21 July 2020
The gap produced in the first phase of Hyrax expander treatment. For more info please go to www.tom-nasiopoulos.gr
For patients who have a narrow maxillary (upper) dental arch, treatment by means of the Hyrax maxillary expander is one of the most frequently used orthodontic and orthopedic appliances.
After the Hyrax expander is fitted on the upper dental arch, the patients and their family memebers are instructed to activate it. Usually the activation prescription is one (or two) daily clicks of the expansion screw for about 15-30 days. Very soon into treatment a gap, a midline diastema becomes evident between the upper central incisors. This is quite uncomfortable for the young patients who are worried about their appearance! In fact, this diastema (gap) is very good news! It means that the expansion is successful and the effect is of orthopedic nature (meaning that the upper jaw, the maxilla, is really expanding. Personally, I would be very concerned if I started treating a young patient with a Hyrax expander and I couldn’t see this evident gap between the upper central teeth; it might mean that the expansion is not happening.
At this point I should add that attempting to expand the maxilla on an adult (18+ years old) would be quite risky and I advise against it. In adult cases, it would be too optimistic to hope for real, orthopedic expansion. All one should expect would be dental expansion, meaning pushing the buccal teeth appart. We need to be very careful doing that; we must monitor the patient very frequently and proceed with caution, because serious adverse effects may result on some of the teeth of the upper dental arch.