I miss Ron and hope he updates his channel soon. One thing I took from this conversation was Dr. Mew’s concern that fixed appliances, like the MSE, mess up the bite, resulting in less axial loading of the teeth, biting together less hard and less often. I try to chew hard gum for at least an hour every day during my MSE retention period. I hope this is helping to grow bone and prevent relapse at my separated sutures and maintain alveolar bone as I’m expanding the lower arch with a removable acrylic expander. I wonder if getting my lower arch back closer to alignment with the upper arch will allow me to load more force on the teeth and if this might improve my results.

@apollo If I'm correct, then the removable acrylic expander will only expand teeth through the dentoalveolar ridge, and not expand the mandible itself right?

Posted by: @shanky27

@apollo If I'm correct, then the removable acrylic expander will only expand teeth through the dentoalveolar ridge, and not expand the mandible itself right?

Yes, I believe the vast majority of expansion will be at the dentoalveolar level, but I've seen some sources claiming it might very slightly expand the body of the mandible. So maybe it's better than just using invisalign, even if only for moving the alveolar bone with the teeth rather than pushing them through it. I'm hoping the chewing will help with that too. I don't expect my intergonial width to increase appreciably, but I wish it would. I've noticed if I swing my mandible to the side to line up the bite on one side or the other that my cheeks look more hollow. I guess I'd need MSDO to achieve that kind of result.