Retention for Open Bite Patients?

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#1 Post by **Jason** » Sat May 26, 2007 4:45 pm

Hey,

I'm supposed to get my braces taken off June 5. The main reason for my treatment was an open bite. I've been wearing elastics for the open bite, but until recently I've only been wearing them at night. The thing is, I noticed that in the morning after wearing the rubber bands my bite would look really good, but over the course of the day it would open up a bit (quite noticeably) by bedtime.

So naturally this worries me... Starting today I'm wearing the elastics as close to 24/7 as I can (before I was living on a college campus, kinda tough to have the courage to wear rubber bands during the day there, but at my original consultation 2 years ago my ortho said I could just wear the elastics at night), hoping the teeth will settle into the more tightly closed position.

Does anyone have any experience/thoughts on this? The reason I posted it in the Retainers forum is because it got me thinking...how can retainers do anything to prevent your open bite from coming back? It just seems like teeth would shift vertically just like they do horizontally, and a retainer wouldn't do anything to help that..so I'm wondering how that's supposed to work...

Thanks

Jason

#2 Post by **catbutt** » Sun May 27, 2007 6:43 am

I think you are right that teeth shift both directions. I had a deep overbite and they gave me a retainer that doesnt allow me to close my mouth all the way to keep my bite open. Maybe they have something to do the opposite?

#3 Post by **Clo** » Sun May 27, 2007 8:22 am

Hi,

I also have an open bite (anterior open bite).
Once and if they will be able to close it, I will get bonded retainers on both
upper and lower teeth to hold things in place. That may be your answer :
bonded (permanent) retainers.

And about your elastics. That is not good what is going on. That daily (partly)
relapse. I kinda experienced the same. Even if I took mine out only for some
hours. I thought, if that happens all the time, what if I stop wearing elastics ?
I could imagine a total relapse. Of course the ortho said it wouldn't happen.
Guess what, it did happen. My open bite has never been so ... open than today.
I do not want to scare you, but talk to your ortho about this thing. He should
know exactly what goes on.

#4 Post by **Chris** » Sun May 27, 2007 9:22 pm

I have a POSTERIOR open bite, something I didn't have prior to braces. Ortho said my teeth would "settle"...so far, it seems to be getting more open in the middle area. I wear hawleys and wonder if they prevent the posterior bite from closing or settling.

#5 Post by **starryadora** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:49 am

Hopefully I can help shed some light on this. I just got my braces off a little over a month ago. I had an anterior openbite. I have about every retainer imaginable in my arsenal! lol I have upper and lower bonded retainers from canine to canine...a removable upper Hawley...a Damon splint to wear at night...and a positioner to wear a night and during the day around the house if I can. Here's the deal with anterior open bite. It will likely open up a bit after your braces come off. There is rebound from elastic wear. Open bite occurs from molar eruption, so you hope that after braces come off your molars won't want to erupt again, but usually they do a bit. The Damon splint helps to really hold things in place, but if your bite still opens more than you and your ortho would like, then you can possibly get a positioner, which I just got. It looks like this soft plastic mouthguard you wear in sports, but it helps to intrude my molars, thus closing up the bite around 70% of what your ortho prescribes it to do. You wear it for a few weeks and once it closes things up I will go back to wearing the Damon splint. If things open up later down the road, I wear the positioner again for while then back to the splint. Kinda neat!

#6 Post by **Chris** » Mon May 28, 2007 9:55 am

There is rebound from elastic wear. Open bite occurs from molar eruption, so you hope that after braces come off your molars won't want to erupt again, but usually they do a bit. !

Yes, I had that "rebound" after elastics but in my case it was posterior open bite. How can they correct this? Its not "settling" like it should.

#7 Post by **smile2006** » Tue May 29, 2007 7:04 pm

Chris- I'm just about ready to have my braces off (in 2 and a half weeks). When I was talking to my ortho about retainer wear he prescribes 24 hour wear for 6 months to keep the teeth aligned and then only at night to let the molars settle. This is what I was told. Are you wearing your retainer 24 hours a day? Maybe your molars will drop a bit when you are not.

For the others posting here, if my anterior bite opens up again all this is a wash for me. I had double jaw surgery to correct my open bite hopefully for good since it my case it was a skeletal problem.

#8 Post by **Chris** » Tue May 29, 2007 7:52 pm

Thanks for posting. Yes, I wear my retainers 24/7 and suppose to for one year. If wearing them at night only will allow the molars to settle I'm all for it.

I think I will need some more bite equilibriation (grinding a bit off some teeth) since I hit my 1st bicuspid but not the rest. I hate it when they grind though since that inevitably requires another grind on another tooth. Its so endless!!!

#9 Post by **Jason** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:15 pm

Thanks guys, this is all VERY interesting! My open bite is an anterior one...I plan to ask my ortho about this when I go to my debanding appointment. Do you guys think he will want me to keep the braces on longer to give the bite more time to settle? Otherwise it seems like the positioner would definitely be necessary, since my bite seems to open up some in a matter of HOURS, haha, so that doesn't leave much hope for it staying completely closed after I get the braces off.

#10 Post by **Jason** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:28 pm

I've been meaning to update this for posterity... well, I went to get the braces off and asked the doctor about the bite opening up when I wasn't wearing the elastics. He said it was a "retention issue" and said it was because of my tongue thrust (I'm skeptical of this b/c I believe I managed to correct my tongue thrust, but as you will see it doesn't matter).

The main reason I got braces in the first place was because I had an open bite in the front that made my canine teeth look much longer, like fangs. My retainers appointment was 1 week after my debanding... in that week, my bite started opening up again...big time! The fangs were pretty much back, so I was quite depressed. Good news though, I went back and got my Hawley retainers, the bottom one having a little metal on top of my bottom teeth so I can't actually bite down all the way.

Amazingly, the retainer somehow started to close my bite back up, within the first 24 hours. It's been a few weeks now and I think it's closed up as well as it was before I got the braces off. For now it's kind of like the elastics..I noticed on some days when I don't wear the retainer as much (eating more, etc) the bite opens up a tiny bit, but I hope it settles.
So a normal-looking retainer can indeed close up your bite a bit (though I have NO idea how)..so yay

#11 Post by **vsusan** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 12:22 pm

Hi Jason,

I know it's been forever since you've posted here last, so I'm hoping that you are still able to see this. Anyway, I was wondering, how are your teeth doing? Has the bite stayed closed? Is the retainer working? And did you go the surgical or nonsurgical route for your treatment?

[quote="Jason"]I've been meaning to update this for posterity... well, I went to get the braces off and asked the doctor about the bite opening up when I wasn't wearing the elastics. He said it was a "retention issue" and said it was because of my tongue thrust (I'm skeptical of this b/c I believe I managed to correct my tongue thrust, but as you will see it doesn't matter).

The main reason I got braces in the first place was because I had an open bite in the front that made my canine teeth look much longer, like fangs. My retainers appointment was 1 week after my debanding... in that week, my bite started opening up again...big time! The fangs were pretty much back, so I was quite depressed. Good news though, I went back and got my Hawley retainers, the bottom one having a little metal on top of my bottom teeth so I can't actually bite down all the way.

Amazingly, the retainer somehow started to close my bite back up, within the first 24 hours. It's been a few weeks now and I think it's closed up as well as it was before I got the braces off. For now it's kind of like the elastics..I noticed on some days when I don't wear the retainer as much (eating more, etc) the bite opens up a tiny bit, but I hope it settles.
So a normal-looking retainer can indeed close up your bite a bit (though I have NO idea how)..so yay

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