Metal Mouth Message Board

My daughter will be getting an expander on her top arch in a couple of months.

I was wondering what some common complaints are about having the expander in your mouth? I have heard that stringy food can get caught on it. Is there anything else to be aware of?

Also, how difficult is it for a kid to eat with an expander during the first few weeks? Will my daughter need to stick to soft foods for a while? Will her tongue get cut up? I just want to prepare myself for whatever problems may arise... I hate to put her through this, but I know it's necessary to correct her cross bite. Thanks!

Hi Lynn! My daughter really breezed through her RPE treatment. She had a little trouble chewing the first couple of days, but was fine after that. Her biggest problem was giving up the chewy fruit snack treats and doritos for her lunch. Oh, and popcorn at the movies.

It affected her speech until she got used to it - especially "t's" at the end of a word. After she had the RPE fitted, I sent a note to her teacher asking that she try not to call on her to read aloud for a week or two until her speech was better. After that, no problem.

The hardest part was me having to turn it every night. Getting the key into the notch without jabbing the roof of her mouth and then getting a full turn so that the notch was in the right place the next night. It killed me thinking I was hurting her, but she never complained. She took some children's Tylenol the first couple of nights, but after that we just turned it and she went to bed.

It worked great to correct her cross bite and, hopefully, it will help alleviate a lot of future problems.

Hope this helps.

Chris

My son only complained the 2 days after he had the expanders put in, he ate soup, applesauce, jello...stuff that didn't really need to be chewed really.

Now he eats just about everything he always did, I just cut the food up into bite size pieces with a pizza cutter because he is not allowed to bite anything with his front teeth at all.

I actually noticed that his upper expander is about | | that far apart, I just don't know why there isn't a gap beginning in his front teeth yet. I know another mom that posts says she didn't really see a gap until almost the end of treatment, but every website I've been to that tells anything about RPE's says a gap should form within the 1st 2 weeks. So I hope things are ok with his.

Anyway, good luck!

EmmaCanadian wrote:I actually noticed that his upper expander is about | | that far apart, I just don't know why there isn't a gap beginning in his front teeth yet. I know another mom that posts says she didn't really see a gap until almost the end of treatment, but every website I've been to that tells anything about RPE's says a gap should form within the 1st 2 weeks.

Sometimes the front gap allready closes during the expansion of the side teeth due to some special fibers which 'hold the front teeth together'.


Helen

Well, my 8-year-old daughter has had her spring expander in for four days. She doesn't like it very much, but she's getting used to it. She still finds it difficult to chew certain foods. She was never in a lot of pain (refused when I offered her some Advil). She has some discomfort from the bracket-like part that scrapes her cheek on one side, but some dental wax helped solve that problem.

It seems that the key points are to tell your kid to:

* Take small bites, cut food into small pieces
* Chew carefully and slowly
* Eat soft/easy food for the first few days
* Remember that this is only in his/her mouth for a few months, then never again!

Sor far, so good. Dr. Vogt said that she will probably need to wear it for 4 to 6 months. Her birthday is in June, so I hope she gets it off before that!

Dear Admin,

o.k., the spring expander is not the one that disrupts the palatal suture, and therefore less painful and risky, but why must it be fixed? I don´t suppose that your daughter is never obeying...
Eating small things is hard with this, because they get stuck almost completely in there. Sucking sweets or pills is hampered, and hygiene of the molar teeth also.

She has some discomfort from the bracket-like part that scrapes her cheek on one side,

Are these disturbing parts needed later (so that this appliance is the first part of full braces), or why are they there?

Why can´t this appliance be built removable? I think, connecting the pre-fabricated spring with clasps should be inexpensive and no problem ?
Some specimens of such upper and lower removable spring expanders are in
http://www.sanfte-zahnklammern.de/gerae ... istec.html
Some Schwarz plates, which are bulkier, but can align the front teeth at the same time that the expansion requires, are taken from scientific literature under
http://www.sanfte-zahnklammern.de/fallb ... beisp.html

Greetings from Potsdam,
Larissa