A palatal expander is meant to widen the roof of a child's mouth to allow greater room for the teeth to fit. Without the work of the expander, a child's teeth would be very crowded and crooked. Oubre Orthodontics has some excellent tips for helping your child deal with the discomfort of the expander. Check out the tips and then talk to your child's orthodontist at Oubre Orthodontics.
Offer Children's Tylenol or Other Pain Relief Before Turning the Key
Part of wearing the expander is using a pinhole key to turn a crank in the center of the expander as prescribed by the orthodontist. This might look like a backward turn motion into the mouth or a twist motion clockwise or counterclockwise. After the prescribed number of cranks is completed, your child may experience discomfort. Give him or her some Tylenol, Motrin, or Advil an hour before to ward off the discomfort.
Turn the Expander's Portal Before the Bed
This may seem like the wrong idea, but actually, it's an effective way to deal with the discomfort. If you give a pain reliever before bed, then activate the expander, and your child will fall asleep. Then the discomfort he or she might ordinarily experience he or she won't notice because he/she is asleep.
Cold Treats
Children who are resistant to letting you help them turn the key in the expander may be more willing to a simple bribe. Ice cream or a cold treat gets them to comply, while it also helps numb the mouth after the fact. If there's a cold treat involved after every turn of the key, you may have just landed on the perfect solution for your child's orthodontic discomfort.
Ice Packs
If your child isn't resistant to the idea of having ice packs on the face, try it. Commercial ice packs wrapped in soft towels are ideal, but you can use ice from a cube tray or ice maker in your fridge too. If the discomfort is really bad, combine the ice packs with one of the other aforementioned tips.
Never place ice packs on bare skin. Always cover the ice packs or baggies filled with ice cubes with a soft cloth of some sort. The cold still delivers relief to the painful cheeks without causing a cold injury to your child's skin.
Ask Oubre Orthodontics for More Helpful Hints
If none of these tips seem to work for your child, ask your child's orthodontist at Oubre Orthodontics if there's anything else you can try.