Metal Mouth Message Board

I had an RPE and did not realize the improvements it made until looking back on old photos.

November:


December:


March:


July:


I am extremely happy with the results so far.

Amazing, you must be delighted. I'm at the eight month mark, isn't it amazing what can be achieved.

wow!!!! seeing that makes me think this expander is going to be worth it! Congratulations!

They look good!

Woah!
Thats so amazing progress!!!
I'm on my RPE right now and I was wondering whether you had a gap and how long you had your expander for?

Thank you to everyone for the replies.

metalmom, yes trust me the expander is 100% worth it. I didn't think so until here recently. Actually I was talking to my sister last night after I showed her the progress and I told her that after seeing the results I would go through this process again in a heart beat.

adrienne, I had my expander for a total of six months but I only expanded three of the six months. I was instructed to turn every third day. The third picture was 2 days before I stopped turning. The weird thing was that my arch didn't get extremely wide until after I had stopped turning.

I did not have a gap when my expander was in and I was turning. The gap came about 2 weeks after the expander was removed. It wasn't a big one, just wide enough to get a small proxy brush through. And to be honest I think I was the only one that noticed. I would mention the new gap to people and they would look at my smile and say that I was being paranoid and that they didn't notice a change.

I'm so happy. My standard advice (I save most of the good stuff like sale water rinses for Karen) is to take pictures and have fun. I see you took pictures and looking at them has got to be fun.

Thumbs UP! It looks like you're making good progress.

Mike

Your teeth look really good. Your arch looks to have expanded and you now have a broad,straight and white smile.Congratulations

Holy COW! That doesn't look like the same mouth at all. LOVELY! You have a right to be thrilled!

This is so amazing! Wow you must be so happy. enjoy your new teeth. Cally is right- it doesnt look like the same mouth!

So how many turns did you have all together?? I need 30 turns altogether and I'm turning my expander once a day and I'm not even half-way there yet and I already have a HUGE gap .. and I'm serious its so big who knows what it'll look like at the end of my 30th turn ..
But .. I may be over exaggerating but this is getting worse ..

Wow, that is an amazing transformation! Your teeth are looking great - I'm glad you have the photos for comparison so you can see the incredible progress you've achieved!

Exciting to compare before and after! And curious that you got the gap AFTER you removed the expander. Hmm, not sure it's supposed to be that way, the palate should have healed with the expander in, but then again maybe it was only a movment of the front teeth by the archwire.

Tomorrow is my RPE removal day! I'll post pics on my thread. I can't really tell how much my arch has widened due to having a plastic cover over my upper molars where the expander is attached.

I'm sooooooo excited

Congratulations Filip on your RPE removal. It won't feel the same to eat, talk or swallow. It's like getting used to a different feel in your mouth all over again. Are you going to have a TPA installed??? I think the reason I got the gap after removal was because the RPE got the widening of the arch started and the archwire took over after that.


adrienne, I think the reason I didn't get a big gap is because I had braces on the entire time I had my expander so my archwire kind of kept my teeth together. But just think, the gap shows progression of your expandsion. You know that your RPE is doing something. And the gap will be gone in no time once you get your braces on.

Thanks to everyone that has replied, it makes a person feel good when someone is complimenting their results and their smile...Especially for people that aren't used to getting compliments on their smile.

Look at how nice and wide your smile has become. Before your mouth looked little and not that many teeth showed. It really is amazing to see the transformation with the pictures you have shown!