Overbite Correction Without Braces

An overbite is a condition wherein a person has a forwardly placed teeth or jaw, or both. Hence, an overbite is a condition which can be purely dental in nature, that is due to forwardly placed teeth, or may be skeletal in nature, that is, teeth are properly placed within the dental arch but the jaw is forwardly placed.

If the problem is purely dental, that is, due to misaligned teeth, then a person can get the condition reversed with the help of orthodontic treatment. However, if the condition is purely skeletal, then there is a need for an overbite correction.

There are many ways of dealing with an overbite without making use of braces. However, whether or not there is a need for overbite correction without braces will strictly depend on the case. Thus, there needs to be a skeletal deformity for the case to be eligible for treatment without using orthodontic braces.

In such cases, the treatment will involve surgical intervention. The overbite that is seen can occur due to three reasons. Either the maxilla is very large and protrusively placed, or the mandible is very small or retrusive, or both. Here are the details regarding ways to correct a protruded maxilla or retruded mandible, or both.

The surgery for maxilla is known as Le Fort I osteotomy. This is a procedure where surgically, the maxilla and palate is separated from the rest of the bones of the skull and then is placed in the desired position. The fixing of maxilla is done with the help of titanium screws and plates.

The surgery that is a part of overbite correction without braces, for dealing with a retruded mandible, is known as a mandibular sagittal split osteotomy. For this procedure to be a success, one has to first get all the wisdom teeth extracted. This surgical procedure needs to be done under general anesthesia.

In a bilateral sagittal split osteotomy, the back of the lower jaw is first split bilaterally in the region of the wisdom teeth. The procedure of bringing the jaw forward is then carried out. This is done by splitting the jaw and then pulling it forward.

One needs to be careful during the final stages of the procedure to ensure that there is adequate bone contact for proper healing later. The bone is then fixed into its new position with the help of screws which are inserted through small external incisions on the surface of the skin, near the angle of the jaw (hence, the need for removal of wisdom teeth).

After the procedure is complete, to aid the person in attaining as harmonious an occlusion position (closed mouth) as possible, the upper and lower jaws are attached together with the help of an elastic band traction, which is kept in place for around 1 or 2 weeks. This way, s/he gets used to a fixed position of occlusion, thus attaining overbite correction.

If a child is in his/her growing years, then there are also some functional appliances that can be used to help propel the mandible forward, if it is retrusive. In the end, the treatment strictly depends on the cause of the overbite and only after its detailed study, a final treatment plan is chalked out, which varies from one affected person to another.

Disclaimer: This is for informative purposes only, and should not be used as a replacement for expert medical advice.