Anyone whose kids are just getting started?

[pammy jo]

My 8 year old girl got an RPE (upper) and a Schwarz (lower) on 12/22/05; we turn the upper every day and the lower every other day. She goes in for a checkup on 1/18/06. So far, the only pain she had was getting the bands on, although she did gag quite a bit when getting impressions (lol)

Hi, I'm new here. I'm Pam and I'm laughing reading about your twin families....when I have twins! And my situation pretty much mirrors yours too. (Oh and I just turned 42 yrs old. This is the 40 and fabulous crowd! LOL) My girls are 8 also and we just had the defining appointment. One of my girls has missing teeth and spaces, which are just going to be monitored until she has all of her permanent teeth and then need braces. BUt the other is schedule 5/25/06 for the impressions for the lower Schwartz expander and get it one month later. They won't do the upper one for apx. 3 months though.

I'm a nervous wreck for her...she has never adapted well to change and is very sensitive to sensations. She is also a gagger and they scheduled the impressions for first thing in the am. in case

Seems as though you are just about a few steps ahead of me with her and that your 11 year old is pretty similar to my other daughters situation?

I'm glad to have found this board, because to tell you the truth, I feel better already.

Can I ask you about the cost? I was floored at how much they are estimating this phase one for Mallory to be, let alone the whole endeavor. HOLY $%#& is all I keep repeating to myself in my head.

It's really great to meet you all and I'll peek around the rest of the board too. I really should take notes at my next appt. because I forget the names of the things they explained to me. She did say that the bottom on would be removable, and that i would have to turn the key 2x/wk. The upper appliance would be cemented on ....same deal with the key. Is the upper the Schwart maybe? (I know she said that name for one of them?)

[pruettmj]

Hello pammy jo and welcome! Actually, my older daughter probably could have used an expander, but we never thought about it or took her in for ortho evaluation until she was 11. Her teeth always looked fine to me. But then she had 2 teeth push out 4 (on top), with only 2 adults coming in. This left gaps for too long, so all the teeth behind moved forward to fill them in. We didn't realize what was happening until the canines started coming in in front of the other teeth.

I don't mind you asking about cost; I'm sure it varies for different areas though. Phase 1 for my youngest is $3500 which includes the 2 expanders and space maintainers for after the expanders come out. They say if they need phase 2 that it won't be as expensive or extensive as if they didn't have phase 1. I guess we'll see since I have a comparison in my older daughter.

I think the Schwarz is usually used on the bottom, but I'm not that knowledgable, so I could be wrong. They just called our top one an RPE or rapid palatal expander. I was very apprehensive about all this, but my 8-year-old has had pretty smooth sailing. Good luck and feel free to ask questions. It's nice to talk to you.