutting the chin forward is more the norm with an overjet, in an attempt (conscious or sub-conscious) to disguise the problem.

This sounds a lot like some of my problems, my lower jaw was basically trapped behind my incisors... the normal and most comfortable resting position for my jaw for years was with my molars apart and my jaw resting forward and allowing my incisors to barely touch. The overbite didn't correct itself though... but I think that's because even though my jaw was relaxed all day, I was clenching my teeth all night long and either impacting or wearing down my molars.

One theory that I have read about and it makes a lot of sense just considering the things that have been going on with my own teeth... teeth which aren't constantly in contact with opposing teeth will begin to erupt on their own. I guess it's the reason you probably wouldn't want to wire someone's jaw open. The constant contact with the uppers against the lowers keeps the bite constant. Someone who had their jaw wired partially open would probably have their molars start erupting again just from not having any opposing forces on them:

These jaw exercises to accelerate treatment for an overbite isn't completely crazy I don't think: holding the jaw forward in a relaxed position during most of the day may allow the molars to erupt a bit, or make it easier for the braces to do the work at allowing posterior teeth erupt.

[DireWire]

At least in my case, the jaw exercise is solely about the muscle training. It is not about teeth erupting. The muscles need to be stretched to support the new, more natural jaw position. After all, the jaw needs to rest and chew 1 cm further front, and the muscles need to adapt to that. They won't do it without training / physiotherapy.

Interestingly, I would have had to undergo physiotherapy for the jaw muscles even after potential jaw surgery, so it kind of made sense to me that it would be needed without, too.

DireWire

[bracefacewannabe]

direwire - yes now i DO wonder if we are seeing the same orthodontist. is yours on newbury st in boston?