I was the most non-compliant retainer-wearing teenager ever and now I could kill myself. I have a fairly prominent overbite (think Beverly D’Angelo, but ramp up the overbite a couple of notches.) If I close my back teeth, my pointer finger will
fit between the front of my bottom teeth and the back of my front teeth (hope that makes sense.) Anyway, apparently it doesn’t bother anyone but me (an ex even said that that’s what first caught his eye); however I’m extremely self conscious about it and attempt to move my jaw forward to make up for the upper buckteeth. Please tell me how much it would cost to get this fixed and if Invisalign works/is cost-effective. Many thanks!
Some orthodontists have lifetime gurantees (my wife keeps talking about getting her’s put back on since it wouldn’t cost anything). I’d start there. If nothing else, I’d bet you get the cheapest price from the original doc.
Your story sounds similar to mine. I had a severe overbite as a kid and wore braces for several years (had them removed at age 15). I didn’t wear my retainer and my teeth shifted. I had an overbite similar to your description at age 27 (pointer finger fitting in the gap).
Beginning in 1999, my total orthodontic bill was $4500.00, my insurance covered $1500.00. My orthodontist was great and we worked out a monthly payment plan for the remainder (which I paid out of an account through work which took out a set amount of pre-tax dollars for medical expenditures). I wore braces for 3 years (so my monthy payment wasn’t too terrible at all) and have worn my retainers faithfully every night since. Once every couple of years, I have an appointment with an orthodontist (100 bucks) to ensure my retainers still fit and the teeth aren’t shifting.
As a note, my braces were not invisilign, but were the big, old, silver kind. At least I was spared the trauma of headgear.
Can’t hurt to have an appointment with an orthodontist and get estimates for the various options out there. It is odd to have braces as an adult (and really weird in the orthodontist office for appointments when you are the oldest person around besides the doctor!). I do not regret it AT ALL, my smile is BEAUTIFUL now and I no longer smile with my hand over my mouth (or do the lower jaw trick you described). It was definitely money very well spent and I would do it again.
I know you aren’t looking for this sort of response, but your ex isn’t alone finding an overbite attractive. There was an episode of MAS*H with Hawkeye and someone else waxing lyrical about an actress’ overbite.
Thanks so much! This is exactly the kind of reply I was looking for. I’ll take your suggestion and start shopping around.
Many thanks to you, as well. I do remember that episode and it made me feel pretty good. Having said that, I am wondering if you can explain the attraction? It’s beyond me!
Is your overbite due to splayed teeth or is your upper jaw physically different from your lower jaw?
Probably a good question - the original question was only about the cost of orthodontics, but I actually needed a combination of orthodontics (the previously mentioned $4500.00) and jaw surgery (around 20K, which was covered by my insurance) to fix both my over bite and over jet. My lower jaw was moved forward, my upper palate was raised and widened. It was fairly invasive surgery, I was in the hospital over night and it took me about a week to recover (6 weeks to completely recover).
The improvement in my profile/bite/appearance was dramatic. I was left with a little numbness in my left lower lip but it was definitely worth doing and something I would do again without hesitation.