Palate expander?

[CaptainCrunch]

Hello all, I have a small question that I couldn't find an answer to in the forms, Ive had braces once before in my life, but I have a small overbite and a small crossbite, I am wondering IF an expander can give me alittle more room and make the overbite disappear because the top palate it narrow. My front teeth are straight and they only get narrow after my k9 teeth. They are not terrible but they are on the inside of my teeth and it gets me annoyed. Also my overbite is pretty small, to a point where you can barley squeeze a straw through it. I am 20 so thats why I am hoping I dont need surgery, but if it has to happen then it has to happen i guess. I really appreciate all the input Please just give me your best estimate thats all I ask, I have an appointment with an ortho on tuesday. THANKS ALL.

[ellavs]

Captain Crunch,

Hopefully you got some answers at your last appt - let us know how it turned out.

I thought I'd share my personal experience with the glorious palate expander so long as you remember that everyone's experience with this stuff is different and I am certainly no doc . It just helps to know what other people have gone through.

I've had orthodontia in my mouth since I was 9 (am 30 now) with a 7 year break from 03 - 09. My ortho at 15 told me I'd probably have to have jaw surgery but since I was still young and my jaw was still growing, she continued to assign me metal that would hopefully prevent me having surgery. My next orth continued in the same manner, vigorously trying to avoid surgery (and by vigorously, I mean the man pulled out every trick in his hat). He gave me round two of braces, multiple elastic locations, weird attachments to all my back teeth (very painful as they wrapped around the entire tooth and rather dug into my gums), palatte expander, and a very attractive and aggressive "face" gear that had the good old bit in your mouth look as well as a large purple contraption that hooked to my forehead and chin. He even shaved my back teeth down to make my non-existant bite a little closer! I was totally miserable.

Despite being religious about cleaning all this gear everyday, I managed to wake up with blood on my pillow almost everyday, thank you palate expander, got thrush, compliments of the palate expander, and was forever digging food out of the darn thing. It was painful and caused problems. I suffered through with it for a year, hoping it was really going to help me get out of having surgery. Finally, at one of my routine visits, my ortho declared I'd have to have surgery after all but I should continue with this regimen indefinitely to prepare. I was DONE. I was now 20 and was completely fed up with years of headaches and pain - the afore mentioned palate expander being the worst and last straw. Even though it was just a check up appointment, I declared I was finished with the entire thing and would like all my hardware removed immediately. I pissed off a few people but was finally free of all that pain.

Now, here I was 7 years later, embittered and trying to hide from the inevitable. I'd had at least 4 orthos and 2 oral surgeons tell me surgery was necessary while I was on my 7 year break. I tried to pretend I hadn't heard that. Finally, last year, my dentists talked me into it as the alternative was grave (I'll spare you details as my story is already getting too long!!). Needless to say, I took the big dive and just had surgery a month ago. I still have a year of braces but my problem is fixed and i'm finally on the road to total oral alignment and no more metal.

What's the moral of the story? Well, unless things have changed on the palate expander end since I was tortured, I advise you get a second and third opinion on the possibility and necessity of surgery. Then DO IT!! Don't put yourself through years of drama if you're going to have to get the surgery anyway. The palate expander did absolutely nothing for me and cost me years of pain and expense. Don't wait like I did!!! If you are able to pay for it now and take the time to do it now, you won't regret it. I wish I'd done mine ten years ago!! Now, that being said, if you are luckier than I and several different orthos think the expander will actually help you, you're off the hook and one lucky kid. I wouldn't wish surgery on anyone - I just wouldn't wish years of pointless pain and then surgery too on anyone MORE . Take care of yourself and promise me you'll be seen by a few different pros.

Let us know how it goes...

Ella

[crazybeautiful]

Just for some clarity here:

Non-surgical palatal expansion is a very different story from surgically assisted expansion (SARME/SARPE). The non-surgical route often does not truly expand anything. The surgical route on the other hand would only 'not work' if for some reason you happened to relapse (rather than a failure to expand full stop). The surgery is necessary to allow skeletal movement, rather than 'superficial' expansion which is really just dental. Trying to expand fused bone is I imagine quite painful, and- [generalising here!]- ultimately not fruitful if you require quite a lot of expansion.

[chicago29]

There are many posts on this board if you search that unequivocally state that non surgical expansion in an adult is both impossible and potentially detrimental to your long term oral health. To put it simply, if you are an adult and your jaw bones are fused, the only way to achieve skeletal expansion is via surgery. If any provider tells you differently, run away from them and do some research online and you'll see a myriad of medical evidence supporting the comments I've made.

Best of luck to you...

Chicago29

[Nathaniel]

It's true, you can't really expand if you're fused without surgery! It's not that bad! You can definitely get through it and would recommend it to anyone who needs it! I'm already SO happy I've done it even with the massive gap I've yet to close simply because I can picture how nice my new broad smile will be!