My ortho said i may need to wear the expander, and it is not the one in the mid, but around the mouth cus my upper arch is too "narrow", and i have to wear that for 6 longggggggg months, i would like to know how painful it is, how long i have to suffer for the pain???
Thanks. My extraction appt is apr.18, then will have spacers and braces done.
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expander, hurt??
Moderator: bbsadmin
EXPANDER ?
I have to wear my quad helix expander for 6 months also. I was not prepared for how hard it was to talk at first. I got my braces and expander put on 03-02-06. My tongue was dying! Please follow the advice of everyone here and do the saltwater rinse. I think I could have saved some pain with that. I also recommend sucrets or the cloraseptic spray to numb your tongue. It was a lifesaver! Forewarning, the wax does not like to stay on the expander. Try to take it easy with talking. Everytime you speak your tongue is going to rub on that expander. I found that when I spoke a lot my tongue got extra sore. By the 3rd day, I just wanted to crawl in a hole. That's where the sucrets came in. AAAHHH Relief!! Anyway, I'm not trying to scare you. I just want you to take good care of yourself and give it time. I woke up one day about a week and a half later with no pain. I promise, it will get better! I'm back to eating normal and talking (mostly normal.) Some words are still a problem for me, but I don't sound like I did. Hang in there..
Just dont eat spaghetti, it has a habit of wrapping around the expander at one end and the other end just dangles down your throat choking you until you can get your hand in there and rip it off, same goes for bacon rind.
Hope this cheered you up
btw by the time mine comes off it will have been on for 2 years
Hope this cheered you up
btw by the time mine comes off it will have been on for 2 years
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