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Video: Eliminating Bad Bite Problems (suspected or real)
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Question:
Level Bite? I used to have a normal bite but had to get braces to correct some crowding.
My teeth seem to be properly aligned now but when I try to close my mouth, my two upper middle incisors come down and land right on top of my lower incisors, preventing the rest of my upper teeth from coming into contact with their respective lower teeth.
I can force myself into the correct bite but I feel a lot of pressure on the backs of my upper incisors when doing that. Since the upper incisors are supposed to be slightly in front of the lower incisors when the mouth is closed, I guess I have a slight underbite or "level" bite.
I would appreciate any advice you can give. ...Visitor from NJ
Answer:
The orthodontic treatment may have corrected your mal-aligned teeth, but has caused an occlusal interference with the upper and lower front teeth.
This is a serious problem and show be corrected by a dentist skilled in occlusal adjustments. Having your top teeth bang into your lower teeth can cause them to get sore and loosen up.
Since you may have recently completed your orthodontic treatment, your jawbone is still firming up around the roots of your teeth. If you are banging the front teeth together, you are preventing the bone from filling in around the teeth and the teeth will never tighten up.
In fact you can even cause permanant bone loss which taken to extremes can cause tooth LOSS!
If the back teeth are occlusally sound and hit normally, you may just need to have a little bit of the bottom front biting edges reduced a bit to allow the front to close properly. However if the back teeth are not hitting right then a skilled dentist may need to adjust your full bite in front and back to get the teeth to hit normally.
Many times a person will have a new filling or crown (cap) placed by a dentist. While still numb the patient cannot really tell if the bite is totally normal before they leave. Thus, the filling or cap can stay just a little bit high, and it never feels correct.
It may be ok for a little while but it can become sensitive to hot or cold, or be sensitive when the person bites down on a hard piece of food. The tissue under the roots of the tooth that is "high" gets pounded into the periodontal ligament and jawbone which causes inflammation and pain. The only way to solve this problem is to have the dentist correctly adjust the occlusion back to normal.
I would recommend telling your orthodontist about your bite problem and ask him for a referral to a dentist who is skilled in how to adjust your bite.
ComfortableDental.com
Ron Briglia, DMD
Chester County Medical Building
600 East Marshall Street, Suite 201
West Chester Pennsylvania PA 19380
(610) 692-4440
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