Palatal expanders

[Olilukyle]

My 13 year old son got braces today which includes a palatal expander. I think it’s a bit of a shock initially for him. Any tips or advice for him to make this process go smoothly, minimally painful?

Hi there, did you ever get any advice on this? About to start this journey and daughter very nervous. Would love to hear some tips. Thanks.

I had one of these (as an adult). It felt strange, possibly for the first week - I didn't really know where to put my tongue to rest and I developed a bit of a lisp. I also kept running my tongue along the metal which made it a bit sore.
The pulling feeling probably subsided after a couple of days. Try alternating between painkillers over this period.
Also, hygiene is really important and I used to use interdental brushes after every meal.
The first couple of days after getting the revisions I lived on soft food especially egg sandwiches!
The strangest sensation was having the expander removed. The roof of my mouth felt massive for a while afterwards.
Good luck!

DS is getting one in a few weeks. I've been reading up a bit.
We've got to get through his teeth extraction first, 2 adult teeth are going next week as his mouth is so crowded.

Hey, thanks for reply. I can imagine it would feel quite alien at first. She’s 13 and watching every video, following every tiktok dentist out there! She’s so nervous. She has a sensitive gag reflex. It goes on next week for a few months and then upper and lower braces. How long did you have it on? Would you say it worked really well? Thanks for the tips. I’ll give this thread an update when we get ours.

I had my braces and expander on for 3 years but mine wasn't a straight forward case.
I was having my jaw reconstructed and my teeth needed realigning as my teeth wouldn't meet together to bite food.
It definitely worked. It did feel very strange for about a week and then I started to notice it less.