Rubber Bands and Ortho

[heyitscyndi]

Hey guys, I had a question. I just got rubber bands put on my braces a couple weeks ago to correct an overbite. (I know, its late in the game for a 20 year old to have braces). I am wondering exactly how the rubber bands work to correct an overbite. Are we pulling the maxillary teeth front or back, or what? Does anyone know? Thanx in advance!

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[toofache32]

Are they for an "overbite" or "overjet"? That's an important difference to answer the question.

 

[heyitscyndi]

Are they for an "overbite" or "overjet"? That's an important difference to answer the question.

Well I haven't started D-school yet so I don't know what an overjet is. But the orthdontist said "overbite"

 

[Blue Tooth]

well if he said overbite than it's prolly overjet. i doubt he used proper terminology with a patient. basically, it works through repositioning and retraining your mandible so that it's in a correct position.

 

[12YearOldKid]

The slowly released polymers in the bands mimic special teeth positioning hormones that your body is deficient in. ...or something like that.

 

[drben]

Cyndi,

Rubberbands are used to correct overjet (the distance between the upper and lower front teeth). They can also be used to assist in overbite correction (the amount of overlap of your front teeth) by extruding lower molars.

Usually overjet correction is a combination of sliding the upper teeth back on the denture base, the lower teeth forward on the denture base, and steepening of the occlusal plane (primary method of overjet correction).

Hope that helps...

Ben White, DDS, MSD
Orthodontist

 

[heyitscyndi]

Cyndi,

Rubberbands are used to correct overjet (the distance between the upper and lower front teeth). They can also be used to assist in overbite correction (the amount of overlap of your front teeth) by extruding lower molars.

Usually overjet correction is a combination of sliding the upper teeth back on the denture base, the lower teeth forward on the denture base, and steepening of the occlusal plane (primary method of overjet correction).

Hope that helps...

Ben White, DDS, MSD
Orthodontist

Fabulous, thanks for the info! I was just wondering how everything works. I've got all kinds of stuff going on with my teeth right now, what with the rubber bands (from the bottom back molar to a hook on the bulbous (sp?) wire in the front on both sides, and a square in the middle) and two sets of headgear (which I should probably be wearing right now.... ). I might specialize in ortho, but I'm just a sophomore in undergrad so I've got a while to decide. Where did you go for dental and ortho?

 

[asj]

hey cyndi!

well elastics can be used in the correction of overjet as well as overbite.

for overjet correction, they help in reducing the horizontal distance between the upper and lower teeth by pulling the upper teeth back and the lower teeth in front. the orthodontist will decide whether he wants the upper teeth to go back more, the lower teeth to come in front more, or equal amount of upper and lower teeth movement.

for overbite correction, the elastics will cause the lower molar teeth to move vertically or 'supraerupt', causing the occlusal plane to steepen. this will reduce the overbite. but usually this type of overbite reduction is not desired.

most cases require the upper teeth to get depressed or 'intruded' to reduce the overbite. in this case the upper wires will be actually depressing the teeth. this force acting on the upper teeth also has a tendency to flare out the upper teeth. this is where the elastics come into play. they will prevent the upper teeth from flaring out ( since they are holding the teeth back). this ensures that the teeth only get depressed and correct the overbite.

hope this explanation helps and wasnt too complicated!

 

[heyitscyndi]

Thanks for all the posts guys, you are the best! You just wonder sometimes exactly what is going on when you have all this stuff in your mouth!