Re: Expander anxiety, help! -- Metal Mouth Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1], 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

Subject: Re: Expander anxiety, help!

Author:
Kristie

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 09:11:52 08/25/04 Wed
In reply to: joplin 's message, "Expander anxiety, help!" on 03:01:33 08/25/04 Wed

Joplin- I got my palatal expander on July 22, 2004. I won't lie to you but that first day I almost freaked out! I am 30 years old and I couldn't eat or talk with this thing in. But every day got a little better...it was amazing after 2 weeks my upper jaw started widening and then the little gap started...I went to my Ortho and told him I could not turn my expander anymore because of the gap between my front teeth. He then told me he would put 6 top braces on and put a powerchain on my two front teeth to start closing the gap. It has closed a little but the gap is about the size of Madonna's. I think it worse than it is...my husband and friends say it's not that bad! Now being a month in the expander I can eat, drink and do pretty much anything...I still have probably 3 months to go...but the only thing that really bothers me is the gap...as weird as that sounds....I keep telling myself that I will be happy that I did this. I have had the smallest upper jaw and now I am seeing a huge difference.
Hang in there and good luck...it gets easier everyday...trust me. Let me know if you need any more advice.

>Hi, I've been reading the archives of this message
>board and found quite some info of wearing a palatal
>expander, but I'm still terribly nervous about getting
>one myself.
>How did you, former or current expander wearers, make
>yourselves accept the less than thrilling idea of
>having the lisp and the gap and a mouth full of metal
>for so many months? I'm facing a 6 months engagement
>with the appliance.
>
>How did you get accustumed to the appliance once you
>had it put in? I mean first of all I have a terrible
>gag reflex - can't even brush without gagging - and
>I'm afraid the expander may put me in panic, if they
>will be able to put it in my mouth in the first place!
>Last time my dentist couldn't take those little w-rays
>of my back teeth because I simply gagged out the
>tools, tears falling down my face! Does the expander
>make you gag???
>
>History: my ortho wants to have my maxilla widened
>because of my unerupted upper canines + a cross bite.
>Those canines can neither be removed nor pulled down
>in line until more space is made up there for the
>ortho to work in. In fact my upper #2's and #3's are
>completely messed up and stuck together up there now
>and trying to get those canines out of there could be
>harmful to my #2's in that crowded space. So the
>expansion seems something that can not be avoided if
>I'm going to get anything done. My ortho keeps telling
>me my case is a challenging one out of ordinary, which
>does not make me feel at ease at all!
>
>I definately want my teeth fixed. Not because of how
>they look but because they are wearing out on me
>little by little due to bad bite. So initial
>motivation is not a problem, I'm just very scared of
>the expander appliance and living with it. Actually
>looking forward to getting those braces maybe 6 months
>after the expansion is over, though!
>Any words of encouregement will be greatly appreceated!
>I'm sorry to be such a baby about this at the age of
>35, but as a former patient with an untolerable fear
>of dentists I think I've come a long way ;)

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: Expander anxiety, help!	joplin	23:23:38 08/25/04 Wed
Re: Expander anxiety, help! -- Kristie, 10:20:50 08/26/04 Thu Re: Expander anxiety, help! -- Melissa, 12:16:29 08/26/04 Thu