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Tips for wearing expander

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:38 am
by e77
So I get the rapid palatal expander put in on Friday Jan 11. I am extremely nervous about wearing it. Does anyone have any tips or tricks on getting used to it? How long did it take you to adjust to talking and eating?

Re: Tips for wearing expander

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 11:42 am
by redwine
Still getting used to it. The first few days, before the surgery, I sang in the car on my way to and from work. That helped with the speech a lot.

Re: Tips for wearing expander

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:56 pm
by Dolphinbite
HI -

Don't be nervous! I had the SARPE surgery and it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. In fact, I did so well that I made a video 1 day after the surgery: http://www.happygoplucky. com/my-blog/2012/07/the-first-jaw-surgery-sarpe-.html (take away the space between hapygoplucky. and com - can't post links here)

I wrote about my whole SARPE experience on my blog and there are also lots of pics.

Let me know if you have any questions :)

Brandi

Re: Tips for wearing expander

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:33 am
by teddy13
You should talk, sing, and practice reading a book out loud as much as you can in order to get used to your expanders. Are you getting both top and bottom expanders? I got used to my top expanders after a week of getting it since I got them before my lower expanders. I had a really hard time with my lower expanders since it didn't fit properly due to a missing canine so it would poke out when I would talk and people could see it as it would rub against the bottom of my tongue. I've had my expanders for about 7 months now, and I still have problems with pronouncing some words that contain the letter "S".

I hope all goes well with your expansion!