Palate Expanders and Braces

What about it can't she stand? My daughter had one at FIVE and only complained once in a great while of minor discomfort. The biggest thing was more of an inconvenience (at worst), she couldn't eat anything sticky. Its only for a short period, and if it is necessary for her oral health, I'd tell her to suck it up and deal with it.

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I'd go back to the ortho and have it checked.

My daughter has one and it hurt at first, but she got used to and doesn't even notice it now, but we did what Jamie said - suck it up and deal! It's too important that she have good oral health!

She did take some tylenol with her ortho's blessing and it helped with the initial discomfort. Hope this works out for her!

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If the ortho says she needs it, then she probably does. My daughter had hers for a few months. She was used to it within a couple of days. I gave her tylenol or motrin and she was fine.

We can't let our kids quit if something is a little uncomfortable. Many things in life are uncomfortable. We need to teach them the strength to push through. There are children out there with cancer, this is just a palate expander...

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I had a palate expander when I was younger and I was an orthodontic assistant until I started having kids so here is what I know. First if she needs her jaw expanded then the palate expander is the only way to do this. Not only to correct her teeth but to make her bite even too. If her jaw is not lined up correctly she can have even more issues as she gets older. As for the pain yes I do remember having some. And the amount can very from child to child depending on how much expanding needs to be done and how the child handles the pressure. For me I remember sometimes turning the key and feeling nothing, while other times I would turn it and WOW! I felt so much pressure it would make my eyes water instantly. But on those days I just took Motrin and like a head ache the pain will go a way. That is actually how I would explain it to kids when I put the expander in their mouth. That some days it might feel like a head ache in their mouth and if it did to ask their Mom for some medicine. I know some kids have a harder time with it than others. But once it's in and they give a few days to a week they seem adjusted to it. So in the best interest of you daughter I would get it done. Although I do have a question....How old is she? If she is really young you could wait a few more years until she is older and able to handle it better....just a thought.

I had it when I was a child, and it did wonders- but I can't image another way to expand the mouth without that piece of metal.

My daughter has one. She's 14. She had to the have the palate expander with the tongue thrust. It was horrible. They put it in, and she cried and cried and cried. It was mainly the tongue thrust that bothered her. She couldn't talk, clearly at all. The tongue thrust was to keep her thumb out of her mouth. The ortho made an appointment for a few days later to see how she was adjusting. By then, she was fine. Then we had to turn the key in the roof of her mouth for about 6 weeks. It hurt her some, but wasn't unbearable. After 2 months, we had the tongue thrust taken out, and she's much better. The palate expander has to stay in for about 6 more months. She gets her braces the end of July.

I had an expander, as well, but I was 23, I think when I had mine. It did not cause any pain, and, unfortunately, I think that probably the only way for braces to work without the expander would probably require some teeth being pulled. I had to have one pulled on my lower jaw because they can't use and expander on the bottom, obviously. Maybe if that's the only alternative, your daughter will change her mind.

I had 7 years of braces (grades 5 through 11) when I was growing up. My jaws were too small and my teeth were too big (and I had a gap between my front upper 2 teeth I could put my thumb through). Besides pulling the wisdom teeth, they had to pull out 4 other adult teeth as well in order to get everything to fit.
I was so worried my sons teeth were going to be like mine instead of his Dad (his teeth are straight and he never had braces). The first panaramic xray the dentist did on his teeth looked like there was a traffic jam happening under his gums. So many teeth forming and little or no space in his jaws for them to grow out. So in the 2nd grade he started wearing an expander retainer. It was ok, and it was slow, but at least he only had to wear it at night (and he couldn't lose it at school). When we moved, we continued the retainer at night through third grade, then our new orthodontist had an expander that couldn't be removed put in his mouth toward the end of 4th grade. It only took 6 weeks of expanding (then 6 months of leaving it in place to hold the expansion open) and he was finished with that part. Then the real braces started. Right now he has 9 months of braces left until he is finished, and he'll be finished before he is out of 6th grade. And his teeth are beautiful!
Back when I had braces, they tended to do the work on kids when they were older. The palate is more developed then (the bones grow and knit at the roof of your mouth), and moving the teeth then is very very painful. If they can expand the jaws and palate before the bones knit - it hurts a lot less, and because the jaw is large enough for the teeth to fit, there is less moving them around. If you can get the teeth straightened out now, you spare your child a life time of fillings, root canals and dental troubles.

If she is having pain now, it will not go away when she gets braces. The initial braces will be very painful. I can remember when I got my braces and once they put the wires and rubber bands on it was very painful and it took almost 2 weeks before I could eat normally. And be aware that while the adjustments may not be as frequent, it will be painful when they adjust the wires there will be pain. Basically I think she's just going to have to suck it up if you want the straight teeth and corrected jaw. Sorry if this sounds cruel, but it is the truth.

A good friend of the family is an old-school orthodontist and he said that MOST kids who get expanders do not need them. They are absolutely a money-maker for orthodontists and therefore will always be pushed. Parents don't know any better and will take the doctor's word for it and pay tons of $$ to put their kids through early orthodontia. He is actually very upset with his industry for this b/c it is such an unnecessary expense to parents and is quite frankly, a scam. So there is a great chance that your daughter did not really need the expander in the first place.