Open bite

I am posting this for my sister.

Her son is 2 1/2 and since he was 2, uses his pacifier strictly for naps and night sleeping.

Today my mom mentioned to her that he has an 'open bite' (not over bite). So if he tries to touch his top and bottom teeth, he cant- there is a big space in between.

She was very upset saying this is her fault that she even ever gave him a pacifier.

So I guess my question is, do any of your children have an open bite and what have you been told is going to be the way to fix this problem. Also, please let me know if your child used a pacifier.

 

my first ds was hooked on the paci for MANY YEARS (UUGGHH!) and definitely had an open bite -- as soon as he stopped using it at all (I'm embarrassed to admit that he was like 3.5!) it went back to "normal" -- he's 11 now and no lasting effects. If I *remember* correctly, it was probably about 6 months - 1 year before his teeth would close after giving up the paci....
hope that helps.
I was so paranoid with my next 2 ds's that I took the pacifiers away before 6 months - LOL

 

Both of my kids did, due to pacifier usage. We got rid of the pacifiers almost 6 mos ago and their bite has totally corrected itself. Hannah has a slight overbite, but that is due to the skeletal structure of her face/jaw, and she will need braces to correct that. Their dentist says that had nothing to do with pacifier usage.

 

My boys used pacifiers until around 18 months and they both have slight overbites. Coleman was always more interested in the paci and his is worse. BUT. DH and I both had braces (overbites) and the pediatric dentist says that whatever was caused by the paci should correct itself. So in our case, I really think it's more genetics.

Michelle

 

My boys have all used paci's and all had somewhat of an open bite, although not as severe as what you are describing. It self-corrected after the bink was gone! Our dentist has never mentioned it.

 

John's bite corrected itself too and he used a paci til about 3 years old. Now it looks like he might have an overbite, but that it is mainly because his two "new" top teeth are BUCKY Beaver teeth.

 

My boys finally ditched the binkies a couple of weeks ago (VERY embarrassed about that) and I have not noticed any open bite on either one of them. Their teeth look pretty good to me. Maybe we're just lucky.

 

My kids still have their poppers, just turned 3, and I do not note an open bite. I think both have a little overbite, but not an open bite. They see the dentist for the first time on Wednesday.

Side note, we're changing schools for them beginning in June and I wonder if that's a good time to get rid of the poppers or not?

 

My son and I both have open bites and neither one of us used a pacifier or sucked our thumbs. Its genetic in our case... My nephew had a biky until he was 3.5 and had an awful open bite. At age 11, he's got beautiful teeth!