Metal Mouth Message Board

Please tell me it gets better. Today is my first day in a DMAX 2000 expander. (http://www.dynaflex.com/lab/series2000.shtml) I found that I can't speak and I can't eat. My speech sounds like I'm constantly sucking on hard candy because my tongue can't hit the roof of my mouth, and i'm trying hard not to spit on anyone when I talk. Even chicken noodle soup was a challenge because all the food gets stuck in the top expander. And because the top expander has those really wide panels, i can't dig the food out w/ my tongue either. Did anyone else have the same expander as I have? What were your experiences?

Hi Ghotieyes!

I had the expander for 9 months... not as long as some people but I can honestly say it did not get much better with my speech... eating did get much easier & saliva dramatically went down... but I still had to repeat myself for people to understand me... it was the worst part of my braces experience... I know what you're feeling right now... it makes me cringe thinking about it. But it's worth it... my smile is so much wider now, and when your teeth straighten out it will be even wider.

It is different for everyone though. Some people adjust to it quite easily and talk normally (I'm hoping this will be you!)... the first 2 weeks were my worst & my speech improved but it kind of stablized right there... I was hoping I would just wake up & sound normal... but nope.

I do think I sound much more clear than before my expander... because I had to force myself to pronounciate things so after I got it out my pronunciation was much better...

Overall, there are many more pros than cons. Hopefully it gets better & your expander time isn't too long!

Good luck. It will be worth it.

Hi ghotieyes,

I have a Quad-Helix expander and the first couple weeks were difficult with speech but I found that if I spoke slower, it helped alot. Eating was a bit difficult but not bad at all. I use the interdental brush or a toothpick to get food out of the expander. The warm saltwater rinses and wax were so helpful for my sore tongue.

Each week it got better for my speech. By the third week it was almost back to normal and by the fourth week it was back to normal. Part of the problem with my speech was due to my sore tongue. At the beginning, I was hoping my tongue would toughen up without the warm saltwater rinses - bad idea.

Although my crossbite has been corrected, I still have it to stabilize the expansion. I have had the expander for almost 6 months and my upper braces for about 2 months - I don't even think about them unless I'm eating or flossing. I think you will adjust to it, it's just your mouth getting use to a new appliance.

Good luck and keep us posted.

ssfw

Hi Ghotieyes,

The expanders can be quite tricky...I've been in uppers and lowers for 6 months, and I did eventually get used to them. Speech was a bigger concern for me because I do voice over work and a lot of public speaking, I almost aborted braces altogether because of it. But over time, I got used to them and learned how to speak and eat around them.

I got braced last week and it's like starting all over again, but I know it will get better with time. I'd mirror everyone's advice so far...be patient, give it some time, practice speaking (I find singing in the car ALONE helps), and plenty of warm salt water rinses to ease the pain and toughen the skin.
Most of all, visit your friends at the forum, and read everyone's experiences, it'll help you get through the rough days!

Best of Luck,
Wen

I had an RPE and I found that after I had eaten, I inhaled/sucked the food out from it. It was tricky with museli as it got caught in my throat when I sucked it back.

Talking should return to normal soon.

This is all the help that I can offer, as I didnt use any other method

One of the best things you can do to improve your speech is what another poster said, speak slowly. Speech has been more of an issue for me with braces, if you can believe that! If you can use a waterpik around and under the appliance, it may help remove food that gets stuck. If you can floss under the appliance (I don't know if you have an acrylic button or not) that helps keep the food out. Believe it or not, you can get used to having an appliance in your mouth, I had a few different ones, not the one you have but I remember how difficult if was the first month or so learning how to chew with it in. A lot of soft, easy to chew foods.

Hi there,

I had a quad helix expander for about 6 mos and the first few days I was beginning to think I had made an awful mistake but as hard as it may be for you to believe right now, it does get better.

Food getting stuck in it is an issue but you will get good at using your tongue to loosen food that sticks to the roof of your mouth. Also, when I first got it, it sat in the middle of my mouth but after a short while my tongue pushed it up to the roof of my mouth and that made speech much easier. You might have the kind that fits along the roof of your mouth already.

There were still certain words I struggled with but speaking slowly did help. After a while I hardly noticed it was there but in the beginning I used a lot of wax and my tongue was sore.

Hang in there! It does get better.

Cindy

I just got expanders put in my lower arch. Before going in, I thought that the lower ones would be much easier to adapt to than the top ones, since I assumed that the lower appliance wouldn't interfere with the movement of the tongue.

Silly me.

Talking seems even harder than before, and I can't possibly tell you how much it sucks. The second I walked out of the office, I thought about asking them to remove it. I couldn't help but think that this was a big mistake. But everyone else is right; it takes patience, practice, and in the end, it's worth it. I can't imagine how I'm going to adapt to the lower expanders, but then again, I didn't think I would adapt to the top ones. It will get better. The kicker? I wait on tables part-time.

Going to work is going to be REALLY interesting tonight.

I had an expander for 6 months, and wasn't even talking normally by the time it was taken out. But nobody really notices. The first couple of days are really hard, but you'll get used to it. Try reading some books out loud or something to get the hang of talking.

I got my RPE in March and still have it in. My speech and eating was very hard the first couple of weeks but then improved. I still have some days when it bothers me though--a few weeks ago it rubbed my tongue raw and this really hurt my speech and eating. I say just try to hang in there and realize that it is serving some purpose in your ortho treatment.

What everyone else is telling you is true. I had a permanently attached expander when I was younger. It took awhile to get used to it, infact it took about a month, but I did get used to it. Practice reading aloud. Just talk to people like you normally would, don't try to manuever around it, just let it roll. You will be talking 98% of normal in no time.

Ghotieyes I am hearing you!! I got my expander put in yesterday and I have considered many things over the past 24 hours......getting them removed, pulling them out myself, quitting the whole thing, jumping off a building!!!!! I hate it!! I can't talk properly, I can't eat ANYTHING!! It feels like everything I try and eat gets stuck in the contraption, not to mention drinking.

Thanks to all the positive comments, it truely has helped and I am going to try hard to make it through the next month without taking any of the drastic measures I have thought of.

Are there foods that are easier than others?? I seem to have a big tongue, is it normal to have like a permanent imprint of your tongue of the expander? It seems like my tongue naturally sits pressed up to the roof of my mouth! I am getting top braces put on in three weeks, for 18 months, do you think my expander will come out before the 18 months?? Is it normal to? Also I have little sharp bit on one of the spirals of the expander which catches my tongue every now and then, anyone else have this?

kiwi_girluk a.k.a. miss depressed!

I think I must be one of the lucky ones, I've had little to no problems with my expander (RPE)...other than a little pain recently and they told me to stop expanding as I was probably done.

Talking is hard at first, my speech returned to 98% normal in about three days. Right now, it's been almost a month (yay on Tuesday!), and I still have problems with the letter "E"-- heat, he, eat, etc.

Eating is easier once you take a sip of water and swish after each bite (yeah, I know..gross). I'm not sure which kind of expander you have, but half the food I eat gets stuck! I've never really had a problem with it though...

My expander should be removed 3-4 months after it was placed. It was expanded for a month, and then 2-3 months for stability. Everybody is different though, and I have heard of people keeping them on the entire treatment time....it's a question to ask your ortho!

Good luck!

I have a quad helix and never thought to ask the dentist when it would be likely to come off. The whole treatment time he placed at 18 months, so I hope I don't have to put up with it for the entire time I hate it!! I get my top braces in three weeks so I will be sure to ask.

I have a problem with the letter e as well and s is a troubling one. It is quite a bad lisp at the moment so I hope it does go away in the next few weeks or so as it is rather frustrating trying to carry out a professional conversation! Even if it can get to 75% better I would be pleased...

GROAN...........MOAN.........

Ok, just as a follow-up to my own topic, my speech has been getting better. It's been 9 days since I got my expander put it and I've noticed that my enunciation has improved and it's feeling a little more natural. My mouth has also toughened up to *most* of all the equipment on my teeth so it's not quite as painful to talk, especially later in the day. I still don't sound normal yet though, if that's possible...

Plus my teeth aren't nearly as tender as they were on the first 3 days, so I've learned to deal with all the food that gets stuck in my equipment. After I eat, I can feel some food still stuck in the expander so I'll suck really hard to get it out, and a few times it shot right out and into the back of my throat to give me a little surprise. I got stuck trying to bite into a strawberry yesterday, and it looked like my teeth were bleeding afterwards because of all the bits stuck in my braces, so I think I'll just cut everything up for now.