Palate expanders and facial shape

[Anonymous]

If your child went through early orthodontia including specifically palate expanders, did it substantially change their appearance? We have learned that DS may be fitted with an expanded this winter, and that by widening his jaw it will also change his profile or facial shape. Like any mom, I think my guy is perfect and am wondering and dreading how significant a change this will be.

Any experiences welcome.

[Anonymous]

My 11 yo is finishing up about 8 mos with an expander. I was afraid of the same thing you were, but can't see a difference. Maybe if I had before and after pictures and squinted a little I could tell, but any changes were so slight they aren't distinguishable from normal growth.

[Anonymous]

Yes I could see a difference.

[Anonymous]

The dentist said yes he would change a little. I don't see it. He's not done yet. They widen it for the first month or so, and that creates a huge gap in the front top teeth. Huge. But when he stopped turning the expander, those teeth came back together. Just not as tight and all the top teeth fell into place pretty evenly.

He got his just after his 9th birthday. He's done a lot of growing during the past 9 months. So part of his change could just be growth. He's got 3 more months but we haven't done anything since that first month.

[Anonymous]

There's so much growing that kids do anyway, and boys' faces especially can change a great deal with puberty. But having enough room for the adult teeth is huge.

Back in the bad old days of extraction orthodontia, I had four adult teeth out (my first bicuspids) because the palate expander I'd had didn't work. As a result, my face shape is narrower than it should have been and my upper palate is narrower as well, which has led to breathing issues.

If you trust that your orthodontist is recommending palate expansion for the right reasons (i.e. not just one size fits all) then I'd go with his/her recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Had one in 2nd grade. Facial shape seemed different for a year or two but she's grown into it and it's made phase 2 much easier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had one in 2nd grade. Facial shape seemed different for a year or two but she's grown into it and it's made phase 2 much easier

We had this same experience with our now 11 y.o., who just got braces this week. Her face may be slightly wider than it would have been, but she looks just like I did at this age, so not enough to make her look unrelated to me.

[Anonymous]

Two of my kids have had expanders and I haven't noticed any difference except that their teeth were a little straighter. One of them will need an additional phase of braces once the rest of his teeth come in but the other kid might be off the hook since the expander and first phase seem to have fixed his crossbite.