Ask The Dentist Questions about Severe Overbite in the Dental Health Directory Library

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FAQ: Severe Overbite

Question:
5 year old with severe overbite: My son is 5 and has a severe overbite on the top due mostly to an underdeveloped lower jaw.

His dentist tells me that when his second teeth come in the only way to deal with this is going to be head gear. Is that true?

My Lord, it is the 21st century are we still stuck with the painfullness of head gear? Are there any other options I should be looking into? ...Visitor from MA

Answer:
Headgear is one of MANY ways to resolve your son's troubles. Modern orthodontics offers some pretty impressive alternatives to headgear.

Before we begin, lets apply the Socratic method and make sure we agree on terms. Overbite is a term that is used loosely. In the vernacular it suggests the presence of "bucked teeth." Utilizing the Kings English, however, "bucked teeth" are technically referenced with the term OverJET.

Overjet is the topic at hand. It means that the top font teeth are too far ahead of the bottom front teeth. WIth that said, let us discuss treatment options.

The question is this: Do we want to reduce the Overjet by moving the top teeth back, the bottom teeth forward, or some combination of the two? IT DEPENDS on what your son's profile looks like.

If his upper lip is way too forward, we will want to bring his top teeth back substantially. If the upper lip looks good, but the lower lip appears too far back, we will want to bring the lower teeth forward... and so on.

Conclusion: Many options exist to serve the particular problem of your son. His treatment will be tailored to him. Headgear is not likely.

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