refusing surgery for an open bite and crossbite

[r2ndc]

Not sure whether to post here or just start a new topic .... but since we're on the topic of bites... what is the long-term consequences of an open bite...? all i see on the internet are articles linking open bite with surgery.

[sirwired]

Well, some kinds of open bites are rather unattractive, others can interfere with proper chewing, other problems put too much stress on the wrong teeth. It really varies by case.

[Anna5]

Hello r2ndc,

Do you also have an open bite? And have you already decided whether you want to treat it with or without surgery?
The internet is indeed full of articles linking open bites to surgery. It really scared me out. My ortho told me not to look at the internet, because much information on the internet is not true and fortunately not every horror story applies to you. Every open bite is different as well as the consequences of an open bite, like sirwired also wrote.
I wish you very good luck with your treatment!

[Anna5]

Hello!

I just came back from my ortho appointment.
My ortho said I don't need to decide soon whether or not I will have surgery yet. In my case, it doesn't change his treatment plan. He wants to straighten my teeth first (this will take 9 months) and after this, we will evaluate what else may need to be done.
He also listened to my jaw clicking. He said it is not a big worry as long as I am not in pain. I got the advise to avoid eating hard stuff, opening my mouth too wide, clicking my jaw on purpose etc.
He also said my teeth are making good progress with the braces. They straighten up nicely and even my crossbite is corrected a bit by the braces, which is great. I got two new archwires (my first rectangular for my upper teeth and a thicker round wire for my lower teeth).

For me, I was quite relieved. As you may have read in another thread, I am mentally not very strong at the moment, so this wouldn't be a good moment for me to decide to have invasive jaw surgery. I first have to learn to be happy with myself again, to accept myself for who I am, and then we will see again by the end of this year. Hopefully by then, I am happy with all the progress I have made this year!

[Anna5]

And here is a progress picture after 11 weeks with braces. You see that my open bite is closing quite a bit already!

[headbanggg]

Wow it's great. Your open bite is gone Good luck

[Anna5]

Thanks. But unfortunately, my open bite has not gone yet, it is still there on the side, as you can see on the link below: http://www.archwired.com/phpbb2/viewtop ... 13&t=45801
But here is definitely some progress.

I still keep hope that it can be fixed without surgery.....

[Anna5]

Hello!

Today I had an appointment with my ortho to talk about my progress and he thinks surgery for my crossbite or any other surgery is not necessary anymore, or at least it is not worth the risk of complications ed. However, my upper jaw will always remain narrow, there is nothing more he can do about this. And he also cannot widen my smile more with braces, because it has already widenened a lot.

My original sentence was 9 months in braces. I have been in braces for 9 months now and I will be in braces for another 6-9 months. So I am going over my orginal estimate, but I am totally fine with this.

I hope he is right that I will get an acceptable result without surgery and then I should have peace with this (that I will never get a really nice wide smile). Or should I go for a second opinion? What do you think?

Anna

[playmaker7206]

I have a 5mm open bite, and consulted 3 orthos, and I am very fearful of the surgery at 38 years old. Recently I went to see a 4th ortho, and he said he can get full occlusion of my bite with TADs. NO SURGERY.... i do not live in Austin, and this is not my ortho, but they have a photo of a bite similar to mine before treatment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6l68FZaGgQ

http://www.fourpointsorthodontics.com/t ... e-devices/

[Anna5]

Hello!

Good luck with your treatment! Did the first 3 ortho's recommend surgery? I am glad you found the 4th ortho who can fix your bite without surgery!

[playmaker7206]

First 3 orthos recommended surgery. They did not have much experience with TAD's, and doctors will do what makes them comfortable. The ortho I selected immediately went into his patient files at the initial consult and started pulling up photos of HIS patients he had treated with open bites. None of them had surgery, and all of them had full occlusion of their bite at the end of treatment. The photos were amazing, and the fact they were his patients made me feel very comfortable. This ortho explained that the use of TAD's was developed by the Koreans. This ortho was previously in the Air Force and chief of Orthodontics at Misawa Air Force Base in Japan. In Asia, some of the orthos can get up to 9mm of closure using Skeletal Anchorage Systems which is far more invasive than TADs, but less invasive of a LeForte.

[Anna5]

Hello playmaker, I am so happy that your ortho is confident that he can close your open bite with TAD's.
Do you only have an open bite or also a crossbite? (like I have)?

[Mrs v]

Hi. I'm really interested to hear success stories of open bite without surgery. Figure with all the constant advances with technology perhaps I could get away without surgery too. However I think this has only been developed in certain countries.

Anyone from London with recommendations? I figure if I go to a surgeon they're going to say surgery is the only solution. Figure it's very hard to get a neutral view, someone who will consider all the treatments.

Also it seems like once someone has had a problem fixed they no longer care to go on these forums (as I probably wouldn't).

Please help if you have any advice (on open bite)

Thanks

[Anna5]

Hello!

I am going for a second opinion on Thursday with an oral surgeon. Just want to know whether my jaw clicking (my jaw clicks every time I eat or open my mouth) is a serious problem or not and what should be done to fix this. I also want his opinion about my teeth/ jaw and whether he thinks surgery is necessary for health and/or esthetic reasons. I am very scared for this appointment, about what he is going to say.....
But maybe I should keep in mind all your positive comments here on the forum, that my teeth/ jaws are not TOO bad. And maybe I should just trust my ortho that he thinks I can get a good result without surgery and is it despair that drives me to the surgeon?. But my mind is still not at ease, especially because of the jaw clicking, therefore I thought I want a second opinion....

[boodles8]

In thinking about whether jaw clicking is a problem, I can only relate my own story. I knew I was a surgical case for at least a dozen years and was not planning on going through braces at all because of the surgery. Some time in college, I started with clicking. No pain, so no big deal. Sadly, that was only the start of my TMJ symptoms. It got worse very slowly for two or so more years before I decided I might need to consider doing something for it. By that point, intense brief pains would temporarily take me out of a conversation many times a day. (I'm sorry, what did you say? I got distracted). I went to a dentist who specializes in TMJ and only uses surgery in 2% of cases. She's not an orthodontist, but I thought hey, no surgery, fix my joints, great. She set me up with a special splint, and life was great. At first I wore it 24/7, and over time I weaned myself to night use only, with occassional stretches of full time use when my joints got mad.

I was going to stick with that and skip braces and surgery for the rest of my life until it dawned on me how long that was likely to be (I was 24 at the time), and that the splint required maintenance, I couldn't leave it behind if I left even overnight, and I still had to wear it full time sometimes. My joints weren't really fixed, just kept at bay. I decided I had to have something long term, and that was when I realized I HAD to have the surgery if I wanted a good long term solution.

My answer then, is this: How old are you? If your joints have not withstood your bite thus far, they will probably only get angrier as time goes by. If you're 80 (guessing not), it's probably not worth the risk to fix your bite in such a drastic way. If you're 20, it might be. If you're 50 I'd say it's your call. Of course it's your call no matter what age you are, I would just encourage you to carefully consider things if you are young.

Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones whose symptoms never move beyond clicking. But if you are not, your joints will thank you if you fix them sooner rather than later. If you wait until things are bad, they might never recover to what they would have if you had done something before they had serious underlying issues.

I leave you to meditate on the frailty of humankind...