My teeth were a mess so last month I saw a cosmetic dentist with very positive patient reviews. We discussed my problems, one of which was that my bite was out of alignment. Her plan included replacing three bridges, two crowns, & adding a fourth bridge & three veneers. It also included one implant. She stated that she would also "open my bite".
I wore temporary acrylics, made to be just like the permanents, for a total of two weeks. These temporaries were tweaked a couple of times during those two weeks until they were comfortable & any problems were addressed. Last week the on site lab made the permanents & they were placed & then tweaked so that they were comfortable & the bite was good.
Here is my problem. Although the permanents are comfortable while I am eating, talking, & facing straight ahead, they quickly go out of alignment after I spend a bit of time looking down. I do a lot of craft work & reading so I often sit in my recliner with my head bent down at a 45 degree angle to do these things. After even 10 minutes of being in this position, when I raise my head to look straight ahead my lower front teeth are hitting hard on the back centers of my front teeth, & realigning them is difficult & takes a minute or two because my lower jaw is like it is stiff ... even locked ... & I have to really work at getting it to move back into place. The dentist suspects that my mouth is slightly open in a resting position while I am looking down & this makes my lower jaw slide forward. She suggested that I make a conscious effort to keep the teeth together when my head is bent down. I've tried this, but keeping my teeth together like this produces a lot of pressure & the jaw locks even more severely. She also suggested that I could chew gum while I am looking down in order to keep my jaw loose & my teeth aligned. This makes the alignment issue worse & stresses my jaw, & even if it didn't, I couldn't constantly chew gum whenever my head is going to be beng down. I never had this problem anytime in my life before this dental work was done, nor did I have this problem when wearing the acrylic temporaries. Has anyone else had this problem or even heard of it? I don't know where to turn or what to do. I can't live this way the rest of my life.
I wore temporary acrylics, made to be just like the permanents, for a total of two weeks. These temporaries were tweaked a couple of times during those two weeks until they were comfortable & any problems were addressed. Last week the on site lab made the permanents & they were placed & then tweaked so that they were comfortable & the bite was good.
Here is my problem. Although the permanents are comfortable while I am eating, talking, & facing straight ahead, they quickly go out of alignment after I spend a bit of time looking down. I do a lot of craft work & reading so I often sit in my recliner with my head bent down at a 45 degree angle to do these things. After even 10 minutes of being in this position, when I raise my head to look straight ahead my lower front teeth are hitting hard on the back centers of my front teeth, & realigning them is difficult & takes a minute or two because my lower jaw is like it is stiff ... even locked ... & I have to really work at getting it to move back into place. The dentist suspects that my mouth is slightly open in a resting position while I am looking down & this makes my lower jaw slide forward. She suggested that I make a conscious effort to keep the teeth together when my head is bent down. I've tried this, but keeping my teeth together like this produces a lot of pressure & the jaw locks even more severely. She also suggested that I could chew gum while I am looking down in order to keep my jaw loose & my teeth aligned. This makes the alignment issue worse & stresses my jaw, & even if it didn't, I couldn't constantly chew gum whenever my head is going to be beng down. I never had this problem anytime in my life before this dental work was done, nor did I have this problem when wearing the acrylic temporaries. Has anyone else had this problem or even heard of it? I don't know where to turn or what to do. I can't live this way the rest of my life.