Are there any biodegradable elastics?

Would surgery be necessary, or elastics could solve this?

• Okay, so I got braces about 3 months ago. They told me I'd need surgery for my underbite? I really don't see how I have an underbite, and I've heard people's underbites have been fixed with elastics. If I have to get surgery ill have my braces on for an extra year, and I probably wont go through with it, but I'm guessing with elastics I can get it off before the time I'd need jaw surgery. Here's a picture of my teeth, I know it might not be very good. http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/8120/underbite.jpg Anyones opinion would be great ! I really hope elastics could fix it (I guess it could be considered maybe a minor underbite?!)

• Answer:

  The disturbing thing I find about your picture is it has the ILLUSION that your underbite is not as bad. The reason why I call it an illusion is that your bottom teeth have been made to slant backwards by the braces making them appear to be more normal. But lower front teeth (and uppers as well) are supposed to have a slight natural flare (lean outwards away from the throat) or even straight up and down but NOT slanted backwards. What you have is a common technique used by traditional orthodontists to "fix" underbites. Another method is using elastics and that will also fail because the lower jaw and the muscles attached to the jaw are just too strong to be pulled back by measly rubber bands (aka elastics). Surgery, of course, has always been the tried and true method to correct Class III bites (aka underbites), but if surgery can be avoided, it's worth a shot. A more modern and up to date method is to use a reverse face mask to pull the upper jaw (maxilla) forward en masse so that the whole upper jaw and teeth will be forward of the lower jaw with the lower teeth oriented upright. This has been a very successful treatment for over 30 years but many traditional orthodontists are still married to the way they were taught in orthodontic school (which is not always the best way). Get a second opinion from an office that is familiar with Reverse Face Mask treatment. It involves wearing a special external appliance that looks like a catcher's mask at bedtime only. A cephalometric analysis will need to be done to see if this non surgical method will work in your case. A thorough orthodontic office should do a ceph analysis on all patients before performing treatment because it provides a road map of what your orthodontic problem is and what needs to be done to correct it.