25 year old with Removable Rapid Palater Expander

[thatarabgirl1]

Hello

My story is that when I was younger I had all my pre-molars taken out and I have a small jaw/smile. I had 5 teeth taken out, my smile/jaw are small and I'm convinced that this is because of the teeth being taken out.

At 22, I decided to do something about it. I wanted a wider, bigger smile. I got lingual braces on my top teeth and normal braces on my bottom teeth and had them for 3 and a half years. The orthodontist said they will make spaces in my bottom teeth to get 2 fake teeth put in i.e. my pre-molars. Throughout this treatment, I have never been fully happy because i've seen minor changes in my top teeth and felt the orthodontist's focus was on my bottom teeth whereas I was mostly concerned with my smile i.e. my top teeth.

Repeatedly, I would tell her I wanted my teeth wider, that I had read about rapid palater expanders online and that there were adults who said it worked on them. She refused to give me an RPE (I did not want surgery).

I had my top braces taken off and now have another orthodontist who has given me a REMOVABLE rapid palater expander. I've to push the hole half a turn every day and will be seeing the orthodontist in around 6 weeks time. I have read online that removable ones are "inefficient" and don't expand the upper arch but that they only rotate the teeth?

I've only had a removable RPE for 2 days but I have had no pain or discomfort so far. I'm wondering if it's even working. Do you need to have pain/discomfort for it to work? Does anyone know if removable RPEs are less effective than fixed RPEs?

Can anyone share advice? I'm thinking about asking for a fixed RPE if it works better.

Thank you for your time.

[LadyJennifer]

Sorry I have no idea. I have a fixed slow expander. It has springs that exert constant pressure, nothing to crank or turn. Anyway I don't feel it, and it's certainly not tipping my teeth but I do see a gap in the appliance where it's getting wider.

[teddy13]

Hello there!

I am 22 years old and I had to wear a removable rapid jaw expander for about 7 months. I stopped wearing them about a little more than a month ago when I got my braces put on. I was supposed to continue wearing the expanders along with my braces a month or two after I got braced so that my jaw expansion wouldn't be lost. However, the ortho assistant couldn't get the wires from the expanders to fit with the wiring on my braces, so they decided that it would be okay if I just stopped wearing the RPE.

From my own experience, I believe that the expander created a lot of space in my mouth for my teeth to move even though it's removable and not the fixed kind. How long will you have to wear your expanders? I actually saw a gap between my two upper front teeth about a week or two after I first started my expansion. Somehow, the gap closed really quickly afterwards and gaps started to form in other places like between my back molars, between my canine and incisor, and during the last few months of wearing the expanders, I had crazy spaces between my bottom 4-5 front teeth. One of my lower canine started to become loose and it was"tilt" forward to the point where I thought it would fall out if I bit into an apple...yikes! I was just being paranoid about it, but everything is fine now that I have my braces on. I have my braces on for almost two months now and the lower canine is already pushed back to its normal position.

As to your doubt of the removable expanders being "inefficient", I believe that they work in my case! You've only had the expanders in for a short amount of time. As months pass, you will slowly see gaps and movements in your teeth that will make room for your implants. The expansion will make room for those implants, and when you get braces put on again, those braces will help make even more space in your mouth for your pre-molar implants. The process is very slow with these expanders compared to having your jaws expanded surgically. In adults, it is important to expand the jaw slow and steady nonsurgically so be patient, and don't worry, the end results will make everything worthwhile!

[SunshineRay]

Teddy thanks for your post. I am getting ready to go through this process too so Im happy to hear its worked for you.

[thatarabgirl1]

Update: I have been wearing the removable expander and can see a difference in the width when I take photos! It's not a huge difference but it's only been a couple of weeks and my smile looks wider. However, I'm starting to find it difficult to put the brace into my mouth - my upper jaw is painful and I'm not sure if I've pushed the brace too far into my mouth that I've damaged some of my gums. Right now, I can't seem to fit it in my mouth properly. I have not turned it consistently due to going on holiday etc and I wonder if I've disrupted my treatment :(

Thoughts please?

[lillywag88]

Update: I have been wearing the removable expander and can see a difference in the width when I take photos! It's not a huge difference but it's only been a couple of weeks and my smile looks wider. However, I'm starting to find it difficult to put the brace into my mouth - my upper jaw is painful and I'm not sure if I've pushed the brace too far into my mouth that I've damaged some of my gums. Right now, I can't seem to fit it in my mouth properly. I have not turned it consistently due to going on holiday etc and I wonder if I've disrupted my treatment

Thoughts please?

So what's the latest? What has happened since April? I have a removable expander now and I see small movement but nothing crazy. I've had it for almost 2 months now and turn it every other day.