This patient came to us with an open bite that she didn't like. Her dentist had identified that her front teeth had short roots and that orthodontic movement could shorten these roots further. We started our planning process for this patient buy taking a low-dose 3D x-rayus (CBCT) to accurately measure root length. We planned out treatment with uLab and in-house aligners as well as low force elastics. We also incorporated tongue tamers to help reduce the heavy forces the tongue was placing on the teeth to open the bite. Amazingly this patient finished treatment in just 7 months! Here are some photos of our finish:
Above you can see the tongue thrusting between the open bite before treatment and a closed bite after treatment.
The left side bite was class III before treatment and finished class I.
Smile esthetics show that the upper anterior teeth have moved down relative to the patient's lip line and improved smile esthetics.
The tooth length before treatment shows all anterior teeth between 14-15 mm and an unfavorable crown-to-root ratio.
CBCT slice after treatment shows roots were maintained at a length of 14-15 mm!
The maxillary structural superimposition shows that the upper anterior teeth moved downward and backward while the posterior molar moved forward slightly with class III elastics.
The mandibular structural superimposition shows that the lower incisors were retracted (using interproximal reduction or IPR and class III elastics).