How fast are you expanding?

@elwynn I am expanding quite slowly 1/8 (half a turn) every 2-4 days instead of 1/4 (full turn). I wear the expander only at night. I stopped turning the expander one month ago and only use it at night because it didnt felt loose to turn the key. It only gets loose when i take it off in the morning when i wake up and its tight as hell when i put it before bed.

@ico123

Don't take this as a recommendation, because I don't know your exact situation, but Dr. Mew believes that slow expansions is more likely to cause teeth tipping (what I assume is happening to you), than skeletal changes. Since the opposite - rapid expansion - has a risk of being damaging, Mew recommends "semi-rapid expansion", which is supposedly more effective at producing skeletal change, but less risky than faster expansion. I don't recall exactly exactly how frequently one should turn the screw in order to achieve this semi-rapid expansion, but you should be able to find this on the forum here or with a Google search.

On a related note, are you sure that your tongue posture is good during the day? I'm asking because you've noted that your expander becomes tight before bedtime. Either the expander is just tipping the teeth at the rate that you're turning the screw, or your poor oral posture during the day is causing you to constantly lose progress, or both.

Personally, I would confirm your experience of the expander with the other people here on this forum who have posted about their use of the appliance.

@elwynn

Yeah i read about the potential danger of rapid expansion causing damage on teeth and gum. I also knew about semi-rapid expansion rate advancing the key everyday to expand 1mm per week, But i got told that since i am 22 with good occlusion after braces i need to go slowly in order to not screw up my teeth and my bite. So far on the expander i expanded 3-4mm. I think i have good tongue posture during the day combined with chewing. What would you suggest me to do should i keep up with this slow rate 1/8 turns per 2/3 days or try the full turn routine 1/4. Is it normal for my teeth to be kind of wiggling when i touch them is it caused of the excessive force of the expander? are they damaged? In my concern my teeth doesnt look tipped.

If your expander is "tight as hell" in the evening and "loose" in the morning, then maybe it's moving your teeth back and forth, causing them to loosen.

@thebeetle

Is this dangerous? if i continue doing this will i damage my teeth? what will u sugggest me to do? should i stop using the expander? or i wear the expander 24/7 without removing it so my teeth stay in place and turn the key when expander is loose? please help i am scared to not damage my teeth! i also notice my upper teeth expanded a bit but my lower teeth stay the same, i read they follow up with the expansion of the upper teeth is this true? if not how can i maintain occlussion if upper teeth over lap the lower teeth?