How to Modify Your Bite Plates

Modifying Fixed Bite Plates

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Have you ever thought about modifying fixed bite plates for your patients? If this is something you’ve considered, there are several key factors you may want to consider to help with this. So, without further ado, our experts have outlined some of the key things you should know to help plan your case.

How to Modify Your Bite Plates

Fixed bite plates are incredibly valuable before an aligners or braces case (or even with braces specifically). However, to get them most from them and improve verticals in orthodontics patients, you’ll want to make sure that the fixed bite plate is properly modified.

Before modifying your bite plates, always start by getting a Ceph and obtaining the Ceph numbers so you know what vertical you’re dealing with. This allows you to plan properly; after all, not every patient will experience difficulties for the same reasons, which is why understanding the Ceph is crucial for effective treatment planning tailored to the patient.

One modification you could consider is to convert the fixed bite plate into an expander. This allows you to treat a deep bite and crowding in one go in some cases.

Incline bite plates are another type of customization that can be used in some slight Class II cases to slide forward. These orthodontics bite plates are often known as Rickanator.

You can even get fixed bite plates made with 3D printing these days. 3D printing companies sometimes claim you won’t need a spacer before fitting these, but it’s always important to take care with your orthodontics treatment plan nonetheless to ensure you don’t get a fixed bite plate that won’t fit or causes discomfort.