Questions on Palate Expander

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#1 Post by **wulfgarian** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:24 am

If palate expander can help widen the arch of jaw even in adults, and help avoid the need of extraction of teeth why is it that not all the orthos recommend this route?

Do we have to meet any criteria to use palate expander?

#2 Post by **felicia** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:31 pm

That's a good question.
I would like to know the answer too...because if me ortho would have told me that I need extractions, I would have said NO WAY!!!

#3 Post by **VA5** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 6:15 pm

As I said before.. you can't really widen the palate in adults. I'll let the other professionals answer, but I've been told by my ortho that it only pushes out the teeth and makes it appear like your palate is exanded. If this were really an option and adult palates really could be expanded, then I would have definitely gone this route too... and I'm sure most other people who get extractions would go this route too.

You have to get surgery to get true palatal expansion. You can avoid extractions if you go this rounte.

#4 Post by **BracketRacket** » Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:41 pm

VA5 is right as far as expansion goes.
Also, everyone's mouth and alignment is different. Different approaches work better for different people.

Also, you can't just "expand" for the sake of expanding and "fitting" all your teeth. For instance, if your molars are in the proper alignment to each other on top and bottom, if you were to go through SARPE (not that a dr. would perform it!), and you expanded, your molars would no longer line up. For that reason, your arch widths on the top and bottom and the way they align, I imagine, play a large role in determining expansion vs. extractions.