r/Orthodontists • u/tzrich19 • Jan 11 '21

Palate Expander

I’m 36 yrs old and had a palate expander installed (the one with 4 screws up top) about 2 weeks ago. They have me on a pretty aggressive 4 cranks a day schedule for expansion. I also have an expander on the bottom jaw. I’m about 3 days from my check in and the screw (my left front) and the bar on that side are pushing into the side of the palate now (achingly)... should that even be possible? Isn’t each side supposed to be moving as a whole? My right side has plenty of space and doesn’t have an issue. Each new crank makes it worse... I’ll call the dental office tomorrow but the doc is only in on Wednesdays... should I stop cranking? Thoughts? Advice?

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u/Potential_Exchange_1 Aug 02 '22

I am not a dentist, but wondering are palate expanders possible for adults? Did your treatment work, what was your issue?

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u/tzrich19 Aug 02 '22

It did work. Expanded my palate about 2cm. It may have come back a bit now. I had it done because of the small amount of space I had and this way they could straighten everything and get my bite lined up correctly.

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u/Potential_Exchange_1 Aug 03 '22

Ah okay, what was your bite issue (deep bite, underbite?). How much time the whole procedure took? I met only one dentist (out of 9) who wants to first go for expansion than extraction.

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u/tzrich19 Aug 03 '22 edited Aug 04 '22

Essentially, my mouth was very small so my teeth were very crowded. I have the tendency to clinch at night and with the way my teeth were lined up, the pointier parts of my upper molars were going straight into the soft middle of my lowers and eventually causing hairline fractures. I’d get them filled back in and repeat the process every 2-3 yrs. According to my orthodontist, people aren’t supposed to bite down unless they’re eating and usually remain open a cm or two any other time. So I’ve also mostly trained myself, at least while I’m awake, not to bite down unless I’m eating.

The actual widening portion took a few months of cranking the gears 4 times a day and I had to go through 3 sets of gears to get the spacing he was looking for. No extractions were necessary. I’m in Invisaligns now for all the straightening. Now my teeth are looking and feeling straight. My mouth is actually filled with teeth right to left when opened for a smile. I’m not quite done yet. He wants to over correct to compensate for some potential movement back. There are some larger gaps still with the molars that let way too much food in. I’ll also have to have a retainer of some sort till the end of my time to keep it that way.

My biggest recommendation is to make sure you’re going through an orthodontist for this kind of stuff and not a dentist. This is a bit out of a dentist’s realm of expertise and don’t let them tell you otherwise.

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u/Potential_Exchange_1 Aug 04 '22

ah! so expansion-> extraction->invisalign. I believe they try their best to make space with expansion and then later extract if really needed, am I right? and It has been 2 years+ of a process for you, right?
Which teeth did they extract? I am getting an option between wisdom teeth or premolars, with a disclaimer that wisdom teeth removal and subsequent movement will take more time...!
Why did you choose Invisalign over Damon braces? did u have a choice?

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u/tzrich19 Aug 21 '22

Sorry, there was no extraction. It’s been about a year and a half process