Removal of Rapid Palatal Expander

RPE Removal Date: 3rd September 2010
Discomfort: HIGH

I was called into the orthodontists room, and sat back where my lead orthodontist walked about the room inspecting everyone’s progress. He gave the go ahead for the male orthodontist at my side to remove my expander.

I was so excited. It was the moment I have been waiting for! Finally the go ahead! Today was the day! I thought he would get some tools and pull out the whole thing. But no…again I was wrong…

He got out the drill.

At first it didn’t seem so bad. I thought maybe, like with the hooks that were drilled off before from my expander, they needed to do this to make some room and then they could pull the whole thing out. INSTEAD he proceeded to drill the whole thing till it materialised into tiny metal filings.

And it hurt. A LOT.

It was a tough pressure, but that wasn’t what hurt the most. Because the roof of my mouth started to grow around the expander, that means parts of skin in the way were drilled too. I felt it the worst around the molar on the right. I also tasted blood. It felt like it lasted for an hour. More like half though…

Oh well, it had to be done. The moment finally came and it was gone. However the metal around my 2 molars are still there. I got up and rinsed and my spit was red. I rinsed alot to make sure all the metal filings were out, but the drilled skin was very sore…

But with the bad, comes the good…my tongue had so much room! I couldn’t believe it was gone. Neither could my body. Subconsciously my tongue curled expecting to come in contact with the middle part of the expander. It remembered how it would feel, but…NOTHING WAS THERE! I was amazing!

What about my bottom braces? They didn’t put them in, which was FINE by me 😀

Eating was a breeze. My top teeth are nice and steady since they have done most the moving already and are settling in. They gave me a new wire, but I don’t feel much difference compared to previous wires.

I think this will be a nice break for me before the fun begins with bottom braces. They have their work cut out for them!

Till next time,

Love,

Miss M