Denying overbite porn is not helping fight ignorance. 
I had my braces removed a few months ago after having had them on for 2.5 years. In my case, the entire ordeal didn’t simply necessitate the repositioning of my teeth; yeah, that was probably the central component to all of it, but during the course of my treatment I also had to have all 3 (yup, I only had three for some reason) of my wisdom teeth removed, gum surgery on my upper palette, and several of my teeth reshaped. Even now, I’m still not completely out of the woods since I’m having some extensive (ie expensive) dental work done in early May that is the result of my teeth being realigned in the way in which they were. The point at which this all becomes really obnoxious, I think, is in how the fact that I got my braces on later in life than most people usually do (at 17) meant that towards the end of my treatment (and obviously anything that has arisen since then) I was the person who became financially responsible for everything. Insurance company says “Sayonara!” when a minor turns 19 and so I’m left holding the bill; thankfully I’m employed enough to the point wherein, yeah, I can and have payed for the latter half of my treatment and everything since then, but again, I feel that it’s just tedious more than anything.
But look, in spite of all of the financial, personal, and emotional costs of having gone through orthodontia, I honestly wouldn’t take back ANY of it. It’s the best thing that I’ve done for myself thus far in my life.
There’s just something to be said about having straight teeth. Indeed, in my case the REASONING behind getting braces was certainly cosmetic; as a kid I was always self-conscious about my (formerly) crooked smile, and I gotta say that having an excellent smile now is a truly mindblowing sensation.
When the metal came off I insisted on having permanent retainers installed on both my upper and lower arches in order to eliminate any chance of my teeth returning to their original position. They’re only slightly annoying and even then only half the time, and maybe a couple decades from now when my teeth have firmly “settled” I’ll have a dentist take the retainers out, but in the meantime I don’t regret having the permanent ones at all. I do NOT want to go through braces again.
Even if overbites were sexy–you’ll note that these people still have fairly straight teeth. In American, teeth are supposed to be straight. And then, while you’re at it, why not get the top and bottom properly aligned?
I was going to say that I have an underbite, but it’s a jaw thing. You can’t tell unless I close my mouth, but it’s there. It’s the reason I’m not a big chewer: just chewing too hard can cause me TMJ pain. And, yet, I have nearly perfectly straight teeth due to braces. That’s just what you do.
Elder Son didn’t lose all of his baby teeth. Seriously. The new teeth just came in quietly, while some of his old teeth were still in place. (Fortunately for him, the nickname of “Sharky” didn’t stick.) His teeth overlapped one another. The dentist said he needed to have the baby teeth pulled and the others put in braces, or the overlapping bits would be difficult to impossible to keep clean. The result would be tooth decay, gum disease, and potentially loss of teeth. He got braces and, by the way, now has an absolutely lovely smile.
Younger son has some crooked teeth and an overbite, but the dentist says all surfaces of his teeth can be cleaned. His teeth don’t interfere with speaking or eating, and they aren’t so odd that they make a difference to his appearance. Barring sudden changes over the next few years, he will not be getting braces.
I had a significant overbite and overjet - I also got the unfortunate “bucky” nickname and had a pretty traumatizing 6th grade experience.
I had braces as a kid, didn’t wear my retainer and my teeth shifted. I had big spaces on either side of my front teeth, an overbite, an overjet, the appearance of no chin and too much upper gum showed when I smiled. There was nothing pretty or sexy about my teeth, they were totally jacked up.
I had a combo of braces and major jaw surgery as an adult. Not only did my teeth look bad cosmetically, I had problems with my bite (my jaws would frequently painfully lock) and my surgeon said I was looking at issues down the road (he wrote an excellent justification letter to my insurance and the whole thing was covered, save a 100.00 copay). My lower jaw was brought forward and my upper palate was raised and widened.
Now I have lovely teeth (and wear my retainers EVERY night). It’s been 11 years and I still sometimes flip down the mirror at a red light and smile to see my pretty teeth.
I was watching *Tangled *recently and I noticed the animators designed Rapunzel with a slight overbite. It was clearly intentional. The little imperfection makes her cuter.
You made me do research and I am now fairly well educated about orthodontic issues. Still, can we get some orthos/dentists in here?
To answer your first question, it seems overbite is the term used for the vertical space between upper and lower front teeth. Overjet is the term for the horizontal space. Negative overjet is also termed underbite. Handy illustration.
The technical term for any misalignment of the teeth between the upper and lower jaw is malocclusion. From malocclusion Wiki:
Illustration of normal bite and all three classes of malocclusions.
To break that down to the best of my ability:
Class I:. Most importantly, these are non-skeletal issues. Varying degrees of protrusion of the top front teeth, and other tooth issues can be caused by tongue thrust, thumb-sucking, tooth crowding (with or without crookedness), the teeth not emerging straight, etc. Often causes ‘overbite’ (top front teeth coming down too far in front of bottom teeth).
Class II:. Retrognathism or overjet, where the upper and lower jaw are out of alignment and there is a large horizontal space between the upper and lower front teeth. This is often a skeletal issue issue involving an undersized lower jaw bone.
Class III: And underbite, usually skeletal. Oversized lower jaw bone or undersized upper jaw.
Class I and II can have varying degrees of overbite or overjet. Class II and III are often more fully treated with jaw surgery.
So I’m pretty sure I have an overjet (class II malocclusion), even though I don’t have any noticeable shortening or recession of my lower jaw/chin. My next-youngest sister also has a bad overjet, but she does have pretty classic retrognathism.
I will say that when I had braces and they tamed the protrusion of my upper front teeth while dragging my lower teeth and jaw forward with springs and elastics, I had the appearance of a bit too much lower jaw and chin (I remember thinking I looked a bit shark-like). My dad has a Jay Leno chin. Less jaw and chin action makes my face look prettier (more feminine) for sure, I will keep the overjet…
For some reason, this discussion doesn’t seem complete without a shout out to this fella.
Maybe it’s just me…
My son got braces because he had horribly mangled teeth. Teeth growing in on top of each other, teeth crossed over each other like you cross your fingers for luck, you name it. Now his braces are off and his teeth look so much better.
Wow those Before and After pics in rhubarbarin’s post are amazing – the afters look like completely different people!
I had braces to correct horribly misaligned teeth and an overbite – I recognize those top incisors growing over the rest of the teeth in the pictures of the Class I malocclusions.
I do find overbites attractive, though. Whenever I play videogames like Dragon Age where you can design your characters’ facial features, I always give them extreme overbites. Not sexy, necessarily, but aesthetically appealing.
Yeah jaw surgery is incredible stuff, who knew!
I’d agree that most orthodontia Americans get is not completely necessary, strictly speaking; most kids with braces are getting straighter teeth, which can be more attractive and also perhaps increase facial symmetry/attraction as well. But most wouldn’t, say, eventually be unable to chew if they didn’t have the braces.
I needed them because the lateral incisors on my lower jaw never came in. Xrays would show these teeeny little proto-teeth buds way below that just fizzled and never came even close to the surface. Because I was missing two adult teeth, my lower jaw was starting to be too small in proportion to my upper jaw and it was guaranteed to get more and more severe, likely to the point of interfering with normal jaw activity. My braces gradually cranked those lower teeth out so there were spaces for two fake incisors to be put in. My dentist is awesome, because he didn’t push for/pressure my parents to get implants ($$$$$$) and instead assured them that bridges would be fine (and only $$$ ;)) and last at least a decade (I’m on year… 13? Now). He also stressed that without a nightly retainer afterwards, my teeth would shift around, but as long as my bite was fine etc, that’s what was important. So yeah, I didn’t keep wearing the retainer and my teeth shifted a titch, but they’re totally fine.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was a girl I went to grade school with. She first got braces when she was in first or second grade! She still had goddamned baby teeth, for crying out loud! She also had hers until right around the time I was done with mine, despite me getting mine 6 years later than she did :dubious: (and no, there was no major headgear, spacers, etc. Just rich parents in a rich old money suburb).
About half the kids I know have braces on while they still have baby teeth! Many have two sets in their life, one age 10 or younger and the other in their teens; I did, and so did one of my sisters. The other sister got braces for the first time age 14 or so.
My sister had some pretty major tooth problems because our dog bit her on the face when she was about thirteen months old. Braces and orthodontia of all sorts were quite justified, because her teeth grew in pretty funky.
I got braces too, but in my case it was more cosmetic than anything else. I don’t regret them, but they probably weren’t as necessary. (And it didn’t actually matter anyway–I lost my retainer and the crooked ones on the bottom went right back to where they were pre-braces.) I MIGHT get them realigned with some manner of retainer thingy someday if I have the cash to spend it on, but for now, meh. I don’t care that much.
I did get all my wisdom teeth out fairly early (16), which was also justified–I have the unfortunate combination of big teeth + small mouth, so the overcrowding would’ve caused quite a bit of trouble later on.