19 Month Old with Underbite

Unless your Pediatric Dentist has concerns, I wouldn't worry about it right now.
Your child is still young.

My late Dad had an underbite, and I did too... which was corrected via braces when I was in 7th grade. BUT, in those days, the Orthodontist wasn't the best... and they pulled out more teeth than necessary, prior to me getting my braces. The Orthodontist said my mouth was crowded, and I had too many teeth, whatever that meant. Regardless, my present Dentist says that now, my lower teeth was pushed back too much... and so my lower front teeth hits my top front teeth... and my bite is not ideal.

My under-bite was not pronounced, just slight. It was not an 'aesthetic' problem, and I never suffered as far as appearance or 'beauty' terms. If that is what you are concerned about. It never bothered me personally.

The thing is, your child is quite young... her permanent teeth is not even in yet. And their mouth structure is still forming & changing... so if anything just ask your child's Dentist. Then gauge it then, and see.

In my case, it seems to be hereditary... my son MAYBE has an under-bite, depending on how we look at him. But it's not pronounced. We don't worry about it. It may or may not go away. AND, it depends on how their formation of their mouth is, later, as a teen/adult. For him, I would be against braces, if it poses no problem.

My late Dad, with his under-bite, looked quite handsome and distinguished if I may say so myself. And he never had any dental problems beyond the "appearance" it. Of course in his generation, they never used braces.

Until the teens, and when permanent teeth comes in... I REALLY doubt, a Dentist would put braces on a child so young as yours. Their mouth WILL change and their 'bite' will change too. Even after my braces came off, my mouth retained it's 'memory' of my natural bite.. and to this day (as an adult and since my braces were taken off in 10th grade), I have to wear retainers... to keep my lower teeth from shifting back to it's original formation. And if I do not wear my retainers, I can feel my teeth STILL shifting back. It's NOT a permanent solution. KEEP this in mind.
I personally wish, I had not had braces...

All the best,
Susan

I was in the ortho field for about 10 years and it is so hard to tell with baby teeth. Is she just pushing her jaw forward or is that her real bite? And how about the rest of the family? Do underbites run in the family? They suggest taking your kids to the Dentist at least by 12 months so Dr. Erickson in Menifee will give you an honest opinion. He is an Orthodontist. :)

Hi! My 8 year-old son has an narrow palate space and significant underbite which is presently being corrected with a palate expander and a reverse-pull face mask. We first took him to this orthodontist just before his 8th birthday after our neighbor, whose son has similar issues, said the windw was closing! Our ortho (in San Luis Obispo) said that we should've had him in by age 4. So, sometimes, if you wait too long, the only fix is surgical.

So since the end of January, my son has an upper appliance with hooks he puts rubber bands on. The rubber bands hook to a bar on a mask that rests on his chin and forehead. The bar sits right in front of his mouth. Rather than restricting the growth of his lower jaw, the system he has pulls his upper jaw forward. Already, in just 2 months, he no longer has an underbite! He wears the mask outside of school and sports. And when he's at school or playing hard, he wears rubber bands from the upper appliance to a lower appliance to maintain forward pull on his upper jaw.

As for his narrow palate, he has a rapid palate expander (RPE) which we open twice a day for 2 weeks then close twice a day for 2 weeks. Often RPEs are only opened, but because the suture - joint in the roof of the mouth - starts fusing around this age, it stimulates more blood-flow in the joint, and greater success.

I know it can be a cosmetic issue, but the reason that we went ahead and decided to "correct" it is that both of our boys have sleep apnea. The doctor at Stanford said his narrow palate space may be a contributing factor in his obstructive sleep apnea. He's already had his tonsils and adenoid out because of it. Our younger son has a very different facial structure (older one favors me, younge one favors my husband!), so he won't have to deal with this.

Our son's been a good sport about all of it. Tylenol and ibuprofen got him through the first few days of the first open and close cycles.

19-months may be a little early, but talk with your dentist. Her upper jaw growth may catch up before she gets much older.

Good luck!

T.

My son had a huge underbite when we first brought him to the dentist around 2 1/2 years old. He is now turning 5 and his bite is perfect. It just worked itself out. Don't worry.

Hi S.,
Unfortunately, the underbite will never go away or change. Its very rare that ortho cases will change it. The main thing is leave it be the way it is. Its a very common case to have overjet or underbites. There are solutions to it where the child will awaits the adulthood, then have the underbite adjusted but with a surgical procedure where the lower jaw is shifted to balance the upper jaw. But as long as your child grows up not even bothered or does not affect her mastication dentition, as long as your child sees no problems such as beauty affects, there is purely NO problem with it...it's great you are worry about it but its a very very common case. There are overjets (overbites) and there are underjet (underbites). It's like one girl may have blond hair (which is very common), some may have dark hair (also common), some have brunettes (know where I'm heading to?) and some with brown to light brown hair...the beauty remains the same. She has her own beauty in her way...If for any chance and she wishes to surgically adjust her overbite, then that will be the choice she will decide on her own. But she will wait till her late adulthood and not too soon while she is still in her teens. Either way, it will be up to her. Either way, her beauty will remain the same...I work in the Dental Field for many years and has covered all areas of the dental field from ortho, to cosmetic surgeries, to general, pedo, etc...Hope that helps...

My son has an underbite. You have to wait until your daughter gets her six year molars to do much since they have to have those to anchor the headgear piece to. My son's used to be more severe but since he's started to lose his bottom teeth, it's not so noticeable.