Honestly, I thought braces were just braces too—like, one-size-fits-all, right? Turns out, nope. My ortho had me on this whole “deep bite” plan, which apparently didn’t need elastics either. Part of me wonders if that’s just code for “less stuff to pay for,” but who knows... I swear, every extra thing they add is another line on the bill.
“My ortho had me on this whole ‘deep bite’ plan, which apparently didn’t need elastics either. Part of me wonders if that’s just code for ‘less stuff to pay for,’ but who knows...”
I get why you’d wonder about that—orthodontic plans can seem a bit mysterious, especially when you see all those itemized charges. Deep bites and buck teeth (overjets) are actually pretty different in terms of how they’re treated. With a deep bite, the main focus is usually on correcting the vertical overlap of your front teeth, not just pushing them back or closing gaps. Elastics are more common for overjet cases, where you’re pulling teeth in different directions to fix the bite relationship.
It’s not always about saving money by skipping things—sometimes extra stuff like elastics just isn’t needed for your specific bite. I had a deep bite too, and my ortho mostly used bite turbos and some fancy archwires instead of elastics. It felt weird at first, but it actually worked out fine.
That said, yeah, every add-on does seem to pad the bill... I remember being surprised by how much those tiny rubber bands cost over time. But if your ortho’s plan is working and your teeth are moving as they should, you’re probably getting what you need without unnecessary extras.
