Overbites Explained

What is an Overbite?

An overbite or deep bite is defined by the degree of overlap of the upper jaw and teeth, and lower jaw and teeth. A normal bite has a degree of overlap that would be about one or two millimeters, which is not regarded as an overbite or malocclusion.

A deep bite, also referred to as a vertical overbite, is approximately four to ten millimeters deep, and is considered a malocclusion, which requires treatment. When an overbite is deep, the patient's chin is generally recessive or pushed back towards the throat, thereby decreasing breathing, sleeping, and it is also associated with TMJ problems.

Overbites cause a recessive mandible because the lower teeth are forced behind the upper teeth pushing the lower jaw back, which changes the shape of the patient's face to a round shape. As the teeth wear down from clenching, grinding, and jaw misalignment, the worn-down teeth make the overbite and facial collapse get worse over time. The lower jaw or mandible is closing too far which changes the shape of the patient's face and profile

The solution is to reverse the malocclusion, small chin, over-closed mandible, and facial collapse. Treatment is possible without jaw surgery, without braces, and without drilling down healthy teeth.

Deep Bite Correction Case Study

What Causes an Overbite?

Overbites are caused by hereditary or genetics, shaped by the natural eruption of teeth, which are random events. Teeth erupt while the patient is still growing, and stop erupting when they hit an opposing tooth. There is no science to predict or manage the natural process of tooth eruption, so overbites, malocclusions, bad bites, underbites, and deep overbites are common.

Chronic habits such as thumb sucking can contribute to an overbite because the thumb pushes the upper teeth too far forward of the lower teeth causing maxillary protrusion or over jet. Sometimes tongue thrusting habits can contribute to a bad bite because the tongue will actually push the teeth into a malocclusion called a maxillary protrusion. The thumb will actually push the upper teeth and bone forward while the thumb also pushes the lower jaw backward.

If a patient already has a deep overbite, as they age, their teeth wear down and will cause the overbite to get deeper. Patients with a tongue thrust do not speak clearly because they use their tongue for speaking and no amount of speech therapy will help the patient as much as getting the teeth, bite and facial proportioning balanced. The form of the teeth affects the function of the face.

Is It Bad to Have an Overbite?

Even a slight overbite could become problematic over time. As the overbite increases, typically due to teeth wear, the available tongue space decreases. Bad overbites result in a less than optimal jaw position, facial profile and TMJ stress.

Most people with overbites don't sleep as well and don't breathe as well as they could because there is reduced tongue space. Also, the overbite causes a recessive small looking chin and a weak jawline because the overbite forces the lower jaw back and allows the jaw to close too close to the nose.

How Do You Correct an Overbite?

Correcting an overbite with braces or clear aligners is still the most popular correction method, and treatment will take approximately one year. After treatment with aligners or braces, the teeth may shift again, and the overbite could return.

Surgery is often recommended as the only option when braces failed. Today, quick and predictive overbite correction without the need for braces, surgery, or teeth extractions is available, although more costly than traditional methods.

Can You Treat an Overbite Naturally?

The most natural overbite treatment rules out orthodontic braces, elastics or rubber bands, clear aligners, and jaw surgery. The treatment would also need to be done non-invasively, which rules out cosmetic dentistry with porcelain veneers (which will worsen the overbite), full mouth reconstructions, and porcelain crowns because all of the healthy teeth are usually cut down with a drill.

A natural overbite treatment would need to be non-surgical, so you cannot cut teeth down with a dental drill, and you cannot cut the jaw down with a surgeon's scalpel. The only treatment available that provides a natural and effective overbite treatment is the Face Lift Dentistry® method, and it does far more than just correct an overbite.

How Do You Know If You Have an Overbite?

When your upper teeth cover over your lower teeth as you bite your teeth together, you have an overbite. One to two millimeters of overlap is considered normal. The larger the overlap, the smaller your chin may appear. We have found that the chin is often normal-sized, just forced into an abnormal position by the overbite.

Why is it Important to Correct an Overbite?

Bite adjustment improves quality of life. Most patients do not realize that the shape of their face is being determined by their malocclusion or a bad bite. Most patients do not understand the relationship of jaw pain, TMJ pain, tooth wear, facial pain, the aging face, the short face, and the classic malocclusion or bad bite.

Without the correct bite, the patient’s speech is less than clear because the patient has to accommodate their jaw position for all the various types of function as speaking, chewing, clenching, and grinding. Generally, patients with deep overbites have lower self-esteem because their entire face, head, and neck are not functioning harmoniously.

The lack of functional harmony contributes to small looking lower jaws, short lower faces, thin lips, and a small chin appearance. Deep overbites cause the faces to look short and the chins to look small. Deep overbites cause the facial profiles to have the appearance of a recessive chin, and the patients tend to have short round faces typical of an older person.

What Happens If You Don't Fix an Overbite?

Premature aging is a common side effect of an untreated overbite. So are facial wrinkles, headaches, jaw tension, neck stress, poor posture, small looking chins, slurry speaking, and the lower teeth usually erupt into the upper palate.

We are living decades longer than ever before, and patients with overbites are suffering from poor sleep, their teeth are worn down, and they are clenching and grinding a lot. The teeth, their faces, and jawlines say, "this person does not sleep well."

At What Age Should You Have Your Overbite Fixed?

Treatment should be started as early as possible to minimize the severity of the overbite. People are living a lot longer today and the strain from a malocclusion decreases the quality of life and the health of the patient.

Patient's with ideal bite positions are sleeping better, digesting their food better, have increased self-esteem and have transformed their lives into a healthy and happy existence.

Non-surgical bite correction with Dr. Sam Muslin's VENLAY® Restorations has been successfully completed on patients as young as 17 years of age and as old as 93 years of age. Because it can be completed with much less tooth grinding, braces or surgery, more patients of all age groups can benefit.

Can an Overbite Cause Gum Disease?

Not likely, according to Dr. Sam Muslin. There is no evidence that overbites cause gum problems. We see overbite patients with periodontal disease and many overbite patients without it. There is no correlation with an overbite. With the front teeth overlapping the bottom teeth, excessive wear of tooth enamel is possible, which may lead to tooth decay which in turn could irritate the gum and cause gingivitis or periodontitis.

What is the Difference Between a Dental and Skeletal Overbite?

The skeletal type of overbite is when the sizes of the jaw are different. Most patients do not need surgery because the difference in jaw size is manageable with non-surgical VENLAY® Restorations.

A dental overbite is when the lower jaw closes too far and is pushed back towards the ears by the upper teeth, the chin looks small, and the shape of the face is round. This is the most common overbite and can be completely reversed without jaw surgery or braces in as little as one to three weeks.

Can you Get Braces to Fix an Overbite?

Yes, you can get braces or clear aligners to fix an overbite, in some cases. Dr. Muslin provided braces for his younger and older patients for nearly 20 years. However, now he has a much more reliable method to fix an overbite. There is a possibility that braces (or Invisalign®) can fix an overbite, at least temporarily. By far too many people are being told they need both jaw surgery and braces. Unfortunately there are a large number of patients that were told they needed surgery to correct their overbite after the braces were started. Then there are many patients that had braces and ended up with a worse bite shortly after the braces were taken off. Braces are not the best method of treating overbites in adults because of bite stability problems. Today, there is a much more highly successful and predictable non-surgical and non-invasive method for overbite treatment that has many advantages over braces and surgery.

Why Can’t Veneers Fix an Overbite?

Porcelain veneers or dental laminates can lengthen teeth but cannot correct an overbite or improve the jawline, shape of the face, malocclusion or chin size. If the dentist makes your front teeth longer, then the depth of the overbite becomes worse. The upper porcelain veneers also wear down the natural lower teeth, causing the jaw to sink back even faster. Porcelain veneers have mainly one purpose; it is to cover the outside of the tooth to change the color and the shape of the teeth.

The overbite cannot be corrected by working on only some of the upper or lower teeth. An overbite cannot be corrected if only six teeth are going to be treated. Most patients want porcelain veneers to magically and inexpensively solve the overbite problem but, a traditional porcelain veneer cannot correct an overbite.

To correct the bite and improve a small looking chin, all of the teeth need to have a new chewing surface, height and shape for the lower jaw to be repositioned. Most people with overbites have short round faces and a small looking chin. Porcelain veneers or porcelain crowns on the front teeth cannot improve the jawline, face, overbite or chin size. You need VENLAY® Bite Restorations on all of your upper teeth and, most of the time, all of your lower teeth to get the best overbite treatment.

Can Overbites be Fixed with Crowns?

Most TMJ specialists, neuromuscular dentists, prosthodontists, and general Dentists need to drill down every one of your healthy teeth to correct an overbite with crowns. Drilling down healthy teeth is a destructive process that harms the health of your teeth. It can be a painful process, requires hours of drilling, leaves the teeth vulnerable to infection, can result in chewing pain, hot and cold sensitivity, and it can traumatize the nerves and may require your previously healthy teeth to get root canal treatment to relieve the pain.

Once the teeth are drilled away, it can become very difficult to get the ideal jaw position because the mouth was opened for so long, the teeth are numb from all of those shots, and most patients have no idea where they should close what is left of their teeth together.

Apart from sensitivity issues, another problem caused by drilling away your healthy teeth is the way it affects the jaw position. Traditional dentistry will open the bite, which does not necessarily get the lower jaw in the ideal jaw position. When the bite is opened, and the vertical dimension is increased, the lower jaw is usually manipulated into what dentists call centric-relation. Keep in mind that opening the vertical and getting centric-relation does not mean that the ideal jaw position is even being attempted.

How Long Does It Take to Correct an Overbite?

If you follow the old traditional route of orthodontics using braces or clear aligners, it could take anything from a few months to more than a year. With orthognathic jaw surgery, you will most likely have to wear braces before and after your surgery.

For patients opting for VENLAY® Restorations, the treatment can be completed in as little as 8-days.

Why Would Overbites Get Worse with Time?

As your back teeth wear down, the overbite deepens. The upper front teeth overlap the lower front teeth more as the back teeth get shortened from wear. With most overbites, the lower teeth front teeth move up, and the lower back teeth wear down, which causes the jaw to be pushed back. The small chin and facial profile also worsen. As the bite deepens, the airway generally gets smaller, so sleeping problems, TMJ issues, neck tension, and jaw pain can also develop. Usually, as we age, the overbite causes speaking problems, and the words get more slurry sounding.