Anyone's Kid have a Palette Expander?

[moniot]

Both my DD and DS had one. They had an underbite and crossbite. The expander prevented her from looking like a bulldog. My DD had to stop treatment halfway through because she had so many loose baby teeth. In the time it took for them to all come out and grow back in you could really see everything moving back. Good thing it didn't take to long.

As far as food getting stuck above it....I purchased a water pick. Shot that left over stuff right out of there

 

[Mari annie]

My daughter goes into Boston to Havard Dental College for her ortho.
VERY CHEAP!
She had that but was included in everything.

Check to see if you have any dental colleges in your area, or local cities near you, they are all supervised by professors, etc.
I got a great deal. Everything included in her tops/bottoms for braces for less than 1000.00! I only have a 40 minute drive to Boston. I wished I knew about that for my son previously!

Good luck. Ortho is so expensive!


4.10 Sunny FL for 2 weeks can't wait!

 

[2mickeys1minnie]

Hmmmm....my orthodontist didn't even do any xrays....he just examined him and immediately told me he would need the palette expander. Now I am thinking I definitely should get a 2nd opinion. Thanks everyone!!

 

[minniemair]

My youngest daughter had a palette expander put on when she was 4 yo. Her upper teeth were totally missing her lower teeth and you could see it to look at her. We did the turning with a little key every week and it worked like magic. I do remember giving her tylenol occasionally and she had it done over the summer to get used to speaking with it. She's 11 now and both girls are done with braces. $11,000 for both mouths, no insurance. I keep telling them about the vacations that are in those smiles! They know they better not skip wearing their retainers or else I want payback!! Both my girls really had no problems with the braces. I never had them but my husband did and his memories are way worse than my girls' experiences. Things have improved in orthodontics in 30 years I guess!

 

[NMW]

I know lots of kids that have them or are getting them. My son 10, has braces on his top 4 teeth with brackets on the back and headgear to correct an overjet. This is one year, then he gets the full set of braces and wears them for about 2 years. My total cost of ortho care for 3 years (all appliances, appointments, xrays, retainers, etc) is $6100. My insurance only paid $2000, so we paid the rest.

I can't tell you how dramatic the change in the shape of his mouth has been with the overjet being corrected. Right before he got the top stuff and headgear my husband claimed that our son was starting to look like Cletus the slack-jawed yokel from the Simpsons. Now, he looks amazing, well normal I should say. It will be 1 year in June. I can't believe how fast braces work.

 

[kathi29]

When I was telling my mom about DD getting the RPE, I told her I wish they had that when I was younger. I had 5 teeth pulled before I got braces, and then had my wisdom teeth extracted several years later. If this little appliance gives DD a better shot at not having extractions, we are all for it. We only have to turn once a day for 7 days, then go back in two weeks for them to check and see if we need to turn it more.

Those of you who have or had one of these - which way did you turn the screw? Everything I read says it turns toward the back of the mouth, but we are supposed to turn to the front. I need to look at the darn thing when we get home and see if it has arrows on it. I'm sure we are doing it correctly; I'm just wondering what others have done.

 

[rockyroad]

My daughter had one.
I had to turn it with a crank.
I was told when she was a baby that she had a very narrow dental arch.
The process was started when she was 11.

We did get her a water pick and that helped.

The good part is that she has beautiful teeth and a million dollar smile.