Open Bite

Three things, usually. A habit such as thumb sucking or prolonged dummy use that carries on past the age the adult front teeth arrive. Tongue position, where the tongue rests or pushes forward between the teeth on swallowing. Or the way the jaws have grown, which leaves the front teeth apart regardless of habits.

The cause matters because it changes the treatment. A habit-related open bite in a child often improves once the habit stops. A skeletal one will not. There is more on our open bite page.

In children, stopping the causative habit comes first, sometimes helped by a small appliance that makes thumb sucking unrewarding. That alone is occasionally enough.

Where the teeth need moving, fixed braces or clear aligners will close the bite. Aligners often do well here, because the plastic covers the back teeth and intrudes them slightly, which helps the front close. Severe skeletal open bites in adults sometimes need surgery planned alongside orthodontics.

Retention afterwards is taken seriously, because open bites are among the more relapse-prone corrections.

Sometimes, in young children, and only if the cause is removed. Where a thumb sucking or dummy habit stops before the adult front teeth have fully settled, the bite frequently closes on its own with no treatment at all. That is one of the reasons we often monitor rather than treat straight away.

An open bite caused by tongue position, or by the way the jaws have grown, will not close on its own and does not improve with age.

Yes. Growth has finished, so the options differ, but adult open bites are treated routinely.

Mild to moderate cases close well with fixed braces or clear aligners. Where the open bite is skeletal and severe, orthodontics on its own can only camouflage it, and a stable result needs surgery planned alongside the braces.

We will tell you honestly at the assessment which of those applies to you.

Most cases run somewhere between eighteen months and two years, similar to other comprehensive treatment. A mild open bite in a child, where stopping a habit does most of the work, can be considerably quicker.

Cases involving surgery take longer, typically two to three years across the whole course, counting the orthodontics before and after the operation.

You will get a realistic timescale at your consultation at our Ballinteer Road clinic rather than a generic one.

In an adult it does not correct itself, and it makes certain everyday things harder. Biting into food with the front teeth is the obvious one, since they never meet. Some people find it affects speech, particularly sounds that need the tongue against the front teeth.

There is also a loading problem. If the front teeth do not share the work, the back teeth take more of it, which can mean uneven wear over the years.

Plenty of people live with a mild open bite quite happily. It is worth having it assessed so the decision is an informed one.

Less common than crowding or an increased overjet, but not unusual. We see it regularly at our Dundrum clinic, most often in children where a thumb sucking habit has carried on past the arrival of the adult front teeth.

Open bites at the front, the anterior type, are far more common than posterior ones affecting the back teeth.

It can, where the open bite is skeletal rather than habit-related. That pattern often comes with a longer lower face and a steeper jaw angle, and the lips may not meet comfortably at rest.

Where the open bite is caused by a habit or by tongue position, the jaws themselves are usually normal and facial appearance is unaffected.

Correcting a skeletal open bite surgically does change facial proportions. Correcting a dental one does not, and nobody should expect it to.