A true overbite?

[carlarae]

I've been seeing a lot of people use overbite and overjet interchangeably. Overbite is how much the upper teeth overlap the bottom teeth, like covering the bottom teeth... not how far they stick out past the bottom teeth. I've been trying to find people's stories who have a bad overbite, so I can follow their stories/treatment/pictures... I've been using the search feature but it has been really hard to find those! So does anyone have a true overbite, or know of any stories that have been posted in the past? I want to follow someone's story! Thanks!

[isthistaken]

Hey, over here! I didn't even know I had either, but I have both overbite and overjet. My overbite is severe; I'm told there is wear on my front teeth from this.

I don't know technically how this is going to be fixed, but I know it's in my treatment plan. Maybe I will find out more later. For the time being I am in metal upper and lower with one rubber band on one side.

[Ciara]

I had an excessive overbite but no over jet when I started treatment in Nov. My understanding is that a certain amount of overbite is normal - I think my ortho said that 10%-20% is normal. However, I had an overbite of 80% on the right and about 40% left. My lower teeth were starting to hit the gum behind my upper incisors and my teeth were rubbing against each other causing damage to the enamel. It was partially due to the over eruption of my incisors. I have been diagnosed as having a class II devision 2 (my maxillary first molar is situated anterior to the buccal groove of the mandibular first molar) as well as having an excessive overbite.

My ortho has been trying to intrude some of my incisors while extruding some of my molars in an effort to fix this and open my bite. She also created a slight overjet so my upper teeth do not hit my lower brackets. I was originally scheduled to get a bite plate to help with my overbite but my teeth have moved quite quickly and she decided with the created over jet, and by shaving down my brackets (ceramic) my teeth wouldn't hit so I never needed the bite plate. At the moment I have a 40% overbite on the right and my left site is normal at 20%! My slight overjet will fixed when my right-side overbite is back to abut 20% too).

[katsface]

I've got a deep overbite, which is apparently typical of class ii division 2 bites (which I have). I think it's 80 or 90%. I also have an overjet, which will be surgically corrected next year.

I've been reading about deep bites/overbited lately and apparently they're hard to treat in adults. It seems people have had success with TADs (temporary anchorage devices). I don't think I'll be getting those though.

I'll keep you posted about the kind of treatment that my ortho recommends for the deep bite. I'll be interested to hear how your treatment goes.

[belistic10]

I had both according to my initial report by my orthodontist, although to me i think the overjet was worse than the overbite

[isthistaken]

I've been told I have that same class 2 division 2, kats. And I am told they want to use a TAD. I did not know this was difficult to treat in adults!

[katsface]

To the OP -

You might try searching other terms on this site, like Deep Bite, or Cover Bite, instead of Over Bite to filter out the folks who aren't using the term properly.

I've been told I have that same class 2 division 2, kats. And I am told they want to use a TAD. I did not know this was difficult to treat in adults!

Sorry to hijack the thread for a moment

From what I've been reading, Class II Division 2 in general is tricky to treat in adults. There are a lot of factors, both skeletal and dental, that can contribute to this kind of bite. It looks like there have to be a lot of consideration to these factors to be sure the condition doesn't relapse after treatment. Not to mention the fact that it's just hard to intrude the anterior teeth in adults, which seems necessary for a stable result.

I read that extruding the molars can help with a deep bite, but one of the problems with Class II Division 2 is that we tend to have very strong jaw muscles. After treatment, the force from the jaw muscles can cause the molars to intrude again, and make the deep bite return.

So the other solution to fix the deep bite is to intrude the incisors (push them back up into the gum/bone). But, since that means pushing teeth up into solid bone, it can be hard to do. I read that if intrusion is done with an archwire, very little actual intrusion is accomplished, and the molars are extruded instead. That's because the force of the archwire is distributed across all of your teeth, so while there will be force pushing the front teeth up, there will be an opposing force on the molars pulling them down. So you need something that can put force on the front teeth to pull them up, without putting any force on the back teeth to pull them down.

Headgear can be used to intrude incisors without extruding the molars, but that's not something most adults would be happy with. I think the idea with TADs is that they can apply forces similar to headgear. Except that instead of an external anchor placed above the head that can put force just on the front teeth, with TADs the anchor is inside your mouth. I haven't looked into this fully, and it's just a guess that that's how TADs work, so don't take my word on that!

I'm going to ask my orthodontist what his plan is for my deep bite at my next appointment (Wed.). After I read about the significant improvement of deep bites people are getting with TADs I'm hoping that he'll consider it, but it's not in my treatment plan so I'm not sure if he's not going to use them for a reason.

[isthistaken]

It is also my understanding that the TAD is in lieu of headgear, and may give better results, perhaps faster? It actually would have been a hard call for me if I had a choice, because the idea of a screw in my jaw is just not my idea of a walk in the park.

[Ciara]

To the OP -

You might try searching other terms on this site, like Deep Bite, or Cover Bite, instead of Over Bite to filter out the folks who aren't using the term properly.

I've been told I have that same class 2 division 2, kats. And I am told they want to use a TAD. I did not know this was difficult to treat in adults!

Sorry to hijack the thread for a moment

From what I've been reading, Class II Division 2 in general is tricky to treat in adults. There are a lot of factors, both skeletal and dental, that can contribute to this kind of bite. It looks like there have to be a lot of consideration to these factors to be sure the condition doesn't relapse after treatment. Not to mention the fact that it's just hard to intrude the anterior teeth in adults, which seems necessary for a stable result.

I read that extruding the molars can help with a deep bite, but one of the problems with Class II Division 2 is that we tend to have very strong jaw muscles. After treatment, the force from the jaw muscles can cause the molars to intrude again, and make the deep bite return.

So the other solution to fix the deep bite is to intrude the incisors (push them back up into the gum/bone). But, since that means pushing teeth up into solid bone, it can be hard to do. I read that if intrusion is done with an archwire, very little actual intrusion is accomplished, and the molars are extruded instead. That's because the force of the archwire is distributed across all of your teeth, so while there will be force pushing the front teeth up, there will be an opposing force on the molars pulling them down. So you need something that can put force on the front teeth to pull them up, without putting any force on the back teeth to pull them down.

Headgear can be used to intrude incisors without extruding the molars, but that's not something most adults would be happy with. I think the idea with TADs is that they can apply forces similar to headgear. Except that instead of an external anchor placed above the head that can put force just on the front teeth, with TADs the anchor is inside your mouth. I haven't looked into this fully, and it's just a guess that that's how TADs work, so don't take my word on that!

I'm going to ask my orthodontist what his plan is for my deep bite at my next appointment (Wed.). After I read about the significant improvement of deep bites people are getting with TADs I'm hoping that he'll consider it, but it's not in my treatment plan so I'm not sure if he's not going to use them for a reason.

Very interesting! There is no mention of TADs in my treatment plan but the one other adult patient I know with the same ortho has them, so my ortho does do them but has not suggested them for me. I must ask her about stability next time. My bite has opened considerably but if it not stable, then there is not much point.

[katsface]

Very interesting! There is no mention of TADs in my treatment plan but the one other adult patient I know with the same ortho has them, so my ortho does do them but has not suggested them for me. I must ask her about stability next time. My bite has opened considerably but if it not stable, then there is not much point.

Does your ortho plan on correcting the overbite she created once your bite opens up enough? I read that it's important to have your lower incisors make contact with the inside of the upper incisors when you bite, as this causes a bite block and can help prevent relapse. (You can read about it here: http://www.slideshare.net/bsk2009/class-ii-division-2 )

One would HOPE that if I can find this stuff out with a quick internet search, that our orthodontists would also be well aware of any problems and potential relapse that could occur. But then again, one would hope a lot of things that aren't necessarily so. I'm interested to hear what she says about stability. I only briefly talked about stability with my ortho in my initial consultations, and we hadn't talked about the deep bite much at that point, so I'm definitely going to talk to him about it again.

I don't have a mention of TADs either. But I guess I'll find out on Wed. if he thinks they would be useful in my case. I have an expander bonded over my molars and bicuspids on the top teeth, and that's acting like a bite block so I can't bite off my lower brackets. I don't know how he plans to proceed once the expander comes out. I'm not sure a bite plate will work because I have lingual braces on top... hmmm guess Wendsday will be an informative day!

[carlarae]

katsface, ciara, isthistaken, everyone... do you guys have a link to your story/pictures?

[katsface]

I don't, but if you do a search for Deep Bite in the Our Braces Story section there are 50 pages of search results.

[smilehope]

Hi, carlarae, my problem was pretty much all overbite ("complete") with associated crowding. My initial papers said class II division 2 as well. My understanding is that the class II just refers to skeletal pattern - more prominent upper jaw relative to lower - not an abnormality as such. The division 2 bit refers to the overbite. I think.

My treatment is not involving surgery. I had a removable bite plate for the first 6 months though. Now a year into treatment I would say my overbite has reduced by at least 50%, and still getting better all the time.

You can find my story on the "our braces stories" section, usually on one of the first 2 pages.

[katsface]

Hi, carlarae, my problem was pretty much all overbite ("complete") with associated crowding. My initial papers said class II division 2 as well. My understanding is that the class II just refers to skeletal pattern - more prominent upper jaw relative to lower - not an abnormality as such. The division 2 bit refers to the overbite. I think.

My treatment is not involving surgery. I had a removable bite plate for the first 6 months though. Now a year into treatment I would say my overbite has reduced by at least 50%, and still getting better all the time.

You can find my story on the "our braces stories" section, usually on one of the first 2 pages.

Cool, I'm excided to hear that your treatment is working! And I'lm looking forward to reading your story.

Yep, class II does refer to the skeletal relationship, and division 2 refers to the overbite. There's one more earmark of a class ii division 2 bite, and it has to do with the way the teeth are tipped.

Class ii Division 2 have upper central incisors that tip into the mouth instead of the classic 'bucked teeth' of class ii division 1.

The lateral incisors and can also be tipped inward (type a), the lateral incisors can show crowding and tip outward (type b ... that's me) or the lateral incisors can tip inward and the canines can show crowding and tip outward (type c) .

(Reference: http://www.slideshare.net/bsk2009/class-ii-division-2 )

I read that there are so many specific predictable features of a class ii division 2 bite that some people call it a syndrome. But it seems like most of them are consequences of the first three defining factors ie class 2 skeletal relationship, retroclination (tipping inward) of the upper incisors, and a deep bite.

[Ciara]

Hi, carlarae, my problem was pretty much all overbite ("complete") with associated crowding. My initial papers said class II division 2 as well. My understanding is that the class II just refers to skeletal pattern - more prominent upper jaw relative to lower - not an abnormality as such. The division 2 bit refers to the overbite. I think.

My treatment is not involving surgery. I had a removable bite plate for the first 6 months though. Now a year into treatment I would say my overbite has reduced by at least 50%, and still getting better all the time.

You can find my story on the "our braces stories" section, usually on one of the first 2 pages.

Cool, I'm excided to hear that your treatment is working! And I'lm looking forward to reading your story.

Yep, class II does refer to the skeletal relationship, and division 2 refers to the overbite. There's one more earmark of a class ii division 2 bite, and it has to do with the way the teeth are tipped.

Class ii Division 2 have upper central incisors that tip into the mouth instead of the classic 'bucked teeth' of class ii division 1.

The lateral incisors and can also be tipped inward (type a), the lateral incisors can show crowding and tip outward (type b ... that's me) or the lateral incisors can tip inward and the canines can show crowding and tip outward (type c) .

(Reference: http://www.slideshare.net/bsk2009/class-ii-division-2 )

I read that there are so many specific predictable features of a class ii division 2 bite that some people call it a syndrome. But it seems like most of them are consequences of the first three defining factors ie class 2 skeletal relationship, retroclination (tipping inward) of the upper incisors, and a deep bite.

I'm type A - at last I get an A in something dental!!!