Slight underbite. was told surgery or teeth removal? (pics)

[jimbo6]

Thats awesome. thanks. ill be sure to get a couple more opinions from orthos.

I really hope one tells me that elastics and braces will correct it.

great to hear it worked for you!

[jimbo6]

also, would 2 years pretty much be the minimum for having braces/elastics? or do you think mine would be shorter?

thanks.

[Bekah]

My daughter had an underbite for a while and they fixed it with class 3 elastics. You have to be religious about them though!

[uvraise]

Jimbo,
About the time frame, everyone is different. I will be done after 20 months some p get the ortho you want and get the time frame from them. Just do what your ortho tells you to, by the book, and you'll be out as soon as possible!
JOHN

[alimommy1]

Hello everyone. i am a male and 18 years old. about 2 years ago i noticed my teeth werent the same as before. my top front teeth were right on top of my bottoms instead of going over them. well a couple years pass and here i am, with a slight underbite.

I went to my dentist and he said i probably needed surgery to fix it. otherwise i had great teeth. he referred me to a orthodontist who checked out my teeth and he also said i had very good teeth other than the slight underbite. He said i have 3 options:

1. Do nothing and just leave it
2. Get braces for a year and have surgery
3. Get braces for a year and remove a tooth or 2.

now i would like to correct this underbite as i am somewhat self conscious about it and esp when i smile. I dont mind the braces part, but im kind of worried about the surgery, and breaking my jaw (eek) and all of that. The ortho presented the idea to removing a tooth or 2 and i was curious to know more about it. He should me a few pictures of some girl that got it done and it looked really good. it does shift my teeth and doesnt make them textbook proper but atleast the underbite would be gone.

I would like to hear what you guys have to say. is surgery or teeth removal really my only options? braces cant fix this at all?

Hi Jimbo
I was kind of in this boat too when I first got braces, and I went to three consults because I was determined to find somebody that wasn't going to recommend I HAD to get surgery. The ortho I went with said they could treat my case with extractions and elastics, so that is what I did. I was fairly happy with my result, but 13 years later I'm dealing with some relapse, and noticing my lower teeth are flared out instead of being straight up and down. It really seems that's the only thing that is causing a crossbite/underbite - the flaring.

Surgery seems a bit too drastic when I bet extractions and elastics alone will work fine to fix your bite. I wonder if you could have some ipr on the lowers and a bit of expansion on the uppers to avoid having an extraction at all... I'm not an ortho or a dentist but the thought just occurred to me lol. The ortho I went to to try and get an inman was saying if the appliance for my lowers doesn't completely fix my bite, they can do a bit of expansion on my uppers or something to help. Ipr on the lowers is probably a given to create room to tip them upright. In my opinion, the crossbite/underbite is uncomfortable and eventually will cause wear on the edges of certain teeth, at least for me I've noticed it.

[blueberry*bunni]

thanks blueberrybunni, how was yours compared to mine? around the same? and how does it look now?

was it cheaper to use the elastics?

thanks!

My underbite was about the same as yours. Now it looks really good, it's completely fixed with the elastics. As for it being cheaper with elastics I have no idea.

[jimbo6]

Thank you everyone. does insurance cover braces at all?

[cathykay]

I went the extraction route to correct an underbite and I am very happy with the results. I am still in braces but my profile has changed a lot, especially when I smile! My camera currently isn't working but I may be able to find some pictures on my Facebook that show the difference. PM if you want me to try to get some photos together.

[blueberry*bunni]

Thank you everyone. does insurance cover braces at all?

It covers some I know, I don't know How much though.

[Sorls]

Hey mate, just came across your post there and was wondering if you ended up getting braces for the slight underbite? I have exactly the same problem as yours (i actually took pics and they are nearly identical to your pics! Lol) anyway, i seen an orthodontist who is going to expand my upper palate to get the overbite, then if this creates spaces i will get braces to fix this. She has also suggested filing down some of the bottom teeth so that the bite looks a lot better. I really hope this works out as my mild underbite really bothers me!

[BracedSurgeryStudent]

I'd try braces and elastics first and if halfways through you don't like it you can request extractions.