How the heck am I going to survive with this expander ?

[MTLHead]

Hey everybody! I've had my ceramic braces for about 2 months now. I'm 35 years old and have needed braces for quite some time. My parents gave me the option when I was a teenager which I obviously declined although I've regretted it for many years since. After many years of indecisiveness I finally worked up the nerve to go for it. One of the other things that helped the decision was I finally found an orthodontist who offered me an option other than jaw surgery to correct my overbite. My wife and new son have both been very encouraging of the whole process (well actually my baby boy laughed and tried to grab my braces when he first saw them but at least they never scared him). I've been reading this site since before I even got my braces and it's helped answer a lot of questions I had. Yesterday I had an expander put in which I will need to wear for about 3-5 months. I had just finally gotten used to eating semi-solid food and now I'm back to eating soup. Even that is difficult since liquid seems to sit on the roof of my mouth and it's quite tricky to swallow. Spitting is pretty much impossible. I just sort of open my mouth and spray. Thank God I'm married already. I'd make a charming dinner date I'm sure. Will it ever get easier to eat with this thing. I'm skinny enough as it is, I can't afford to lose any more weight.

Despite this current situation I'm extremely excited to finally be going through this whole process. I only wish I'd done it sooner and I also wish I'd had the nerve to go with the metal braces as opposed to the porcelain. Everybodies reaction has been nothing but positive. My new speech impediment caused by the expander will make work interesting for the next several months but I'll survive. It's going to feel so great to not be embarrassed by my smile.

[MTLHead]

Thanks very much. My ortho had originally said that I would need the expander for "a couple months" when I originally asked how long this treatment would be. Then later when I asked again if it would be roughly 2 months, she said "No, definitely longer than that. A few month for sure" so I'm not sure exactly what that means. I'm guessing 3-5 months without anything to really base that on but since going into the appointment I was originally thinking it was going to be a year I'm pretty happy. I was told the braces would need to be on for about 18 months and at some point down the line she will put in the appliance to pull my bottom jaw forward.

I'll check out other posts about the expanders. I was just having trouble finding them. Thanks

[ssfw]

I had a Quad-Helix expander and initially I had a difficult time because it was rubbing on my tongue and that made my tongue sore - warm saltwater rinses and wax helped alot. The expander initially effected my speech but I found talkign slowly helped alot. It got better as the weeks went by and after about 2 months, I never even gave it a second thought. Sometimes the only time I remembered I had it was when I was eating.

I hope you have a pretty easy time with your expander.

Keep us posted.

ssfw

[MTLHead]

Thanks for the advice. The expander my ortho is using on me is not the same as the quad helix. It has two wires that arch through the mouth, ont on top of the other. This make it very easy for food to get caught up in which is slowly getting a bit easier but I can't see how I'll ever be able to eat anything overly solid until this comes out. Even soft food like pasta I spen more time trying to dig the food out from the bars than I do eating. I'll just have to figure out as many tricks as possible I guess like cutting the food up as much as possible. My expander doesn't require me to adjust with a key on a regular basis.

[Filip]

Hey Metalhead

Uuuuh, did I ever hate that first week! I really wanted to cry, laugh, and rip that thing out. I had major eating issues for 7-10 days. Not even mentioning speech impediment.....

I'm 34, and got an RPE some 7 weeks ago. What I can tell you is that in my case, somehow, through magic I think - things one day were back to almost normal. It took maybe 10-14 days of daily expansion for the device to open up sufficiently to allow normality back into my life.

Eating takes time. Chew properly, loads of water to rinse with after each bite. I lost 2 kilos in short time, but recovered a little after the first week. Your teeth may hurt, an indication of movement.

Use the saltwater rinses for sore spots (tongue) from rubbing against the sharp corners after expanding the device.

Look at my posts for more details on my experience.

And do invest in a Waterpick if you haven't already.

[Filip]

Hey Metalhead

Uuuuh, did I ever hate that first week! I really wanted to cry, laugh, and rip that thing out. I had major eating issues for 7-10 days. Not even mentioning the speech impediment.....sluuuuuuuur

I'm 34, and got an RPE some 7 weeks ago. What I can tell you is that in my case, somehow, through magic I think - things one day were back to almost normal. It took maybe 10-14 days of daily expansion for the device to open up sufficiently to allow normality back into my life. What I mean by that is that by expanding, there was more room for the food to avoid getting stuck, and more room for speech to recover.

Eating takes time. Chew properly, loads of water to rinse with after each bite. I lost 2 kilos in short time, but recovered a little after the first week. Your teeth may hurt, an indication of movement.

Use the saltwater rinses for sore spots (tongue) from rubbing against the sharp corners after expanding the device.

Look at my posts for more details on my experience.

And do invest in a Waterpick if you haven't already.

[Filip]

Hey Metalhead

Uuuuh, did I ever hate that first week! I really wanted to cry, laugh, and rip that thing out. I had major eating issues for 7-10 days. Not even mentioning the speech impediment.....sluuuuuuuur

I'm 34, and got an RPE some 7 weeks ago. What I can tell you is that in my case, somehow, through magic I think - things one day were back to almost normal. It took maybe 10-14 days of daily expansion for the device to open up sufficiently to allow normality back into my life. What I mean by that is that by expanding, there was more room for the food to avoid getting stuck, and more room for speech to recover.

Eating takes time. Chew properly, loads of water to rinse with after each bite. I lost 2 kilos in short time, but recovered a little after the first week. Your teeth may hurt, an indication of movement.

Use the saltwater rinses for sore spots (tongue) from rubbing against the sharp corners after expanding the device.

Look at my posts for more details on my experience.

And do invest in a Waterpick if you haven't already.

[Filip]

Hey Metalhead

Uuuuh, did I ever hate that first week! I really wanted to cry, laugh, and rip that thing out. I had major eating issues for 7-10 days. Not even mentioning the speech impediment.....sluuuuuuuur

I'm 34, and got an RPE some 7 weeks ago. What I can tell you is that in my case, somehow, through magic I think - things one day were back to almost normal. It took maybe 10-14 days of daily expansion for the device to open up sufficiently to allow normality back into my life. What I mean by that is that by expanding, there was more room for the food to avoid getting stuck, and more room for speech to recover.

Eating takes time. Chew properly, loads of water to rinse with after each bite. I lost 2 kilos in short time, but recovered a little after the first week. Your teeth may hurt, an indication of movement.

Use the saltwater rinses for sore spots (tongue) from rubbing against the sharp corners after expanding the device.

Look at my posts for more details on my experience.

And do invest in a Waterpick if you haven't already.

[Filip]

Hey Metalhead

Uuuuh, did I ever hate that first week! I really wanted to cry, laugh, and rip that thing out. I had major eating issues for 7-10 days. Not even mentioning the speech impediment.....sluuuuuuuur

I'm 34, and got an RPE some 7 weeks ago. What I can tell you is that in my case, somehow, through magic I think - things one day were back to almost normal. It took maybe 10-14 days of daily expansion for the device to open up sufficiently to allow normality back into my life. What I mean by that is that by expanding, there was more room for the food to avoid getting stuck, and more room for speech to recover.

Eating takes time. Chew properly, loads of water to rinse with after each bite. I lost 2 kilos in short time, but recovered a little after the first week. Your teeth may hurt, an indication of movement.

Use the saltwater rinses for sore spots (tongue) from rubbing against the sharp corners after expanding the device.

Look at my posts for more details on my experience.

And do invest in a Waterpick if you haven't already.

[MTLHead]

Thanks Filip. I find myself speaking a bit more clearly after 5 days wearing my expander but I'm still quite slurred. My tongue has been a bit sore but not too bad. I was told by a friend that even though it's difficult to believe, the day will come when i can mostly speak normally again and can eat easier. I'm still looking forward already to the day they remove this. I will either frame the damn thing or run over it repeatedly.

[chlorine23]

I've run into the same problems with my Nance appliance. To give me some credit, my lovely Nance is much more complicated than the ones I find pictures of on the internet. This thing is like a basket at the roof of my mouth. Although I doubt it's as terrible as your expander. I find it odd how fluids can stay at the roof of your mouth. I end up doing this slurping thing to get it down. You've no doubt also realized that everytime you swallow, your tongue goes up against the roof of your mouth. This presented an almost dangerous issue when I tried to eat ramen noodles. Scary.

It might be tempting to slurp food when it gets stuck up there (like trying to suck it out of there), but my surgeon told me a story of how doing that caused his son to choke. He was ok though.

As for talking, I'm getting a little better, and everyone says you get used to it. I still feel weird talking to people who don't know me and don't know why I'm talking this way. It's a little weird. Especially if it's a "new word" I haven't said since getting this darn thing put in. Like learning how to talk all over again.

Good luck, I feel for you!