The Lip Bumper is an appliance used for the lower dental arch and is usually attached with bands to the first molars (the first big back teeth).The Lip Bumper can either be fixed in position or can be of a removable type. The Lip Bumper can be used to tilt the first molars backwards and to widen the dental arches slightly. This appliance is a reliable and well-accepted orthodontic apparatus and, for this reason, is far superior to any active plate.
In the mouth the Lip Bumper is hidden behind the lower lip. It straightens the first molars somewhat and, at the same time, widens and enlarges the lower dental arch without bothering the young patients.
Because the German reimbursement system pays more for removable braces than for fixed ones, a less efficient and very cumbersome active plate is usually used instead of a Lip Bumper.
Here is a tip for patients: Ask your orthodontist right at the start whether he can put a Lip Bumper in instead of an active plate.
Lip Bumper on a jaw model
A Treatment Example with a Lip Bumper
Before the Lip Bumper was employed, the gaps for the remaining canines were so constricted as a result of premature loss of the milk teeth that the other teeth were not able to break through. After just 9 months of treatment the gaps had opened up thus allowing the canines to position themselves correctly. And this is all done without any disturbance to the speech or adverse social effects and without making any demands on the patients’ cooperation. Yet the treatment is almost 100% reliable.
