What causes underbite?

Overbite is a relatively common dental deformity. There are many causes for it. It is related to genetics and also to the time when the child is breastfeeding. For example, improper breastfeeding posture, where the child often lies down to drink milk, often causes the child's lower jaw to stretch forward, which may lead to overbite over time. In addition, if the child often sucks his fingers, etc., this symptom may also be caused.

What causes underbite?

First, the family factor causing the baby's deciduous teeth crossbite is incorrect feeding posture. If the mother holds the bottle too high, the baby will have to stretch out his lower jaw to drink the milk. Over time, the lower jaw will protrude more than the upper jaw, forming an underbite.

Second, if one of the parents has an underbite, the baby may inherit it, and this possibility accounts for 1/3;

Third, let the baby develop bad habits such as sucking fingers, biting lips, chewing objects, sticking out tongue, protruding mandible, etc. and use pacifier for too long;

Fourth, it is caused by local obstacles during the tooth replacement period. Retention or withdrawal of deciduous teeth, premature loss of upper molars, and posterior displacement of upper permanent teeth can all cause "underbite".

Fifth, if the baby has chronic inflammation of the palatine tonsils or lingual tonsils, long-term stimulation of the mandibular protrusion will cause anterior crossbite over time; patients after cleft lip and palate surgery often have insufficient maxillary development, which can easily cause anterior crossbite and mesial malocclusion, and the mandible will become prominent; patients with rickets and endocrine diseases may develop "underbite".

How to prevent the formation of underbite

1. Help children correct bad habits. For example, babies who bite their upper jaw or protrude their lower jaw should be intervened as early as possible to help them correct bad habits.

2. Encourage breastfeeding. Babies who can only be bottle-fed should be breastfed in a side-lying position and should not develop the habit of breastfeeding on their backs. Breastfeeding mothers should pay attention to correcting improper breastfeeding posture and avoid excessive protrusion of the baby's lower jaw. A baby who is bottle-fed should not be allowed to lie flat and suck milk from the bottle by himself.

3. Go to a professional dental department for examination as soon as possible. Once problems are found, early correction is needed. If your deciduous front teeth do not fall out when they should, or if they fall out prematurely due to an accident, you should see a doctor promptly.

4. To correct it during the baby's period, you only need to wear a simple corrector to correct it. However, if the correction is not done until adulthood, the only way to correct it is surgery.