TADs vs Surgery

[Crestyheadache]

Has anyone went with TADs over jaw surgery for open bite? How did it turn out? My orthodontist suggested these as an option, but said that surgery would be the quickest option, and that I'd have to wear braces for 3 years with TADs for my open bite. My main concern was relapse, but I haven't been able to find much information about TADs. I have seen lots of open bite corrections with TADs, but it was just the process of the bite correction.

[luckeeesmom]

I have bone anchors (a type of TAD) for open bite. I have had braces for three years at the UNC dental school in NC. They are fairly new technology so there is trial and error for more drastic changes such as closing an open bite. They have managed to intrude my upper molars to close down the bite significantly. The last step for me will be some elastics. I had a device glued into the upper teeth for about 4-5 months that, when attached to the bone anchors, finally caused the intrusion to happen. The staff ortho who is supervising my case said that from now on that device is what he is going to use because it worked much faster than the other methods they were trying (attaching the tads directly to the braces.) This article has a picture of the appliance. As you can see it has an acrylic plate that covers the biting surface of the upper molars...

http://ejo.oxfordjournals.org/content/e ... jr081.full

I think if I had started with the bone anchors and this device that I would have been finished with treatment much earlier so if you go that route, I'd ask about it and mention the article I referenced.

[luckeeesmom]

On a happy note, I will be getting my braces off on Monday from UNC Dental School. They have successfully closed my open bite using the bone anchors to intrude my upper molars and feel that I will have a fairly stable result. After the braces are off I will have a clear retainer up top for daytime use and then a more substantial retainer which will attach to the bone anchors via rubber bands that I will wear at night. The use of this type of retainer is fairly new and has even resulted in additional closure in some cases. I am happy to be able to report a good result for this difficult problem without requiring the jaw surgery!

[ajs604]

I hope so I am just about to start treatment with braces and an intrusion device. I have had TADS in place and spacers for almost 3 weeks now! At the start of a long process. Keeping my fingers crossed!