Crossbite...Not an issue???

[shinshan904]

I had my braces put on last Thursday and my ortho discussed with me all the issues they want the braces to fix. Crowding was one of them and I thought my crossbite would be another since it was brought up at every consultation I went to. But my ortho and his partner said they don't think they are going to correct it and that its not necessary and won't cause me any problems. Do any of you have any experience with having a crossbite and your ortho saying it's not necessay to fix?

[lightskinnnn38]

Do you have pictures of what your crossbite looks like? It sounds strange that they wouldn't fix that.

[Phillymanhere]

ShinShan,

Interesting point ... I ended up selecting an ortho whose treatment plan was to treat my cross bite and the aesthetics ....

I know some orthos seem to hesitate with fixing bite problems in older people as our jaw is no longer growing which apparently makes it hard to fix bites (this is my understanding) .... I don't know how old you are ...

The time to deal with this is right away. I'd say stop treatment or really clarify that you want your bite fixed ....
My ortho couldn't guarantee that he would fix my bite, but he was confident he could do so ... and he's going to make a serious attempt to do so ... and that's satisfying enough to me ...

I specifically turned out several others who had shorter treatment plans with no goal of correcting my bite. I figure that my teeth will last longer with a corrected bite ... and I enjoy eating and want to eat on both sides of my mouth ... now I only eat on the right ...because the bite is so bad on the left ...

Good luck.

[shinshan904]

ShinShan,

Interesting point ... I ended up selecting an ortho whose treatment plan was to treat my cross bite and the aesthetics ....

I know some orthos seem to hesitate with fixing bite problems in older people as our jaw is no longer growing which apparently makes it hard to fix bites (this is my understanding) .... I don't know how old you are ...

The time to deal with this is right away. I'd say stop treatment or really clarify that you want your bite fixed ....
My ortho couldn't guarantee that he would fix my bite, but he was confident he could do so ... and he's going to make a serious attempt to do so ... and that's satisfying enough to me ...

I specifically turned out several others who had shorter treatment plans with no goal of correcting my bite. I figure that my teeth will last longer with a corrected bite ... and I enjoy eating and want to eat on both sides of my mouth ... now I only eat on the right ...because the bite is so bad on the left ...

Good luck.

I am 25 years old. They didn't really give a good answer as to why they weren't going to correct it other than they didn't think it was necessary. My bite is very comfortable before I got the braces on so it's not a problem to me...I just know it's not supposed to be the way it is and if it's not the "ideal" bite I'm not sure why they wouldn't just fix it. I have reservations about my orthodontist because I am going to the local University Dental School for treatment but I have heard great thinks about them and the price for treatment is great.

[shinshan904]

Do you have pictures of what your crossbite looks like? It sounds strange that they wouldn't fix that.

Here's a picture. I guess the top teeth are supposed to slightly overlap the bottom teeth and mine are vice versa. I'm not sure why they wouldn't fix it either. I'm going to talk to them about t at my next appointment.

[Phillymanhere]

ShinShan,

May I suggest that is does NOT matter why one ortho wants to not treat the bite vs. others who do want to treat the bite.
Some orthos, I presume, are more confident that they can fix bites than other orthos are ... Some orthos think, I am guessing, that patients are happier with corrected bites while others think patients just want "straight" looking teeth.

But who cares the reason?

The question is: do you want your bite fixed. If so, I think it's perfectly reasonable (and probably not too late) to insist on it or go to another orthodontist.

You can tell your current ortho very politely that you have been thinking about it and that it is starting to bug you that your cross bite won't be fixed. Tell him that. You can say it's really bugging you and that you don't want to come to the end of treatment with any reservations. You might be surprised and find that he's willing, given your strong feelings, to change his treatment plan. Remember, by the way, that you are paying him. He's your client, though you may be his patient.

To your point, I went to one ortho (among about six I checked out), and this one wanted to do 5 months of invisalign ... This ortho wasn't even aggressive about wanting to straighten all my teeth as the other orthos ... bite? ... forget about it! ... This one wasn't pretending to address that.

Now as to the "reason why." This 5-month ortho basically said bites can't be fixed on people my age (49.)... The ortho I'm going to now believes bites can be challenging to fix but that in most cases, he thinks they can be fixed in adults my age ...

Anyway, good luck.