Metal Mouth Message Board

My name is chrissy i am 18 years old and new to the world of braces.
I have an underbite. I was just wondering am I to old for a pallet expander? Thanks everyone

Maybe. Maybe not. Lots of discussion about this on the forum.

Search: palate expanders or check out this one discussion:
viewtopic.php?t=10472&highlight=

And the following articles:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

http://www.angle.org/anglonline/?reques ... &page=0291

http://www.pcsortho.org/bulletin/00/varnarsdall.html

http://iadr.confex.com/iadr/2006Orld/te ... _76180.htm

Also, Google the following: Rapid Palatal Expansion in the Young Adult: Time for a Paradigm Shift? •Dan A. Stuart, DDS • •William A. Wiltshire, BChD, BChD (Hons), MDent, MChD, DSc •

and download the article.

Best of luck in your treatment!
Candy

thanks alot candy!

Probably the best answer would come from an ortho who could look at your mouth and make a determination based on theory and your specific situation.

My question - why do you want a palate expander? Usually it is part of the "orthodontic big picture". I'm not quite sure why someone would want a palate expander alone, so I am imagining you have a "greater goal" for your mouth/smile.

That alone is worth seeing an orthodontist for. If you are in the US, most will do consults for free, just be sure to verify that before you go to the appoinment.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Sorry I forgot to put that I went to the ortho because I needed braces. And was told I had a shorter and narrower top jaw than my bottom jaw. I have another appointement with my ortho to discuss what we should do first. I was just wondering if the palate expander would be an option.

Well, that's the best option for a narrow upper jaw. And since you have an underbite, you might need to wear headgear. The expander might be needed to make it easier for the palate to "slide" out.

Hopefully you get the flat expander. My orthodontist is old-fashioned and gave me one that took up most of my mouth. I couldn't talk for months. But I'm actually glad I got it done. It used to be one of those people who would start breathing deeply without noticing. But now I'm a silent breather.

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