Teenage underbite - what can be done?

[TheProvincialLady]

I would be very grateful for advice and experiences. My DS has been having private orthodontist treatment for 4-5 years due to having a very small jaw and terribly crowded teeth. We are now on the final straight but today’s consultation - the first for 7 months due to lockdown and shielding etc - was a bit of a shock.

My son has developed a class 3 underbite which apparently now cannot be treated due to his age (14 and 6 months). His jaw is now a normal size, teeth are straight and he is still wearing braces to complete this aspect of his treatment. Apparently surgery is the only solution.

I am very disappointed to learn this (son is characteristically not bothered...) and wondered whether anyone had any experience or advice to give. Is it worth getting a second opinion? Can anything be done? The internet is full of American orthodontists claiming to have corrected adult and teenage underbite without surgery but I have no idea whether any of this is true.

Am feeling pretty dispirited after so many years abs so much money spent

Hey OP, I had an under bite, not sure on the classification but my lowest jaw as far forwards as I could get it still couldn’t get my top front and lower front teeth to meet.
When I was 17 I had surgery in Bristol to correct it. All done cleverly from inside my mouth so no external scars. Essentially they extended my lower jaw and placed plates over the gap created to extend it. It was pretty major, I needed to repeat my school year as I need time to recover but I believe it’s been helpful to me and honestly I don’t think about it really.. just normal now. Happy to answer any questions if it’s helpful.

Based on how the PP has described it I think I have an underbite. If I push my lower jaw as far forward as possible then it will only just meet up with my top jaw. When I was a child I'm not sure that dentists actually looked out for this kind of thing. Nobody has ever mentioned it to me (including dentists), and so I've had no treatment.

FWIW the only consequence I've noticed is that it's difficult for me to take an effective bite out of a sandwich if it contains a lot of fillings. Sometimes the fillings are dragged out of the bread, which can be a bit messy, but really it's just a minor annoyance. If it also makes me look weird then I've never noticed, and nobody has ever pointed it out :)

Just mentioning this because it's worth keeping things in proportion, if the only way of correcting it now would be via surgery. Offered that choice retrospectively then I definitely would not have bothered.

I hope all works out well for your son

Duh... just Googled and mine is an overbite.

As you were...

Oh thank you for both those perspectives. You’re right that neither alternative is really awful - either surgery or just letting nature take its course and hopefully it won’t cause my son any problems.

I just feel so terribly guilty