How Braces Correct Overbites When A Child Is Congenitally Missing Some Teeth

When a child is born without congenitally missing teeth, it means that he or she is missing one or more permanent teeth. When certain baby fall out, there will be nothing to replace them; however, orthodontics can often help. This is especially true if the teeth are missing on the upper jaw and if the child has an overbite.

How is an overbite corrected with braces?

Braces are not only designed to straighten teeth, but they can also assist in correcting problems with a person's bite. When a child has an overbite, it means that his or her top teeth extend too far past the lower teeth. Braces can correct this by pulling the upper teeth back.

In many cases, though, a child will need to have two upper teeth removed to correct a major overbite. If your child is congenitally missing two upper teeth (one on each side of the mouth), this is almost the perfect situation for straightening the teeth and correcting the overbite.

When these two teeth come out, the braces will be designed and maintained in a way that the gaps are filled in by pulling the front teeth back. Over time, the gaps will fill in and the overbite will be corrected.

What if teeth are missing on the lower jaw?

Correcting an overbite is more difficult when there are congenitally missing teeth on the lower jaw. When these teeth come out and leave gaps, braces will cause the teeth to pull backwards, which will naturally create a larger overbite.

There are several ways to correct this problem, and these are:

• Dental implants – Getting dental implants to replace the teeth that are missing is one option. These would be needed before braces are installed, and they would naturally fill in the gaps. The orthodontist could then proceed as normal with the braces.
• Temporary implant – If you do not want to fill in the gaps with dental implants, a family orthodontist might be able to use a temporary implant to fill in the gaps. With this, an implant will be temporarily placed in the child's mouth and will be used as an anchor to pull the bottom teeth in towards the front teeth. Once this is accomplished, the temporary implant could be removed.

If you would like to learn more about braces and how they are affected by congenitally missing teeth, contact your child's dentist and orthodontist today.