update on rapid maxillary expander for pediatric apnea

On the way home back to Florida after our visit to the Stanford sleep center. After a wet read of my daughter's PSG we have cut her apnea down to an average of six per hour. Last January she was at 12 per hour. At a pressure of cpap 8 her ahi hovers in the 2-3 range. The apnea orthodontist specialist at Stanford wants us to keep expanding her mouth. There is still room which she will relay that message to our orthodontist in Florida. We are also going to expand her lower jaw. The team at Stanford wants us to find a tongue gymnastics teacher to help my daughter retrain her tongue muscle so she doesn't thrust her tongue into her lower teeth. When you learn to bring your tongue up to your pallete it forces your lips closed and let's you breath through your nose. She will still need cpap but has made tremendous progress. They couldn't get over how much my disposition changed for the better since the 6 months that we have moved from the west to the east. Trust your intuition and learn to listed to your body.

That's great! My daughter (she has never been diagnosed with apnea) finished her course of palate expansion (Damon System) and her mouth is beautiful. Lots of room in there!!! She never complained of pain and it was very easy to tolerate the wires and brackets, which are all on the outer surface of the teeth. I'm extremely pleased with the whole thing.

She still has a few more teeth to lose and then we will move into the second phase of her orthodontia, which will include bringing the lower jaw forward with something called a Herbst appliance.

I have high hopes that she will not have the apnea issues the same facial dysmorphisms have caused me.

If you have a child with a narrow palate and receded jaw line, try to find an orthodontist with good training in developmental dentistry (not all are, surprisingly!). (My daughter's orthodontist was trained in South Africa, where jaw/bone development is emphasized). I won't say it's not expensive, but the benefits to her health will more than make up for it.

Thank you for the update.

I forgot to add that my daughter grew one inch in six months since beginning her CPAP therapy with the expander. On average a child should grow 3 inches per year. For all of the skeptics out there that don't recognize the correlation of apnea with metabollic growth issues.