What Does Palatal Expansion Do?
One of the main reasons orthodontic treatment is particularly beneficial for younger patients is that their skeletons are still maturing, and this means that orthodontists can optimize treatment by addressing the size, shape, and position of the jaw in their treatment calculations. If a child’s mouth is overcrowded with teeth and their bite is affected as a result, orthodontic treatment will include braces or another mechanism that will move the teeth into place, and it may also include devices that help expand or otherwise modify the oral cavity. One of these therapies is palatal expansion. In some cases, these devices that modify the oral cavity can even prevent malocclusions, or problematic bites, from arising in the first place, when the jaw appears to be developing problematically. Palatal expanders help orthodontists reshape a person’s mouth to better accommodate their teeth in the proper alignment, and they do just what the name implies: they expand a person’s palate.
While it may seem invasive to think about manually expanding someone’s palate, when palatal expansion is performed on children and adolescents, it’s remarkably easy and manageable. The upper jaw develops in two separate halves, and these halves don’t fuse together until after puberty, so when the palate is expanded before puberty, the bones can be stabilized in a position that will accommodate the teeth in the mouth. Palatal expansion is most recommended for people with crossbites, crowding, and impacted teeth. When a child has an upper jaw that is disproportionately narrower than the lower jaw, the two rows of teeth don’t fit together properly and the back teeth in the top row bite inside the teeth in the lower row, rather than outside. This can often be efficiently repaired with palatal expansion and may not require additional orthodontic treatment. Crowding can be assessed and diagnosed even before the secondary, or permanent, teeth erupt into the mouth. Dentists can determine whether a child’s jaw and oral cavity will be able to accommodate their teeth in the proper alignment, and, if they will not, they can expand the palate before the teeth erupt, while the bones are still flexible, and stabilize the adjusted palate until the teeth grow in and support its shape on their own. Without palatal expansion, the risk of additional orthodontic treatment and dental extractions increases as the jaw matures. Impacted teeth are teeth that haven’t erupted into the mouth and are obstructed by existing teeth. Expanding the palate and upper jaw can sometimes help an impacted tooth erupt into the oral cavity on its own. This occurs most often with the canines, or eye teeth, which may be impacted for genetic reasons.
In addition to these more direct purposes for palatal expansion, the treatment may also be used to help patients breathe better or to broaden the smile, and it can help reduce the number of teeth that may need to be extracted in cases of crowding and reduce overall treatment time for orthodontic therapies. Palatal expanders are usually worn for about three to six months, but their long-term effects can provide benefits for years. Think of palatal expansion as the best way to prepare the canvas for a lovely, healthy smile.