by Denise Calaman

Created on: September 17, 2008

Most people have never seen or heard of a palate expander, or appliance, as it commonly called by many orthodontists and dentists. A palate expander is an orthodontic device used by orthodontists to permanently expand a young patient's jaw to correct an under bite usually before the patient is fitted for braces.

Today palate expanders are made of plastic and fit in a patient's mouth much like a retainer. The patient is given a key to his expander and places it in a keyhole located in the center of the expander to manually expand his own jaw. Each turn of the key expands the patient's jaw a little wider.

Palate expanders can be painful as the patient is manually expanding his own jaw. Pain much like that of when a patient gets the wires changes on his braces can be felt. Also a patient may experience pain in his tongue or in his sinuses. Usually by giving the patient Tylenol or other pain medication will ease the temporary pain.

Palate expanders have evolved a lot in the past few decades. I myself had a palate expander before I got braces, in junior high school. At that time, a palate expander was made of metal and formed a bridge across the roof of the mouth so a patient couldn't form words correctly. The tongue couldn't hit the roof of the mouth to pronounce some sounds. Often when a child is fitted with an expander they are getting ready to wear braces so it comes at an age when a child is just noticing members of the opposite sex and are starting to become self conscious of their bodies. I can tell you that it was emotionally scarring to not be able to speak correctly at that time in life.

Today, palate expanders fit better as they are molded to fit the mouth. Still, there are some sounds or words that may be hard for the patient to pronounce. Some words or sounds may take a bit of practice and some may never come until after the expander is removed.

A patient should remember to use his key daily to widen the expander. A patient cannot be fitted for braces until the expander is removed. However; if the expander is removed too soon and the patient is fitted with braces, once his braces are removed, his teeth will still be too crowded in his mouth and there is a chance that his teeth could go back to their former positions.

Once a patient reaches adulthood, an expander cannot be used again to widen the jaw. This was my experience when I went to be fitted for braces for the second time a few years ago. My childhood dentist didn't leave my expander in long enough and even though I now have a perfect bite I still don't have enough room in my mouth for all my teeth and my teeth once again became too crowded. Since an adult's jaw cannot be expanded, my current orthodontist had to file some of my teeth to make room. This is the only way an orthodontist can correct the bite of an adult.

If an expander is left in a patient's mouth too long the patient could end up with a gap between his two front teeth. An experienced dentist or orthodontist should know when it is time to remove an expander in order to get the best results. The same experienced orthodontist should fit the patient for the expander, follow up with the patient monthly and remove the expander at the proper time. As with any dental or orthodontic procedure it is a good idea to get a second opinion before being fitted with any orthodontic device.

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