New Member, interested in Advice/Opinions

[Guest guest]

Hi folks,

New member here. My name is Gene and I'm 25 years old.

I have always had an underbite (class III malocclusion) but never had

any pain or functional impairments that I'm aware of. At the age of

17, to see what cosmetic improvements were possible, my parents and I

went to an orthodontist and he did a full analysis of my bite.

Briefly, here were (and are) the problems -

1) there is an underbite, probably not too severe (I'm able to bring

my teeth together so they at least touch)

2) the upper front teeth are angled up and away, to compensate for

bad bite - don't look straight

3) when I bite, there's a little less space between upper/lower on

the right side than on the left side

4) there is a gap between the front teeth

I was told this would require surgery and extensive pre/op treatment.

Both I and my parents got scared by how invasive and complicated the

surgery would be, not to mention the risks, so... I did nothing.

Fast forward 8 yrs - at the latest checkup, my dentist told me " Gene,

there's gotta be something than can be done about your teeth without

the extreme surgery option. " Being a dentist, he obviously noticed

the shape/position of my teeth, but I've never in my entire life had

anyone point this out or ask about my bite, so people probably don't

notice this too much.

So my question is, what are some non-invasive and relatively simple

options for making my teeth look better (closing gap + straightening

them) WITHOUT the bite change, given the above.

As for the bite, is this really something you feel should be

corrected? And are there any reasons why you feel it should be

avoided, if possible? Look at Jay Leno or Bill Clinton, I'm sure

those guys have underbites but they're celebrities. My problem with

some orthodontists is they try to hide the negatives of drastic

surgery while accentuating the positives, when in fact the negatives

may outweigh the positives. in some cases.

Questions/comments welcome.