The Importance of an Ideal Bite

The Importance of an Ideal Bite

In a perfect world, all of us would have the ideal bite. This includes aligned teeth, healthy gums and oral tissues, and proper chewing and swallowing habits. Unfortunately, our world is full of imperfection and only a select few of us actually have an ideal bite. For the rest of us, getting the ideal bite, scientifically known as the Biological Dental Model, requires some time at the dentist’s office.

A “good” or “bad” bite is determined by the factors of the Biological Dental Model that we use in our office for all dental work. When any given part of your chewing system malfunctions, it can cause tooth and jaw pain, headaches, joint or muscle problems in your upper body, or just break down the beauty of your teeth. You might already have some of these symptoms and not even know they are related to your mouth!

A bad bite can result from something as simple as crooked teeth, spaces between your front teeth, misaligned molars, over-bites, under-bites, etc… Even uneven crown surfaces can shift the jaw to an uncomfortable resting position, stretching tendons and straining your neck and shoulder muscles. A healthy bite is the vehicle to optimum oral health.

Treatments to Get Your Ideal Bite

Often when we recommend dental procedures, it’s not simply to fix the immediate issue, but to set your mouth up for success later on. Sure, braces will improve your smile, but it might also make your chewing more productive and aid in the digestive process.

The first step to correcting a bad bite is to diagnose the issue. Once we know the cause of the bad bite, we can evaluate it and make a correction plan. That plan can include one or more treatments. Generally treatment can consist of tooth reshaping or rebuilding, crowns or dentures, orthodontic procedures, or Orthognathic (jaw) surgery. Let’s take a closer look at each of these options.

Reductive Coronoplasty (Reshaping)

When the chewing surfaces of your mouth are uneven or malformed, this process very carefully reshapes them at the incorrect biting contact points. If your dentist decides this is the best option for you bad bite, it is done with a precise plan for each surface. This approach to correcting a bite has to be thoughtfully considered. There must be enough enamel to withstand the reshaping and not threaten the health of the tooth.

Additive Coronoplasty

On the opposite end of the corrective plan for a bad bite spectrum, a tooth may need layers added to its surface. Shallow reductive coronoplasty is the initial stage so that when the additive coronoplasty is done, the contacts bind better. Additive coronoplasty adds surface to a tooth so it fits like a puzzle piece with the tooth above. Tinted, bonded composite make up the coronoplasty to resemble the tooth’s natural enamel color and hardness. This option costs less and is less invasive than crowns or dentures.

Crowns and Partial Dentures

Some teeth need a bit more reconstruction than reshaping or surface correcting. Various types of crowns or bridge dentures with several of them can be fabricated to do just that. This is a great option for severely decayed or eroded teeth.  Porcelain crowns can be utilized in a multi-unit permanent bridge, while other types of crowns can offer a removable option.

Full Dentures

Sometimes there are too many destroyed or decayed teeth to attempt salvaging them with crowns. When this is the case, your dentist may recommend removable full dentures. The process is often same or next day. You’ll have all your teeth removed, an impression taken of your mouth, and then will be fitted once the dentures are fabricated. These are made to look like your natural teeth if you had an ideal bite.

Orthodontic Treatment

Your bite may simply be suffering from misalignment or the shape of your palates. May be recommended to straighten the teeth and align them to improve the function of the teeth to insure longevity. Very frequently, orthodontics may be recommended even after orthodontics have been previously done. Generally orthodontics is a cosmetic treatment, so if a Bad Bite develops orthodontics may be an appropriate treatment to improve the function of the teeth and support stable jaw joints.

Jaw Stabilization and Orthognathic Surgery

Misaligned teeth move the jaw joints into unnatural, tense resting positions. This habitual stress on the joints can injure them. Often before any other work is done on the oral cavity to correct a bad bite, a custom jaw stabilizing splint is utilized. This removable device is flat and covers all of the teeth in an attempt to reteach the jaw the correct position.

Occasionally, stabilizing the jaw joints dentists find the jaws misalignment is more serious. This can be due to uneven growth in the jawbones or trauma. Orthoganathic, or Jaw, surgery is then recommended. Though it will correct the jaws alignment problem, this surgery is rare and only used in extreme cases.

Want More Info?

If you’re concerned about your mouth’s ability to chew food properly or think that your symptoms are similar to the ones mentioned above, please don’t hesitate to seek medical advice from our staff. We’ll collaborate to form a treatment plan that fits your lifestyle and budget. We’d be more than happy to help you get your health and your bite back to the ideal bite it was meant to be.