How do you eat with an expander in your mouth?

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#1 Post by **rhuecker** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:59 am

This seems like such a simple question and I'm sure there's a simple answer like, "you just adapt"... but give me some clues. Do I need to roll my tongue back to swallow? How do I keep the chunks from my soup from getting stuck above this horrible bracket? Will I be limited to very wet soup the whole time I'm wearing this thing? Help this old guy out (turning 43 this Friday and just got braces for the first time... what was I thinkng???)

#2 Post by **crazybeautiful** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:58 am

With difficulty, at first

After day one you will be used to it being in your mouth and swallowing with it in will become natural; basically you're sitll swallowing the same but your tongue will press against the expander. So you can eat whatever you want

But of course this beings up the point that some food will get stuck- it can't be helped- but it's easily rinsed out. My ortho gave me a syringe for particularly stubborn bits of food that got lodged up there, and it does help

Basically it's a pain in the arse, but manageable all the same. When I had mine removed my mouth felt bare and weird!

#3 Post by **amandad09** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:16 pm

I've had mine in for almost 2 weeks and am getting pretty used to eating with it. The only things that kind of give me trouble are spaghetti noodles, sometimes they want to go down my throat too quickly and that is kinda scary!

Swallowing at first was a challenge and I know it may not be much consolation but you do just adapt to it. Food will get stuck, it will feel gross at times, there may even be a lingering aftertaste. YUCK~ but it goes with the territory. Just try to keep it as clean as possible and you should be just fine!

Are you or did you have SARPE or SARME?

#4 Post by **overseasmel** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:09 pm

Not a stupid question at all!!

I found that I had to totally change my chewing and swallowing actions when I got my expander on. I sort of, and this probably makes no sense(!), had to go from a 'vertical' chewing and swallowing action to a slightly more horizontal one. Well maybe a diagonal one. As in, instead of rolling your tongue against the roof of your mouth and flicking food directly back, I sort of started doing that more to the side(ish). Does that make any sense at all? It stopped so many things getting caught above the expander and I got less of that choking feeling.

Give it a try but hey perhaps I'm just weird - it might not work for anyone else!!

#5 Post by **braceasourus** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:27 am

hey,

it definitely takes some getting used to. I actually found in the beggining that soups are harder to eat because it gets stuck up top. I like to eat soft food thats goupy enough to not move around a lot...like apple sauce for instance and then i put it on the tip of my tounge and push it down.

i have had mine on for 3 months now and it totally gets easier. you do need to be careful though i have chocked a few times. make sure to cut up your food in small bites and just chew and swallow carefully.

good luck!

#6 Post by **sdyck** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 9:43 am

The expander....ughh..it has given me nothing but pain. I had it put in Feb.6 and have had a large cut on my tongue ever since. Now I have several smaller ones. As for the food..I'm still using a straw.

I just don't know what to do with my tongue, so as it doesn't scrape on the expander.

#7 Post by **sirwired** » Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:10 am

Gee, way back when I had an expander, (20 years ago... damn I feel old), I remember my biggest difficulty was learning how to talk again. I don't remember any pain, but certainly the expander got real icky after I ate.

SirWired

#8 Post by **LauraC1979** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:05 am

I had my brace and expander fitted on Valentines Day (lovely) and really finding it hard - I'm nearly 30 but I'm sure it's the same whatever age you are. I can't talk properly, can't eat anything and feel like I'm going to cry every minute of the day. Can someone tell me, will I eventually be able to chew again? The expander is a pain and rubs on my tongue but I find the sensitive teeth more painful and can only eat soup or mushed up banana, gross.. many thanks

#9 Post by **overseasmel** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:11 pm

This is something I wrote at the end of my expander phase for someone else on this board. Hope it helps!

1. First week after expander fitted: This thing is awful. I can't swallow. Which is fantastic, since I am producing the world's largest amount of saliva. (I actually walked around work with a drool cup!). And I can't talk properly. I tried to order flowers for my partner's mother, whose father just died, and the woman couldn't understand my rendition of their address. This is horrible. I shall cry.

2. Second week after expander fitted: I sound slightly mentally retarded, but have finally worked out how to make "s" sounds. Let's get this surgery over so this object has a purpose.

3. Surgery: Hmm that went okay. Morphine is goood.

4. First few days after surgery: This is frickin awful. I look like my head has been bashed in. I can't walk down stairs unaided. How can it be this bad? This is evil. I am a masochist. These drugs aren't enough. I wake up every 4 hours in pain. Honey, get me some more drugs. Oh hang on I can't speak, let me write it down. And can I have a seventh pillow please?

5. 5-15 days after surgery: Oh man I am tired of this liquid diet. I wonder what else I can puree. At least I don't need the drugs as much anymore. But I am borrrred. Take these darned things out of my nostrils so I don't need this drip tray!! Hmm... And when I turn the key it literally feels like my head is separating. It makes me rather dizzy. Note to self: turn at night, just before bed.

6. First month while turning: Hmm okay, gnocchi is good.... And there is a big gap now- it opened slowly in the beginning but now its going great guns. I wonder if I can stick a drinking straw through it. Oh yes I can. Look Pete, I can stick a straw through my gap!

7. Second month of turning: Oh for God's sake I am sick of this. I look like a Jack-o-lantern. Just when I had learned to speak again I have effectively lost my front teeth and now have a new lisp. Dr. Lam, please can I stop turning. Please.....

8. Months after I stopped turning: Woohoo! No more freaky head-splitting-open. But would you please close up gap. Maybe if I stroke my teeth and encourage them. No that's not working. Oh hang on.... they're going... Yay!

9. 6 months after surgery: My teeth are still. Fixed, unmoving. I can pronounce everything except a British/Australian "new" sound. It's these small things that make you a happy happy woman.

10. Expander off, braces on: Hallelujah! Braces rock. They rock because I feel no pain, I don't have to do anything, they get better and not worse, and I CAN TOUCH THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH AFTER 8 MONTHS!!

#10 Post by **chicago29** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:04 pm

Overseasmel - What a great timeline of the situation!

I typically don't participate too much on the Metal Mouth forum as I don't have my braces yet. However, I had SARPE and an MSDO (an MSDO is basically expansion for the lower arch) 2 weeks ago, so I feel I can give you some advice here.

First off, I have TWO hyrax expanders in my mouth (top and bottom). Does it suck? Absolutely. But after having them in for just a bit over two weeks, I would already say I'm used to them.

Does eating suck? Yes, very much so as most of the food gets caught in them and you have to swish it out. Or if you are lucky and the expansion isn't changing your bite every day, you may be able to use your teeth enough to keep food away from the roof of your mouth. I'm still on a liquid diet so for now it isn't too bad

I got to eat two "normal" meals before surgery with both expanders in and I'm not going to lie...It sucks.

Speech: It is definitely impacted, but don't let that worry you. You'll get better with practice. I am already comprehensible with both top and bottom expanders, but I'm not going to lie and say you can't notice. I have to make a point to speak slowly.

So, is it an inconvenience? Yes. Will you survive and adapt? No question.

And if that doesn't do it for you, think to yourself it could be worse. You could have TWO of these damn things in your mouth

#11 Post by **Jakieshouse** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:40 pm

For anyone experiencing cuts in their mouth or discomfort, try rinsing your mouth with a little warm salt water regularly. The mouth heals very quickly. I found that the cleaner I kept my mouth, the fewer cuts. Listerine is good too. But I remember the expander aggravated the top of my tongue and there was nothing I could really do. I've forgotten about that already, the expander has been out for a year.
Drooling is a problem! Your mouth thinks there is food in there at first and you drool constantly for 2-3 weeks. Then it stops.
Chewing: I never really found an easy way to deal with it. I stopped having lunch with people who expected me to speak while eating lunch. Just eating is a monumental task.
I agree with the person who has trouble with spaghetti, it always seems to slide down in one entire piece! I cut mine with a fork into bite size pieces.
No one really understood what it was like. When the dr. took the expander out, he cleaned it and sealed it in a pouch for me and I showed some people. Most people were speechless.
I also had digestion problems because bits of unchewed food were getting stuck in my intestine. Excruciatingly painful. I went for an MRI to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. Turned out, fiber pills helped.

#12 Post by **Jakieshouse** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:42 pm

I just wanted to add that the results have been phenomenal and I would do it over again if given a choice. My teeth look great and even the structure of my face has changed subtly in a good way.
No regrets....javascript:emoticon(':lol:')

#13 Post by **kelsxx** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:24 pm

Trust me, it took me 2 or 3 weeks to get used to eating with it. When I had one, I would chew my food a lot so that there were no big chunks left and then use my tongue to push the food back in my mouth and then swallow it.

#14 Post by **junkee** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:33 pm

i got the expander yesterday and todays dinner i actually ate food besides yogurt. So i ate semi-soft food, macarroni and chick peas. I discovered that i can chew the food on my back teeth but keeping it mostly near my cheeks instead of the center of the mouth. Then when you swallow you kinda have to block the hole between the roof of your mouth and the expander with your tongue. The food still get stuck so you have to drink lots of water and swish it (discretly). Now if i could only figure out how to talk with it.

#15 Post by **TinselTim** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:00 am

I got mine installed on Monday.

Blech. I'm not going to like this.

Although eating and speaking are a challenge, I'm amazed at how hard it is to spit! (like when rinsing and brushing). I had no idea the tongue/roof-of-mouth association was so important in a good, old-fashioned spit.

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