These removeable acrylic expanders are designed to make contact with the teeth. There's a thread on here where some of us discussed the idea of removing the acrylic from the front section behind the incisors. I generally discourage people from attempting this kind of self-treatment because I find the limited benefits aren't worth the risks and cost. It requires intuition to know if you are advancing at the correct rate and skill to make adjustments to the acrylic to avoid tissue impingement if you expand beyond a couple millimeters. It's best to have a professional monitor your progress and adjust your appliance if you decide to use a removeable expander or even consider a bone-anchored MARPE/MSE like I ultimately chose.
I informed myself on the topic but as I never had braces and it just felt strange in my mouth.
I am an 18 year old male and I have a current Imw of 34 mm, so my plan is to expand to 38 mm to get better breathing, to not having wisdom teeth removed, potential facial benefits and more tongue space.
I am not able to get anything from orthodontist because insurance will not pay and I'm still at school.
Semi-rapid expansion(about 1mm per week) would be ideal but if I will feel that the expander is too tigth I will go slower.
I think I should adjust at more than 2mm because palate drops down is that correct?
I informed myself on the topic but as I never had braces and it just felt strange in my mouth.
I am an 18 year old male and I have a current Imw of 34 mm, so my plan is to expand to 38 mm to get better breathing, to not having wisdom teeth removed, potential facial benefits and more tongue space.
I am not able to get anything from orthodontist because insurance will not pay and I'm still at school.
Semi-rapid expansion(about 1mm per week) would be ideal but if I will feel that the expander is too tigth I will go slower.
I think I should adjust at more than 2mm because palate drops down is that correct?
My original IMW was around 34mm, so I know it can be limiting. I'm skeptical that a removeable acrylic expander can accomplish your goals of better breathing, space for wisdom teeth, and improved facial aesthetics, especially without professional guidance. I know Dr. Mew recommends a rate of around 1mm per week, but it seems like most functional orthodontists use a slower rate around 1/4mm per week. Your body might tell you somewhere in-between is best. It's just hard to know when a pressure point means you are advancing too fast or need to file down some of the acrylic. Most of the people who have documented their attempts at self-treatment with acrylic expanders find that the contour of their palate changes and requires adjustments to the acrylic framework starting around 3mm.
@apollo Ok, so you think that tooth-borne expander mostly do not give skletal expansion because I've seen examples of 50, 60 year olds who got skeletal expansion with those devices? Most orthodontist also think that till 25 skeletal expansion is easily possible, but sure there are outliers who can get it at an older age and at a younger age.
Is the time of 16 hours optimal or should it be lower/higher?
I can add pics of my palate, so you can evaluate how fused it is/how hard it is to get skeletal expansion.
@apollo Ok, so you think that tooth-borne expander mostly do not give skletal expansion because I've seen examples of 50, 60 year olds who got skeletal expansion with those devices? Most orthodontist also think that till 25 skeletal expansion is easily possible, but sure there are outliers who can get it at an older age and at a younger age.
Is the time of 16 hours optimal or should it be lower/higher?
I can add pics of my palate, so you can evaluate how fused it is/how hard it is to get skeletal expansion.
When you've had an expander screwed into your palate and cortipunctures drilled along the suture to weaken it and felt how much resistance had to be overcome to disarticulate the suture, it makes you skeptical of removeable appliances. But, unlike a lot of MSE users, I'm still receptive to the idea that acrylic expanders can sometimes successfully expand the palate in adults, especially under the guidance of a skilled professional. I'd even accept that a basic schwarz like yours might work as well as the fancy homeoblock or vivos appliances. However, I don't know how much of this expansion comes from stretching at the suture and how much occurs through remodeling the body of the maxilla and/or the alveolar ridge, what this means for the expansion potential and the risk of relapse, or the effect on nasal breathing. Also, I still think it requires expertise to make it work to whatever extent is possible. I guess that I subscribe to the idea that the more time you can wear the appliance the better, but @greyham has some theories about intermittent daytime use on his blog here ( https://cfs-survivors.org/blog/2020/10/15/the-optimal-daytime-usage-pattern-for-adult-oral-expansion-appliances/ ). So there might be some benefit from taking it on and off every few hours during the day and then wearing it throughout the night. Although, he advances at 1/4mm per week. I couldn't tell anything about the maturity of your suture from looking at your palate. There is software that can grade the density of the midpalatal suture from a CBCT scan, but there's some disagreement about how predictive even that is. If you're determined to experiment with this on your own, please be careful to watch for potential side effects like gum recession, dental tipping, root resorption, gingival ulcers, etc.
The website you bought your appliance in happen to do Biobloc as well if I was you I would email them and buy that instead. I tried expansion through 3 way acrylic expander same as yours except front part could move as well and I had no results although im only 21. Only teeth tipping. And hurts on the gums. I even think I lost 1 or 1.5 mm of imw because this thing wouldn’t let me place my tongue on my palate and especially bite my teeth together or rest them in a butterfly bite. But that’s my personal experience you may be successful with it
These removeable acrylic expanders are designed to make contact with the teeth. There's a thread on here where some of us discussed the idea of removing the acrylic from the front section behind the incisors. I generally discourage people from attempting this kind of self-treatment because I find the limited benefits aren't worth the risks and cost. It requires intuition to know if you are advancing at the correct rate and skill to make adjustments to the acrylic to avoid tissue impingement if you expand beyond a couple millimeters. It's best to have a professional monitor your progress and adjust your appliance if you decide to use a removeable expander or even consider a bone-anchored MARPE/MSE like I ultimately chose.
I will self treat myself with biobloc soon enough. I know how to adjust the wires and how much turn it needs per day. Sometimes you’re not better treated than by yourself
