I have had orthodontic treatment when I was 16, which included bonded palatal expansion and braces. I am now struggling because of it. As a result of having a piece of acrylic between my molars for about eight months, my teeth and bones have shifted I can no longer touch my molars together to chew food, without mashing my jaw back as far as possible to compensate for bite height. I had thought this was normal after my treatment was over, and after a few months I started developing TMD symptoms. Chewing with a completely relaxed and neutral position for me means to chew with my incisors almost tip-to-tip, meaning my molars can never make contact when I do so. I have been chewing much harder foods without taking the usual caution in this position, and my TMD symptoms have somehow completely subsided.

I am worried that my posterior open bite is an obstacle to my progress, as it probably enlarges the gonial angle? How can I correct my bite height? Must I get braces again, with posterior intra-oral elastics? Face-mask + protraction to rotate the maxilla? Will mewing correct it over time?