Orthodontics. Anyone have a child with an underbite?

[luvmy3jewels]

Another thing to consider, and this is VERY SHALLOw, VeRY, VeRY shallow|. Looks affect self esteem, which affects many things in life, like getting jobs, getting promotions etc.

My Sister was not going to do some orthodontic work that my niece needed, until she realized that Dniece was NEVER smiling in pictures. That was when she was in 4th grade.

Flame away on the shallow "looks" comments, I am sure someone will.

I won't flame, I think you make a very valid point. By the age of 7, my dd was the same way and would never smile in pictures. I finally realized that the reason she would not smile was she was already self conscious about her mouth and teeth.

 

[HM]

Make sure you go for a second or third opinion from other orthodontists. Not everyone treats things the same way.

When my son was ready to get braces, the first guy we went to wanted to pull teeth. The second person we went to didn't even mention that (until I asked about it). She was less expensive and was highly recommended by friends and we went with her. My son's teeth turned out great and no teeth pulling.

 

[bjscheel]

DD12 had a pretty pronounced underbite. After reading online I though she would have a face mask, but she didn't. She had braces which essentially pulled her top teeth out/forward and over the bottom teeth after several months. Those were on about 16 months. At the moment she has a retainer as we wait for her adult teeth to come in. Then we'll see what we have to work with.

So no headgear for us. But DD doesn't like the way her top teeth look, flared forward like that. But then she has gaps on either side where her eyeteeth haven't come in yet, so it may look better later. I keep telling her let's just see what we have when you grow your teeth in. I don't know what to think, honestly. I hope she looks decent when we're all done. I do not look forward to having braces on her again, we had a lot of issues. Retainers have been a breeze though!

 

[bjscheel]

PS I had a definite underbite when I was a kid, but my family had no money and generally took a wait and see approach to most things. Mine corrected itself as my adult teeth grew in.

 

[momto3pirates]

A true skeletal deficiency "underbite" will not correct itself over time. That is the case where the expander and facemask are treatment of choice. If it is just the angle of the teeth causing the top teeth to go behind the bottom teeth, that can be corrected with straight ortho. If the baby teeth are behind but the upper jaw is in the correct position, sometimes the permanent teeth will come in in the correct place. There are different diagnoses that cause what we see as an "underbite".

 

[dismom301930]

A true skeletal deficiency "underbite" will not correct itself over time. That is the case where the expander and facemask are treatment of choice.

This is the case with my DD, now almost 14 but 11 when she had the treatment. She had the expander and headgear and I am so incredibly happy we did it. It brought her jaw into the place where it should be, and changed her whole look and smile (for the better). She is missing two permanent teeth so she is going to need implants at some point. But I am so glad we took care of the underbite when we did so she will not have problems as an adult. Plus she is much more confident of her smile now. She had some minor discomfort (as expected) but she got used to both the expander and the headgear quite quickly. Good luck!

 

[Neesy228]

Thanks everyone. I'm not considering not having it done, I was just looking for some "been there, done that, have the battle scars" type of advice.

It sounds like many of you have traveled this road and I do appreciate everyone's input. It never occurred to me that there may be multiple ways to treat an issue (this is my first time dealing with orthodontics. I never had braces etc, and my older son didn't need any either.) I think we will go to another ortho for a second opinion before moving forward with a plan.

I think he could handle the expander and braces. it's mostly the face mask that is making me cringe. He would never sleep...

Thanks again!

 

[MarciaBrady]

I had an expander awhile ago. The worst part was that it made me talk funny (a weird-sounding lisp, I suppose). I think I had a crossbite though, not an underbite. I did not have the face mask thing. My sis had the face mask thing though. She did not care too much. We put stickers and a ribbon on it.XD (Luckily the orthodontist didn't mind.XD)

 

[DLgal]

We are dealing with this right now. In my DS9's case, his upper jaw is too narrow and too far back. The palate expander was put in in November. We had to do 30 turns over 60 days and he just got the facemask yesterday. I was worried about his sleep last night but it didn't phase him at all. In our case, the ortho is pretty opposed to making kids wear the mask "in public" so we have to try and get 12 hours of wear in every day at HOME, which is pretty easy. He wears it right after dinner, takes off for his shower, and then back on all night. He has not complained at all this whole time. He has needed no pain meds at all. In fact, he looked forward to the expander turns every other day! He thought it was neat how it was moving his teeth. The facemask is not uncomfortable at all. I had the same dental issues as a child and the same treatment plan, but my appliances and mask were positively medieval looking. Things have come a long way in orthodontics and even the palate expander is a lot less bulky than what I had. We got a fancy Waterpick that my son loves to use and that helps a lot. So far, he has been a trooper, and I will tell you, this is a kid with autism and some major oral sensory issues and he is fine with this.

I will say, it is extremely important for you, the parent, to adopt a matter-of-fact attitude about this kind of stuff. Do not feed into your kid's drama by displaying your own anxiety. You have to be very mindful of the mirror effect. Of course, you can be worried about it all, but you can't let the child in on that. It has to be a "this is what needs to be done and that is that" kind of thing. Underbites, untreated, can end up causing MAJOR problems down the road. This is not a cosmetic issue like crooked teeth. A child had head/jaw bones that are not yet fused together and when done at this age, this treatment plan causes NO pain. At most, they feel some temporary pressure. As an adult, the correction is a very risky and painful jaw surgery with a very long recovery time. That is not ideal under any circumstances.

Get a second opinion, but this is the kind of issue that can really only be resolved with the treatment plan you were given. Explain to your son that this has to be done and it really sounds like a bigger deal than it is. FWIW, my son is the "cool" kid in his class because he has braces and no one else does.

 

[HillPete]

We are dealing with this right now. In my DS9's case, his upper jaw is too narrow and too far back. The palate expander was put in in November. We had to do 30 turns over 60 days and he just got the facemask yesterday. I was worried about his sleep last night but it didn't phase him at all. In our case, the ortho is pretty opposed to making kids wear the mask "in public" so we have to try and get 12 hours of wear in every day at HOME, which is pretty easy. He wears it right after dinner, takes off for his shower, and then back on all night. He has not complained at all this whole time. He has needed no pain meds at all. In fact, he looked forward to the expander turns every other day! He thought it was neat how it was moving his teeth. The facemask is not uncomfortable at all. I had the same dental issues as a child and the same treatment plan, but my appliances and mask were positively medieval looking. Things have come a long way in orthodontics and even the palate expander is a lot less bulky than what I had. We got a fancy Waterpick that my son loves to use and that helps a lot. So far, he has been a trooper, and I will tell you, this is a kid with autism and some major oral sensory issues and he is fine with this.

I will say, it is extremely important for you, the parent, to adopt a matter-of-fact attitude about this kind of stuff. Do not feed into your kid's drama by displaying your own anxiety. You have to be very mindful of the mirror effect. Of course, you can be worried about it all, but you can't let the child in on that. It has to be a "this is what needs to be done and that is that" kind of thing. Underbites, untreated, can end up causing MAJOR problems down the road. This is not a cosmetic issue like crooked teeth. A child had head/jaw bones that are not yet fused together and when done at this age, this treatment plan causes NO pain. At most, they feel some temporary pressure. As an adult, the correction is a very risky and painful jaw surgery with a very long recovery time. That is not ideal under any circumstances.

Get a second opinion, but this is the kind of issue that can really only be resolved with the treatment plan you were given. Explain to your son that this has to be done and it really sounds like a bigger deal than it is. FWIW, my son is the "cool" kid in his class because he has braces and no one else does.

This was my DS almost to the letter. He had the expander for a while before he started wearing the headgear thingie. Definitely get a second opinion and definitely do it now while his bones are still soft-ish. It will suck for a bit, but get him applesauce, pudding, soup, ice cream (no chocolate chips!) and whatever is slurp-able for the first few days. He shouldn't need to wear the gear outside the house. We did the after dinner thing here, too and it worked out fine.

Good luck!
-H

 

[shelly3girls]

Both of my DDs had bite issues. We first thought they would need expanders and braces along with other possible treatment. We found an orthodontist who uses the Damon system and amazingly they were both corrected with just the braces. They had multiple stages of all types of rubber bands and one even needed a small screw in her jaw to attach a band but nothing that was too bad. If you google the system and underbite you will find many examples of people using it.

I am sure that not everyone can be helped using this system but I think it is worth another opinion. Not many orthos use this system but we only need to go every three months for visits so it is worth traveling a distance if necessary. DD12's bite was fixed in just over a year. DD14 is in her third year which is longer than expected but things are looking good. We paid for the treatment and not a penny more even though its taking longer than expected.

 

[CF'er]

We didn't have these issues with my DD but we did get multiple ortho consults before finally deciding on one. The first couple wanted to pull teeth straightaway while the third said they might have to. We chose them and are very close to the end of her treatment... without pulling teeth. I'm not saying the others were wrong. Maybe she would already be out the braces had teeth been pulled. It's definitely worth talking to several before embarking on such a long journey.

 

[quandrea]

For the reason above, OP, do it now. My DD18 started her treatment at 16. She had the expander, facemask, and now braces and they have stopped treatment because it didn't work. (They are just re-straigtening her teeth now.) There was a chance it would work since she still had some growth left in her but sadly it did not. She will be looking at surgery sometime down the line.

Do it now. I had a sever under bite. I was treated in grade two (1980) and did not wear a face mask. I wore an appliance in my mouth twenty four hours a day at first. Toward the end of the eighteen or so month's treatment it was less. Roughly four pm until the next morning. If it hadn't worked my jaw would have been broken at sixteen. My brother had the same problem. Both of us had successful treatment as children. See the best orthodontist you can find, preferably someone who also teaches.

I was also born missing two front teeth. My mouth was completely realigned at thirteen. I have permanent bridges in place. My teeth are gorgeous and it was worth all the time, energy and expense. I will be forever grateful to my orthodontist.

My appliance was never painful, although it took some getting used to. The kids at school, and the teacher made fun of me because my speech was altered for a bit. I survived though. Lots of support at home.

Get another opinion. This face mask sounds a bit primitive. Your son is going to look great!

 

[SLK1]

Please get a second opinion. The reason I say this is DD had a pretty good underbite going and our ortho put braces on her in 2nd grade, when she was 8. She wore them for about 6-7 months. Now she's 12 and he says she might not need any further braces - we caught it early and it corrected it quickly. And this was just braces on her upper teeth! They pulled the teeth forward enough, plus with her growth at the time, it corrected nicely. Now, that was probably best-case scenario, and had we waited, he said she could have had a "Jay Leno chin", but six months of braces along the top teeth isn't bad and she looks fine now.

 

[Jules123]

I just took DS12 to the orthodontist this week and he was told the same thing. He is okay with having the braces and the expander but was SO upset about the headgear. His dr has told him he only will have to have it on when he is at the house but DS says he doesn't want anyone, including his brother, to see him in it. I'm afraid this is going to turn into a fight every night to get him to wear it. NOT looking forward to that.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We are doing this with DD8. She has a slight underbite, but semi-significant cross bite (her teeth on one side sit on top of eachother instead of top going over bottom). She has had an expander retainer, hers is removable like a regular retainer and we expanded it once a week. Just went the to dentist yesterday for a regular cleaning and he says it's working, that all of the teeth (except one baby one) have moved into the correct place. Now we just wait and see where the adult teeth come in. She is going into the ortho every few weeks to check for fit.

 

[vinotinto]

Sending this to the top. DD 9 has an underbite. Took her to 2 orthos.

Ortho #1 indicated palate extender and face mask for Phase 1 and braces for Phase 2. Sounded like she would be in treatment for years. He wants to treat this soon and aggressively.

Ortho #2 said palate extender and a retainer and it may be possible that she won't need much after that. She wants to take more of a wait and see approach. She's the one that treated my DS fairly quickly and easily, but his issue was much less complicated than the underbite.

For those of you that did not have a face mask, how are your kids' teeth and jaws doing?

 

[bjscheel]

For those of you that did not have a face mask, how are your kids' teeth and jaws doing?

This was interesting to read, where we were 3 years ago (!) with my daughter's teeth. (Didn't realize we have been at this so long.) Anyway, my daughter's underbite (and other tooth issues) continue to be treated with only braces, rubber bands, and retainers. A couple years of braces, a time in retainers while we waited for adult teeth, and now 1.5 years into braces again. We started at age 10 I think because they are more malleable at a young age. She is now 15 and things are looking good. I wasn't sure for a while when it seemed like they were just flaring her top teeth out in front but here in the last couple months things are really coming together. She has had rubber bands and I think that made a big difference. Hopefully she'll be done soon but they haven't said anything yet.

I'm glad we haven't had to do anything else, the first round braces were enough of a struggle.

 

[vinotinto]

I'm glad we haven't had to do anything else, the first round braces were enough of a struggle.

Thanks for sharing! Glad to hear things are looking good!

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Sending this to the top. DD 9 has an underbite. Took her to 2 orthos.

Ortho #1 indicated palate extender and face mask for Phase 1 and braces for Phase 2. Sounded like she would be in treatment for years. He wants to treat this soon and aggressively.

Ortho #2 said palate extender and a retainer and it may be possible that she won't need much after that. She wants to take more of a wait and see approach. She's the one that treated my DS fairly quickly and easily, but his issue was much less complicated than the underbite.

For those of you that did not have a face mask, how are your kids' teeth and jaws doing?

My DD is now 11 and the retainer expander is all she needed. She "graduated " out of his care about a year ago when the majority of her adult teeth were in and she now goes in every 6 months just to make sure things haven't shifted. So far, so good.