Is the Bite a Temporary Solution?

Is the Bite a temporary solution?

Dr. Piero Silvestrini Biavati, MD, Dentist - PhD Genoa

Patients and rehabilitation therapists often ask this. The bite or splint is a rigid device placed between dental arches that prevents tooth movement and should not cause abnormal forces; if they occur, they are side effects to avoid since reversibility is essential. The bite creates a new occlusion by repositioning the mandible as needed to avoid harmful precontacts, close interdental spaces, recenter a shifted mandible, or perform condylar distraction. Example: Mr. Rossi, with right mandibular deviation due to missing teeth and an inadequate bridge, develops joint clicking and pain; a repositioning bite is prescribed, recentering the mandible and normalizing muscles. The bite should be worn lifelong if teeth are not treated. Unlike insoles, bites do not permanently change arches. The mouth undergoes static and irreversible changes due to treatments, extractions, etc. The bite diagnoses and tests chewing correction hypotheses that must be applied to teeth to avoid lifelong use. The stomatognathic system and lower limbs are muscular closure systems; raising a short leg improves walking similarly to a bite compensating mandibular discrepancies, temporarily or permanently depending on treatment.