The palatal expander with gagging?!
Question: I was with my niece because I previously had braces and the Ortho told me she needed a palatal expander. Well ok. When we got back for a second appt. I forgot to ask if it gives you a gagging feeling because my niece has an extremely bad gag reflex.This is because with the impressions she almost gagged, what should I, nonetheless, she expect?
Answers: I was with my niece because I previously had braces and the Ortho told me she needed a palatal expander. Well ok. When we got back for a second appt. I forgot to ask if it gives you a gagging feeling because my niece has an extremely bad gag reflex.This is because with the impressions she almost gagged, what should I, nonetheless, she expect?
I have extreme gagging reflex also! When I was in 6th grade I had the get a palatal expander also. When the did the mold I gagged the whole time! Anyways I was extremely worried about this expander and the whole gagging thing. Well when the put mine in it was permanant so there was no taking it out for me. When they put it in I might have gagged a few times and instantly hated it, I had no idea how I was going to live with it for a month or so. Swallowing was hard and made me gag more, but about after 5 minutes or so I learned how to swallow without gagging for the most part and it took a lot of mind/self control for me. I had to get my mind off of it and take deep breaths to calm down. Talking was hard too at first I wanted to gag some then too. It took me about a week to totally get things down with it, eating, swallowing, and talking was very different too and sometimes breathing lol. I still got that gagging feeling every now and then but for the most part it went pretty well. Just those first few minutes were tough on me and it took a lot of talking to myself. After you learn the ropes and how to swallow it got better. Hopefully your neice won't have too hard of a time with it. Maybe have her practice breathing with her nose or putting gum on the roof of her mouth and practice with that. Also after getting the expander reading a book aloud helps get your talking back to normal. Give her encouraging words, i'm sure she will do just fine!
The first day, she's going to gag some, and retrain herself how to swallow in a new way. It's a bit hard to eat with it because stuff gets stuck to the roof of your mouth.
But after you're used to it and don't have to turn any more, you hardly even notice it!