Underbite - when to treat it?

[dovey]

My 18 month old son has an underbite.  The dentist gave us three options:

1.  Treat it now with a chin strap, head gear type thing.  Nothing actually in the mouth.

2.  Treat it at age 6-8 when permanent teeth emerge with a retainer/palatal expander and head gear.

3.  Treat it as a grownup with major surgery.

I'm having a hard time figuring out when to do this.  We would do it now, but toddlerhood is such a sensual, touching, learning, tasting time, as well as the time of language development.  I really hesitate to put him in a headgear apparatus which might be uncomfortable for most of his waking hours.  But then it is the least invasive option too. 

Any thoughts or experiences?  (We don't really subscribe the WAP theory of nutrition as the basis for problematic jaw development, and we are almost vegan (with the exception of eggs), so we probably wouldn't use any types of butter oil or cod liver oil as a basis for our treatment of the problem.  Thanks!)

[TiredX2]

I can only relate my experience.

We went with option 2.  DS got the expander then braces then retainer.  It took relatively little time (maybe 18 months) and was not a problem.  He was very good about taking care of it (though he ended up with some pretty bad cavities right after because of his sour candy intake while it was on).  I can't imagine having had him in a night time set up as a toddler since he night nursed until almost 5.  We knew we didn't want him to deal with it as an adult.  Additionally, he was scraping his top teeth along his bottom teeth which was beginning to cause damage so we needed to get it taken care of ASAP.