In progress: Adult Palate Expander (w/ surgery)

[One2di4]

Hi all,

New to the forum. Felt that I ought to log my experience in the event that I may help others who have similar symptoms as I do, or those who are on the fence about getting palate expander surgery.

I've struggled with fatigue the age of 13 -- getting 8+ hours of sleep daily and waking up feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. I'm a 5'7, 120 lb female -- of course, I've been told the highest population with sleep apnea, other than overweight males, are skinny females. And so, at the age of 30, I did a sleep study about 9 months ago. Go figure, I was a 3.8 on the OSA scale, which couldn't give me a firm diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea, but what the test did reveal was that my CO2 levels SKYROCKET while I'm asleep. Not a good thing to have happen day after day, year after year.

Upon my follow-up appointment, a veteran otolaryngologist at Stanford Hospital took one look at my face and knew that -- due to my facial structure -- I likely had a narrow nasal passage, which causes me to breathe out of my mouth at night. Again, not good! Oddly, I have a wide palate, but the doctors agreed that palate expander surgery would help open up my nasal passages. Facial X-Rays from the orthodontist further confirmed this nasal passageway, despite my wide palate.

So, 9 months later, I finally got the custom expander "installed." Basically, the orthodontist SCREWED it into the bone of my upper palate. This was last week; the surgery to open the suture is scheduled two weeks from today, on December 1. I'll post a picture of the custom expander.

As I mentioned, I'll be logging my experience during the course of this treatment to notate any noticeable changes/benefits -- and if it is worth the trouble.

I'll continue to add further posts. This is simply my intro.

Questions welcome!

-D

[One2di4]

Here's what the custom expander looks like:

http://imgur.com/fZQjjl8

More posts to come.
-D

[braceasaurus]

Wow, that's fascinating! Please keep posting your progress, I'd love to see how it evolves. Is the expander likely to change how your teeth look? And will you be getting braces/jaw surgery as well?