Open Bite Jaw Surgery...Other Options?

[ultimatesacrifice]

I am 24 years old and have a moderate open bite situation in which my front teeth are open by about 2mm. My back teeth on the top and bottom are the only teeth that touch when I bite down.

I have asked two different and unrelated orthodontists for their opinions on how to correct this and both have told me that I required surgery. My question is, does anyone know of any orthodontists that can correct open bites nonsurgically? The idea of surgery is very invasive and just downright scares me.

I've read several medical articles online and it does seem possible to fix adult open bite cases nonsurgically, although, most of the cases I've seen are done in other countries. And from what I've heard, open bite cases aren't very common in the states. These are some examples of articles I've found:

http://www.angle.org/anglonline/?reques ... &page=0527

http://www.sdsjournal.org/2000/volume-1 ... -full.html

http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/news/denta ... hrnia.html

http://www.jco-online.com/archive/artic ... clenum=697

These may be rare success medical stories but I'd like to know if these procedures are done in the U.S. One procedure I've been keeping my eye on is called multiloop edgewise archwire. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[sec9]

I had the exact same problem as you. Im 19 years old and just had the surgery about 3 weeks ago. I have been in braces twice before the surgery once when I was really young like elementary school, and the other time during junior high and freshman year high school. What I was told by my most recent orthodontist, who I have a lot of confidence and trust in, is that the way my bite was could not be fixed for the long term with out surgery and that is the truth. During me 2nd phase of orthodontics my Ortho had me in braces for about 2 years and fixed my bite as well as straitened my teeth, he mentioned nothing about surgery. It wasn't till a few years after that my bite opened up again and my teeth started to move. It was then I found out I really needed surgery and as you can imagine I was pissed, that whole second phase of braces was pretty much worthless. Only thing it did do was was get my teeth into a fairly good position for my most recent phase of braces (the third time) so I only had them on for 4 months before I was able to get the surgery done and I should be getting them off fairly soon as well.

I did not want the surgery at first but I really decided it was worth it especially if I had to get braces on again at least this time I would get my bite fixed for the long term. Also, the way my bite was since I bit down on my back teeth I had wore them down almost flat and if I had continued to bite like that I would have had serious problems down the road.

The surgery post op process is hard and not to fun being in braces but at least every day that goes by you know you are getting the problem fixed. And as far as the surgery goes they take good care of you and it will be done before you know it. All I remember was arriving at the hospital and the next thing I remembered was being in the recovery room.

Its ultimately your decision, but if your doctors and orthos decide its really the only fix then you should go for it. Its not worth going through braces only to have ur bite open up again down the road.

[Lovely Rita]

I also had an open bite, and I had to decide whether or not I wanted to go through with surgery. Basically, my options were: 1) get surgery + braces, be inconvenienced for two years, and have perfect teeth/bite for the rest of my life, or 2) don't get the surgery and struggle for the next couple decades with a dysfunctional bite, spending thousands of dollars on quick fixes (like braces without surgery) that won't do anything.

Needless to say, I went with the surgery. Obviously I was afraid, but I firmly believe that important decisions such as this should be made using logical, rational thinking, and that you should set aside your fears because they won't do anything but confuse the issue. It would have been silly of me to let my fear get in the way... so I didn't.

[Emaciated]

I had surgery to correct an open bite/under bite. Only my back teeth touched and my bite sucked. The surgery was very effective and was not as difficult as you think. Everyone that has gone through this was as terrified as you are now. You'll be fine.

[2bpositive]

Hi,

I was also searching for other alternatives besides surgery for my open bite. I did have one Orthodontic tell me that he could close my bite w\ just braces alone but my dentist (I have a great dentist) told me to check for a second opinion since my bite was so open and now having a bit of a cross bite that braces alone would not seem enough that what if I did this & it did not work.
And I did need surgery bk when I was a kid 13 yrs old to close my bite how is it that I don't need surgery again to close my bite but just braces.

My open bite had replase even w\ the surgery as a kid but it did take years to replase. Back then in 1973 they used wires not plates & screws like they do now & I do think I was to young to have that surgery did not even have my wisdom teeth then. Back then it was just upper jaw surgery now I'm told I might need lower jaw surgery as well .

Surgery does scare me not looking forward to it but the last 5 yrs my bite has really opened up, only biting down on 2 back teeth, speech issues are really showing now, the dry mouth & lips, just speaking for long periods gets differcult because of my open bite, it's hard to keep my mouth close, the cheek bitting since now it looks like I have problems biting straight down, & a tongue thrust problem.

At 48 I just can't believe I'm doing this all again but it's been just so uncomforable w\ my mouth that I felt I had to do something.

[ultimatesacrifice]

Everyone who posted here has some great advice, thank you! I suppose I should consider surgery a bit more seriously. Hopefully sometime in the near future I can post a success story with some pictures.

@ 2bpositive:

Yeah, second surgeries are always tough but like someone else posted in another topic, at least you know what to expect. I can relate to how you feel though...I last saw the two orthodontists about a year ago, but was so afraid of surgery that I decided not to go through with it. Just recently though, my jaws have been feeling slightly uncomfortable around the joints, and that's what made me think of this again. I fear that my bite may only be getting worse, just as yours has done.

Best of luck to the both of us. The good news is, dental technology has advanced and is still advancing rapidly...braces alone is already far better than the ones I had the first time around (about 10 years ago). Same goes with surgery. I at least need to keep telling myself that so I don't keep fearing the process so much.

[Thathrill]

I put off surgery for 15 years as the thought of it freaked me out. The problem is I didnt know the specifics. Even with the knowledge, I was a bit scared. LOL But I have no regrets. When I saw the ortho he gave me a non surgical solution and recommended the surgical solution. What made me decide on surgery is, if I am going to spend all this money on braces then I want to have the best bite possible. And to have the best bite possible required surgery.

[bridget51992]

Wow! I have been so nervous about going through braces a second time, and this discussion reassured me so much that I decided to make an account here. I doubt anyone will see this since it was lasted posted on over two years ago, but that's all right.
I got my braces off the first time when I was only 12, and am now almost 19. A few months ago, I was having headaches and jaw aches, sometimes grinding my teeth at night, so I went to see a dentist and he pointed out that my teeth also do not meet in the front (a moderate open bite, I assume). He recommended an orthodontist, who also agreed that I needed to get braces again, and then have a surgery. :/ Lately I've been wondering if I really do need to do anything about it or just deal with occasional discomfort, but the stories shared here are really encouraging. I too would rather just take care of the problem than deal with worse things down the road, like wearing my back teeth out.
I'm really happy that I found this page, and bookmarked it for the next time I start to feel nervous. I hope the original poster and other people who were facing surgeries soon have successful stories now!

[peckabel]

I have an open bite and im 30 yrs old and never knew I had it, only when I started getting migraines & TMJ pain and saw a dentist it was picked up 2yrs ago. Basically you need to get it fixed as the older you get the more complications come with it. Also I was advised it would eventually get to a point when im 40 or 50 and my back teeth are ruined that I would have no choice but to fix it, so u are best to do it while you are young.
But I have not had the really big surgery, I have had SARPE because my palate is so narrow. My orthodontist and surgeon suggested using anchorage plates/implants to correct my open bite instead of mandible surgery, they didnt feel it was neccessary for me. check out my blog as it has heaps more info on there that may help you

[arieswithbraces]

I am 30ish and I just had surgery to correct an open bite. I sucked my thumb well into my teens and I had vampire fangs. My OS told me about TAD's and I even spoke to someone who had them. I decided against them because I want a sure result. I don't want to go through this again. I had a Lefort I 2-piece with segments. I had a narrow palate as well so my maxilla was basically cut and pieced back together. Amazing all the room I have on the roof of my mouth now! Even more amazing there is no visible signs of it on the roof of my mouth. Now, I'm not saying it's wasn't worth with it...I would have the surgery again! Yeah it's hard but I know the end result is going to be worth it all!!

[carebare5]

YES!!!!!! I also had an open bite (not too severe) and didn't want to have surgery. My orthodontist suggested getting TADS (temporary anchoring devices, i think it stands for) put in my jaw. I think this is a somewhat new technique, but it totally worked! I had to get 12 tads put in my jaw, they're like little screws. Then he put braces on only my back 4 teeth on each side so they wouldn't really show when i smile and he anchored the tads to the braces to raise up the back teeth. It took about 5 months for my teeth to move all the way to where he wanted them and now I have braces on all my teeth. I am now going through a similar procedure to fix my gummy smile so I can't say how the final results turned out, but the open bite is gone. Before I could stick my tongue out through my teeth when I was biting down, and now I cant at all. The whole process was definitely a pain in the butt, but I would go through it again and I think its a way better option than jaw surgery. I hope this helped!

[elizabethsopenbite]

Are there any new updates or photos from anyone? I am very interested in hearing any success stories here. Thanks!!!

[Bullfighter]

I am 24 years old and have a moderate open bite situation in which my front teeth are open by about 2mm. My back teeth on the top and bottom are the only teeth that touch when I bite down.

I have asked two different and unrelated orthodontists for their opinions on how to correct this and both have told me that I required surgery. My question is, does anyone know of any orthodontists that can correct open bites nonsurgically? The idea of surgery is very invasive and just downright scares me...

Ultimately, if your jaws are malformed or otherwise improperly aligned, you will need to address that problem. It is possible to improve the appearance of an open bite by moving teeth (or at least that is what I've been told), but I've had real braces three times so I can tell you from personal experience that orthodontia by itself probably isn't the right course for you. Definitely check with several orthos and surgeons -- I can't diagnose your condition, but it sounds similar to mine. I had an open bite for 40+ years.

If your back teeth top/bottom are the only ones touching, you will wear the hell out of them. I'm in my 40s, and the surfaces of my rearmost molars are worn almost smooth. Without surgery, they eventually would have worn away, cracked and had to be removed. Then the next rearmost molars would be destroyed in turn. In the meantime, I was wearing through thick, hard plastic bite guards at the rate of one every 4-6 months. Not thin essix type retainers, but big chunks of plastic. I looked like a boxer when I put my bite guard in at night.

The idea of surgery is scary, but in hindsight (I had it in Feb) I wish I had done it sooner. No pain, no complications, insurance covered it and there's now an excellent chance I'll have my teeth till death do us part and possibly never have to go through ortho again. I have recovered nearly 100% feeling on my chin and lower lip, with some lingering "tightness" just above my chin -- surgeon said that the nerves there are still recovering. I would never advocate surgery for the hell of it, but if your condition is similar to mine you will simply be wasting thousands of dollars on temporary treatments without solving what will be a seriously bad situation when you get older.

My initial and final photos are below. One thing you can't see well in the photos is that I had both an open bite and an overjet of ~7 mm, both corrected through surgery. Keep in mind my teeth were straight when I got my braces off at age 12 (second round...) and had become what you see here by the time I was near 40. Visualize how my teeth could have been moved prior to surgery and you'll see that it's essentially impossible to get an orthodontically stable solution. Also keep in mind that I could close my lips over my teeth and my overbite was minor enough that most people didn't notice -- and two orthos still said there was no way to treat this without addressing the problem with my jaws.

ortho 1.jpg

And where I am now...

ortho 2.jpg