What is an acceptable overbite?

Message

#1 Post by **naomi** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:44 pm

I went to the orthodontist today and he reviewed my progress with me. He does a review every 6 months. Before getting braces I had a 10 mm overbite. Six months later my overbite was 8mm and now, another six months later it's only 4.5 mm!!! He says he's really happy with the progress and at my next adjustment he'll put on a finishing wire and I should get my braces off within 6 months. Obviously I'm really happy about that because my treatment was estimated at 30 months. Here's the one thing I'm not too sure about though: the orthodontist says I shouldn't expect to see much of a change in my overbite from now on. He said it won't get much better than it is now and he said that compared to the 10mm overbite I had before braces, the 4.5 mm overbite isn't so bad. I agree that my overbite has improved a lot and I'm happy about that. I guess I'm just afraid that he's trying to rush things and get the braces off as soon as possible. I reeeeeally want to get my braces off however I don't want to settle for the way my teeth are now just to accomplish that. I want to know what an acceptable overbite would be. Do you think 4.5 mm is too much??

#2 Post by **ssfw** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:56 pm

Hi Naomi,

You have made great progress - Congratulations!

Do you mean overbite (the distance vertically that your upper teeth cover your lower teeth) or overjet (the distance horizontally that your upper teeth are in front of your lower teeth? I do know my orthodontist told me that standard overjet is between 1-2 mm.

Either way, you should bring your concerns up with your orthodontist. You paid alot of money and have already spent alot of time in braces. You need to talk to him/her before the braces are removed.

Good Luck!

NOTE: edited standard overjet

ssfw

#3 Post by **naomi** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:00 pm

Thanks for bringing that up ssfw. I meant overjet and not overbite.

#4 Post by **momof2grlz** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:02 pm

My overjet when I started was about the same as yours. I'll be thrilled if it can be reduced to only 4.5 mm. I knew going in that I'd never get to 1.5 - 2.0 without surgery so I'm just hoping for the best.

Chris

#5 Post by **naomi** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:56 pm

Meryaten wrote:As momof2grlz mentions: 1 - 2 mm is considered normal. I went in with something like 6 - 7 mm, and was told that if I refused surgery the best we could hope for (and expect any degree of lasting stability) was probably about 4 mm. You can't move teeth to where there's no bone, so I think that reducing it any further orthodontically in my case (if it had even been possible at all - I don't know that it was) would have involved tipping, which (if I read Dr. J correctly) is a prescription for relapse.

Honestly, going from 10 mm to 4.5 without surgery sounds awesome (I'm jealous ) and, to be truthful, a lot of people consider me silly to be going under the knife to correct mine!

Even though I had such a huge overjet my orthodontist never once suggested surgery as part of my treatment. The only thing he said the braces may not be able to totally correct was my lower midline. Anyways, I really don't want to sound like I'm not happy with my progress because I am. The improvement in my teeth is amazing. When I look back at my "before" pictures I could cry. Now that I've thought about it a bit, I wonder if the orthodontist was just over-preparing me in case the end results aren't perfect or exactly as I'd expected. My overjet is 4.5 mm now and he said it won't change "much" (whatever "much" is) but I still have a gap on one side that isn't completely closed up so when that closes it should get rid of even more of my overjet.

I'm hoping my overjet can get as close to 1-2mm as possible but if not I'll still be satisfied with the improvement that's been made already.

#6 Post by **Chris** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:00 pm

naomi wrote:[but I still have a gap on one side that isn't completely closed up so when that closes it should get rid of even more of my overjet.

.

I'm curious about that too as I have some gaps that need closing and hoping it will minimize overjet. Ortho says some gaps are hard to close though.

#7 Post by **naomi** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:43 pm

Meryaten wrote:ahhh did you have extractions, naomi?

Know what you mean on the midline too - mine is a little off - maybe half a tooth or so, and it was unlikely we could have got that all the way back without surgery either BAHH!

I had two teeth extracted. One bottom tooth and one from the top were removed.

#8 Post by **NotBob1** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:44 pm

Not trying to get off the initial subject here, though I am.... On the midline issue, mine is off almost a half a tooth as well or 2mm. I'm supposed to get it lined up with elastics. Sounds like it may not actually happen......Hmmmmmm

#9 Post by **ShortyRocK** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:34 pm

all my ortho said was that i have 75% of a over bite over the lower teeth and the average person has 30-40% covered im getting top braces and lower retainer how will over bite get fixed like that?