Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Palatal Expander

One of the most commonly used Orthodontic appliances is the palatal expander This appliance is used on young children to expand and widen the palate.


What is the palatal expander & How does it work?

A palatal expander, also known as a rapid palatal expander, rapid maxillary expansion appliance, palate expander or orthodontic expander, is used to widen the upper jaw so that the bottom and upper teeth will fit together better. An expander is attached to the upper arch by metal bands placed around the teeth or plastic bonded over the teeth. Expanders are fixed, which gives advantage in treatment process that they cannot be lost or forgotten.


Reason a palatal expander is needed:

Crowding — Even before all of a child's permanent (adult) teeth come in, we can tell when there will
 not be enough room to accommodate them. Widening the upper jaw can create the necessary space without the need for tooth extractions.
Impacted Teeth — When a tooth that hasn't come in (erupted) yet and is blocked by other teeth, widening the upper jaw can allow it to erupt into proper position on its own. This most often happens with canine or eye teeth — the pointier ones located directly under the eyes.
Crossbite — When a child's upper jaw is too narrow to fit correctly with the lower jaw, the back top teeth will bite inside of the lower teeth instead of outside. This can be corrected by expanding the upper jaw.

For more information regarding palatal expander contact Dr. Poser's office.

3 comments:

  1. Dental health is a necessary part of your well being. My son’s upper teeth have space between them and we just went to my dentist Torrance to get them checked. He suggested getting braces. Jeffery just turned twelve and I think it’s the best time to get braces.

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  2. Thanks for the informative post about palatal expander and where did I buy the this expander?

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  3. This blog was extremely useful. I really appreciate your kindness in sharing this with me and everyone else! upper teeth.

    ReplyDelete