Top and bottom front teeth directly on top of eachother?

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#1 Post by **Andromeda** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:19 pm

I just got class II elastics yesterday to close my bite on the sides, but they seem to be pulling my lower jaw forward and now my front teeth are hitting edge to edge when I bite. I can no longer touch any molars or other side teeth, just the very front right on top of eachother. They say you're supposed to "keep your lips together and teeth apart" so you don't clench or grind, but I have the strongest elastics my ortho office has, and they are pulling my bite shut really hard. I can't open more than a few mm, and my muscles are so sore from trying to fight the elastics and keep my teeth apart. When I let go, all the pressure of the elastics pulling on my bite is on the front tooth and it hurts. Overnight while I slept, I obviously could not consciously keep my teeth apart and I woke up with such sore front teeth. My ortho said my new archwire will eventually pull my front teeth out and down over my bottoms, but any advice on how to cope until that happens?

#2 Post by **Candy** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:46 am

I can't really offer any insight, but was interested to see your post as I will be in elastics by June or so, and I always wonder what it will be like. the way you describe yours seems to be how mine will be. I have no idea how they will fix this bite of mine, but I'm guessing he knows the deal. Can't imagine have bands telling me where to put my jaw, and that tightly. I work so I don't know how that will be having to wear them. I hear they work wonders though, so I guess I just want to get started. My bite has gotten so much worse because I had crowding up top, and he said the overbite gets worse because we are pushing all the teeth down and then the bands will pull them back in and make my jaw more aligned. I had a slight overbite to begin with and he said that he hopes to have it back to where I started. I will never have a perfect bite unless I have teeth extracted or surgery. I don't want that, and he said it they do extractions, my teeth may push too far back, so the bands are the best way to go. Good luck, hope you feel better soon....look forward to getting updates so that I know what to expect!!!

#3 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:38 pm

Thanks for your post Candy! I hope your elastics experience is better than mine... When you were talking about extractions, I think the exact same thing happened with me. I had upper crowding so the said Id have to get 2 teeth pulled to make room for al my teeth or else Id be left with an overbite. So I had the teth pulled but now it seems like that was too much room and now I have an underbite, grr. I feel like I shoulds just kept those teeth. Too late now tho. My ortho said he'll eventually use my archwire to pull my top teeth back out and dow over my bottoms.

I also work full time and so far its been difficult. I just have soup for lunch so I don't have to worry about taking the elastics out to chew but eventually I'll want to eat real food at work. Im just waiting for the painful part to go away and then Ill try. Its embarrassing taking them out or putting them in in front of people so Im thinking Ill be in the bathroom more often...

I'll definitely keep u posted on my progress and will try putting up pics very soon, maybe tonight after work

#4 Post by **Candy** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:48 pm

Look forward to seeing pics, I think I have some on here somewhere of mine....I am on bracesreview.com more so I have them on there on my blog.
I was glad to hear my ortho's reservations of not taking teeth for that reason, as it really does make sense...they would make big extraction gaps and I would have no doubt that I would end up with an underbite too....so really glad not going that route. I don't ever expect my teeth to sit on top of each other, and they are not supposed to anyway, supposed to have the top a little over the bottom..but this bite I have now...is way too toothy...and it's wonky too, midline is off, and it's almost like my upper teeth slope at an angle...like the right side is lower than the left. Hard to describe. I wish I had a crytal ball to see how in the heck it all comes together..or at least see inside of my ortho's head to see his vision.
I am going to a stronger wire next month so I'm curious to see what happens then. Glad to see my canines down as far as they are, I hated them more than ANYTHING because they were up higher...now they are looking better, it's the bite that is bothering me a lot now.

#5 Post by **Audra** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:36 pm

I just got class II elastics on Friday. I also got the strongest archwire (0.19 x 0.25) and powerchains at the same time!!! The elastics are not as heavy as yours though. I only have one elastic on each side and they are classified as medium/heavy (they are the fox if anyone uses the animal elastics). I have an underbite and will be having surgery for it in the fall. He said the class II were to make my underbite worse (why, I don't know). I find that my jaw is tired from them, but not really sore. My teeth, however, have been really sore. Today is the first day that I've been able to chew anything. I spent all weekend on a liquid (shakes etc) diet because my teeth hurt too much to eat anything with substance.

I hope your pain resolves soon

#6 Post by **Andromeda** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:29 pm

Hi everyone - I posted my pics in my braces story so if you want to see, just go to the link at the bottom of this post!

Candy, you mentioned that your canines were up too high and that is the exact thing that I had wrong with my teeth! After that, it was all bite issues. Haha so similar. You can see what my teeth looked like to start with and how they are now in my braces story. I know what you mean about wishing you could see what your teeth would look like when they are all done. Everyone has a different result so it would be so nice to see what mine will look like! Good luck getting that stronger wire next time, should definitely see some more improvements with that.

Audra, glad to hear from a fellow elastics newbie

I wonder why he wants to make your underbite worse? That seems to be exactly what is happening to me with my class II setup too... If I take my elastics out, I can actually chew soft meat like meatloaf on the right side; the left teeth are way more sore. But yea my jaw is the worst, I think it's just really tired too to the point of pain. It's been getting better each day though. I hope your teeth start to feel better quickly and you are back on normal food very soon