Thank you so much for the review Colette. 

For other users, 11 turns works out to about 2.75mm of expansion. If ever numbers in mm seem small to you, it's because your face/skull is behind your eyeballs and you may not appreciate how small it really is. A mm of change is a lot.  

Colette, I've only found out today that my expander has been shipped so I cannot give a definite solution yet. I will have it in less than a month.

However the first thing that came to mind was to sand off the excess acrylic as you expand. Is there enough acrylic above the expander screw to shave down? 

In referral to your desire for a metal expander which is pushing the teeth and not the palate: This is the incorrect method to take. Attaching expanders to the teeth will only remodel the alveolar ridge and tip teeth. How our jaws/mouths grow necessitates that the device push the palate above the teeth and not the teeth themselves. This will give you primarily suture growth in addition to alveolar remodeling, which is what you want. I have read many studies on the subject confirming this.

I apologize for not linking the studies. I'm sitting on a ton of research downloaded and bookmarked which I will still need time to sort through and refine into articles to post on this website. This isn't my full time job so I can't say how long it will take - especially because almost daily I come across more research and anecdotal experiences further confirming these ideas.

However, if you look at the Biobloc (Mew), ALF appliance, DNA appliance, and Homeobloc: All of the appliances made by professionals on the cutting edge of this research use acrylic pushing against the palate separating with a screw at the suture and not expanders attached to the teeth. 

 Could you let us know about the changes you feel and see? Namely health, breathing ability, bone movement, and A E S T H E T I C S? :)

Have you had any extractions?

I have only had my wisdom teeth removed!

I have only had my wisdom teeth removed!

Posted by: TGW

Thank you so much for the review Colette. 

For other users, 11 turns works out to about 2.75mm of expansion. If ever numbers in mm seem small to you, it's because your face/skull is behind your eyeballs and you may not appreciate how small it really is. A mm of change is a lot.  

Colette, I've only found out today that my expander has been shipped so I cannot give a definite solution yet. I will have it in less than a month.

However the first thing that came to mind was to sand off the excess acrylic as you expand. Is there enough acrylic above the expander screw to shave down? 

In referral to your desire for a metal expander which is pushing the teeth and not the palate: This is the incorrect method to take. Attaching expanders to the teeth will only remodel the alveolar ridge and tip teeth. How our jaws/mouths grow necessitates that the device push the palate above the teeth and not the teeth themselves. This will give you primarily suture growth in addition to alveolar remodeling, which is what you want. I have read many studies on the subject confirming this.

I apologize for not linking the studies. I'm sitting on a ton of research downloaded and bookmarked which I will still need time to sort through and refine into articles to post on this website. This isn't my full time job so I can't say how long it will take - especially because almost daily I come across more research and anecdotal experiences further confirming these ideas.

However, if you look at the Biobloc (Mew), ALF appliance, DNA appliance, and Homeobloc: All of the appliances made by professionals on the cutting edge of this research use acrylic pushing against the palate separating with a screw at the suture and not expanders attached to the teeth. 

 Could you let us know about the changes you feel and see? Namely health, breathing ability, bone movement, and A E S T H E T I C S? :)

Thanks for your reply! I think shaving off the top is a great idea. I bet I could manage some space. One of the other problems is now the expander is putting force on my front teeth. As the front bar (in front of the teeth) is pulled to the side, it pushes back. Therefore the plastic part itself is still in place and the bar is pushing my teeth far into it. I do actually feel that my front right tooth has been dug out a bit. I'd like to shave off some space in the front for my teeth to move back, though I'm not sure how. 

As for all those appliances, they intrigue me immensely, but I am on a TIGHT budget. I don't know that I could afford that in this lifetime. (Unless they drop dramatically to around $200 or less). 

Some of the things I have noticed with 2.75 mm of expansion is that I can breath better. My lips touch easier (even though there was only mild height taken from my face). I have more space for my tongue, and my cheek bones are a bit more prominent. There is still work to do, but overall I am highly satisfied!!

Thank you for your wealth of knowledge and conscientious responses.

Best, 

Colette

Could you please give us a link of what you bought?

Posted by: Cassius

Could you please give us a link of what you bought?

https://www.bracesshop.net/en/active-plates/4/active-plate :)

Colette how this work for you? The expander I have doesn't seem to have the same issue - they left like a mm of space at the top of the mouth to allow dropping down it seems

Did you fix your expander and do you still use it?

1. I'm jealous! Do you and I have the same expander, Irma? Perhaps they modified it recently. It doesn't seem to work anymore. It has slipped to the edges of my teeth and seem to have no effect on my maxilla anymore. I'm satisfied with the work it has done still. Anymore, I wear it to retain the distance for now.

All Topics Bumped

I bought an active expander too, quite a while ago (6~8 months). I'm not quite sure if they left space on the top for me, but I did experience the same problem as Colette. Near the end of my expansion, I felt like it slipped out and was loose, especially on my right side.

It caused some teeth tipping, especially on the right. Tipping aside, my palate did expand: I have a gap between my front teeth about as wide as the amount that I expanded.

Besides the tipping, I'm pretty happy with the results. I am buying another to do a round-two. I'm going to go a week without it so hopefully, my tipped teeth will go back to normal. The expansion was 2 months or so, I don't remember exactly, but I followed what mike said and did 1mm a week. I kept the expander in for the next 6 months or so--until a day ago, so as to keep my palate from receding. The tipped teeth have gotten somewhat sore since the removal, which is a good indicator that they're moving. Ill get new casts, send them out and go back to wearing my old expander until my new one arrives. 

I made some lengthy posts in the early days of the old forum. I plan to make a new post about me and what I have done/plan to do here and hopefully be pretty active on the forum. 

Thanks for reading, Feel free to leave a question <3

Hello! just wondering if it's possible to maintain proper tongue posture whilst the expander is in? Thank you :)