Anyone skip surgery and just get their teeth straightened?

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#1 Post by **edinburger** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:59 am

Hi there, I am 29 years old with a skeletal open bite. I've started with braces and am considering upper and lower jaw surgery in around a year's time.

However, I have doubts about whether I really want to go for the surgery. I don't yet experience any TMJ pain, I only have minor problems eating with my open bite (some sandwiches are tricky) and since my problems are mainly in the vertical dimension, my open bite isn't all that apparent to onlookers. I have a fairly large vertical gap at the front but quite a few teeth meet at the back coming forward to my canines which will only be a few mm apart after the braces.

So, I was wondering, did any of you simply decide to skip surgery, get your teeth straightened and live with your open bite? Any idea what the risks are of developing TMJ problems down the line if I don't get this fixed now?

Thanks!

#2 Post by **smile2006** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:43 am

I just had an open bite surgically corrected with upper and lower jaw surgery. I had a large overjet/overbite as a kid. I also had braces as a teen. I believe the open bite was there at that point but surgery wasn't the option it is today so they tried to correct it with braces alone. The result ended up being that after 2 1/2 years of braces, my teeth gradually went back into the funky, bad bite over the years. The problem was the foundation (or jaw) couldn't support the house (teeth) in the position they were moved into. When I soought orthodontic work again as an adult, surgery was the only option. If wanted a stable result for the teeth, the foundation had to be fixed. My advice is don't waste your time or money with orthodontics alone if there is consistent agreement that surgery is needed. Braces twice is no fun.....nor is wasting hard earned money.

#3 Post by **smile2006** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:43 am

I just had an open bite surgically corrected with upper and lower jaw surgery. I had a large overjet/overbite as a kid. I also had braces as a teen. I believe the open bite was there at that point but surgery wasn't the option it is today so they tried to correct it with braces alone. The result ended up being that after 2 1/2 years of braces, my teeth gradually went back into the funky, bad bite over the years. The problem was the foundation (or jaw) couldn't support the house (teeth) in the position they were moved into. When I soought orthodontic work again as an adult, surgery was the only option. If wanted a stable result for the teeth, the foundation had to be fixed. My advice is don't waste your time or money with orthodontics alone if there is consistent agreement that surgery is needed. Braces twice is no fun.....nor is wasting hard earned money.

#4 Post by **edinburger** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:24 pm

Thanks for your reply. Interestingly, the opinion of my dentist/ortho/surgeon is not clear-cut. Since I don't have TMJ pain etc, the choice is basically mine. However, I am living with a risk of developing problems in the future if I don't have the surgery. Unfortunately I don't know what the level of risk really is. It would be interesting to hear whether people routinely leave problems like this alone and don't experience TMJ pain/excessive wear etc in later life.

#5 Post by **edinburger** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 2:22 pm

Thanks Meryaten. Wise words. Difficult decision. I am going to talk again with my ortho. Hopefully the braces treatment plan won't differ much whether I decide to go for surgery or not (they still need to close the extraction gaps on the lowers and broaden my upper arch a little). So, perhaps I will be able to defer this tricky decision...

#6 Post by **lionfish** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 4:03 pm

Open bite here. I started with most of my second molars and a few of my front teeth coming together, but not a lot else. I guess you could say I have a lateral open bite.

At the start, I was given two options: braces alone or braces with surgery. I went with braces alone. My ortho will close my bite with elastics.

I think you may find that, if you're going with braces and surgery, the treatment plan leading up to surgery may be different than if you were to go with braces alone. I got this impression from my ortho. Seeing that you are at the early stages of treatment, I would clarify this with your ortho so that whatever decision you make is well informed.

#7 Post by **edinburger** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:26 am

Interesting. I got a second opinion from another dentist today (not an ortho). I had to see this other dentist as my regular dental practice went on vacation after leaving a splinter of tooth behind after my extractions. So anyway, this dentist was of the opinion that surgery for my condition would be purely a cosmetic/functional decision. She says she has plenty of patients with crazy bites (this is Britain) but no decay and no jaw problems and she also has plenty of patients with 'perfect' bites and jaw trouble. So, her view was just get the teeth straightened and leave it at that. *sigh* I wish there was some consistent story on the risk of future problems