We used expander over Invisalign. Gerlein is very expensive though. He was almost $5k just for an expander, and another $9k for phase 2 of braces. I found much more affordable options for my second kid with the same great results.

Anonymous wrote:If my daughter could remove her palate expander she would remove it all the time. She uses the old style one and no problems.

This is a big downside to Invisalign expanders or aligners. Our orthodontist warns about this as a big obstacle if you have a non-compliant kid.

Traditional with the key but similar to mini picture above. My kid was sore fie a day and it worked very well. I had the old school traditional one growing up and it was totally different. How would Invisalign expand the palate?

the key! the key is kind of awkward, but I was worried she would lose the invisalign. We had no problems with the traditional one.

Invisalign worked for us because the traditional one kept falling out, also you don’t have to use the key with the Invisalign one which is nice.

If my daughter could remove her palate expander she would remove it all the time. She uses the old style one and no problems.

The orthodontist you mentioned pushing invisilign seems to have invisilign prominently displayed on her website and is a “top 1 percent invisilign provider.” I’d get a third opinion if you’re on the fence.

Our child has a spring loaded palate expander so no key is required. He used a water pick to help clean it along with brushing. It took him about three days to get used to and he now has to cut meat into smaller bites. He has a pronounced lisp with it that is still lingering a month in, and I’m not sure it’ll resolve until his expander is removed. But otherwise he says it doesn’t bother him and he’s just used to it now. I’m glad I don’t have to do the whole key thing.

Mine has a traditional palate expander, actually hers is a newer version called the "mini" that is very compact (look it up) and it took her all of one day to get used to it. She can eat everything (although avoids what the orthodontist told her to like sticky/chewy/etc.).

What 15:40 describes is highly unusual, it sounds like perhaps her child has some sensory issues, the palate expander should not affect a child's ability to swallow, it's at the roof of the mouth.

Pics of traditional vs mini

Mine did the Invisalign expander. It definitely worked. Front teeth got a gap just like they are supposed to when the 2 halves of the palate expand.

The good- no key to turn, you can remove it, you get a new expander every day. I think it was only 30 days of actual expansion (and then had a place holder for 90 days).

The bad - it is a lot more in your mouth than the regular Invisalign aligners, mine could never eat with it in like you are supposed to and had a lisp the whole time

I think it is a lot better than a traditional expander, but still not super fun.

My child likes the regular Invisalign so much more.

Mine used traditional. The whole point of it was to expand the palette. I would research the results of expanding the palette with both .

DC used the traditional one, couldn’t swallow food and lose a lot of weight in few months ( nearly under weight). Can’t speak the difference, but if we knew there’s other option we wouldn’t go with traditional one.

I'd love to hear about experiences with the invisalign palette expander versus the traditional one with the little key you turn. We've had consultations with two orthodontists and one recommended invisalign and the other recommended traditional.

Gerlien recommended the traditional palette expander because, according to him, the invisalign one moves the teeth without expanding the palette.

Bruno recommended invisalign because it's more comfortable for kids.

I'm curious as to others experiences.