Open Bites

What about anterior open bites?

One of the most challenging problems for an orthodontist to manage well is an anterior open bite.

This occurs when there is a tongue thrust or low resting posture of the tongue. Instead of sitting up in the roof of the palate, it postures between the teeth during rest, swallowing and speech.

This habit is hard to break and often requires myofunctional therapy exercises to repattern more normal rest posture and function. If this is not corrected, the new teeth positions will be very unstable. Patients with this type of resting posture and swallow will tend to have a fast relapse once the braces are removed, and retainers are not worn every night.

When tongue-ties pose an anatomical restraint to retraining proper function, tongue-tie release and therapy to retrain the tongue should be considered. This will aid long-term stability of results.