Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi.

I was suggested by ortho to non surgically expand my maxilla. I should undergo braces appliance, transpalatal bar and TPA .

I wonder what transpalatal bar / TPA exactly does, is it expander and how it differs from classic lateral expanders?

A TPA is a custom-fitted wire that goes across the roof of your mouth and is anchored to brackets on the inside of a pair of molars. An expander looks like a retainer with a screw down the middle.

The TPA simply keeps everything in place. You typically get one installed after you're finished expanding with the RPE.

I am fairly sure that transpalatal bar and the TPA are the same thing, unless the transpalatal bar is referring to a hyrax. You can google that to see what it looks like.

I have a transpalatal bar.
My ortho explained that it would keep my molars "anchored" in their place. It was important in my case because of how narrow my upper jaw was to begin with. Without it, "equal and opposite" forces would have moved my molars inward as the rest of the jaw expanded. I still have the bar, but it should be coming out at approximately the 10 month mark.

I just realized you don't have enough posts to see my progress picture.

BeautifulDisaster wrote:I just realized you don't have enough posts to see my progress picture.

I can, and you confirmed for me that a transpalatal bar and a TPA are the same thing.