Metal Mouth Message Board

I am now 21 and have known that I needed a palate expander for my collapsed palate since I was little. But, I have always been way too afraid to do it! Well, I just had a consultation with an orthodontist who says that he thinks that it COULD work now, even though I am 'older' than the ideal age. So, his plan would be to put it in and then within a month, he would know if it was working. If so, he would then put on my braces and the palatte expander would be in for 5-10 months and the braces for 24-28 months.

My question is, what are the odds of a palate expander working in someone my age? It seems to make more sense to TRY it, rather than to pay thousands of dollars for a painful palate surgery. But, I'd appreciate ANY insight!

I'm not a doc, but I wanted to answer you. It is actually quite common these days for an adult to get palate expansion. Since you are 21, as your ortho said, it is possible that an expander alone might be able to do the job. It depends on how hard your palate might be fused. You see, expansion is usually easier with children because they are still growing and their palate hasn't fused yet. But at 21, you could be right on the fence in this respect. I think it's good of your ortho to TRY an expander before telling you that you would need surgery.

There are many readers on this message board who have had palate expansion (SARPE - Surgically Assisted Rapid Palate Expansion). Hopefully they will reply to you as well, and you can hear their stories. In the mean time, you could do a SEARCH on the words "palate expansion" or "SARPE" or "palate expander" or just "expander" and see what comes up.

You also might want to browse inside the Ortho Surgery Forum on this message board.

Regards,
Lynn

Hi!

I'm 26, so a few years older than you, and I'll be getting my RPE very shortly. My ortho doesn't seem too keen on SARPE, and he says hes got great results with adults and their RPE's, by just taking it slowly and using "bite plates" to deal with any crossbites that might hinder expansion. He always prefers to try this first, which I think most patients appreciate.

Once I have my RPE, I'll be expanding probably every three or four days, and he'll see me every two weeks to monitor the progress.

Good luck!

Hi there!

I am 42 years old and have had an RPE in for almost six weeks now. My orthodontists report having had great success in many cases of adult palate expansion without surgery. So far, I'm doing great, with nearly 4mm of expasion (unlike after SARPE, you expand slooowwwwly, once every other day to once a week, depending), no pain, no headaches, no tipped teeth. I was really happy to have avoided surgery, although several members on this board have undergone it with much success.

Best of luck in your treatment!

I couldn't ressit chiming in since I had palate expansion surgery with amazing results!! the expansion happened quickly following surgery with two turns a day for a couple of weeks and wow! am i happy!!

This is a topic of great debate..often without surgery it is the teeth that are moving as opposed to the palate..If you have great trust in your dr..I'm sure he or she will lead you in the right direction...

good luck!

my ortho thinks he can expand my pallet enough with just the archwire. I have a good amount of inward tipping, so i think he is assuming once they are straight it'll work out. However, I am considering asking about getting some real expansion for the wider smile that I want. My ortho likes to try the more comfortable routes first before doing anything that might be a bit more 'extreme'.

Yes, I agree with what some of the others have said. I am 26 years old, and have upper and lower expanders, and have had great results. However, this does seem to be a hotly debated area in orthodontics (there are a ton of posts about this on this site). Some orthos think you can expand in adults, while others believe that surgery and/or extractions are necessary. Getting a bunch of consultations with different orthos can often be helpful. Good luck!