{"id":3111,"date":"2020-09-28T17:54:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T17:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/caugheydds.com\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2024-04-03T12:48:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T12:48:03","slug":"alf-palatal-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caugheydds.com\/2020\/09\/28\/alf-palatal-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"ALF for Palatal Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"
Palatal expansion is a commonly needed component of Interceptive Orthodontic Therapy, which is also called “early orthodontics” or “phase one orthodontics.”<\/p>\n
As dentists, we often suggest orthodontic expansion (making enough room in the mouth for the tongue and<\/em> the teeth) while a child is in the pre-puberty phase. This is because the upper jaw (maxilla) is believed to reach its maximum growth by age 10 or 11, while the lower jaw takes a mid-puberty growth spurt. The timing of oral development treatments (like ALF or palatal expanders) is based on both a child’s chronological age and dental eruption stage.<\/p>\n While the structural development certainly sets the stage for improved oral function and sleep, the evidence suggests ongoing muscle training of the tongue is crucial for the child not to revert to sleep disordered breathing. In our practice, we utilize ALF appliances rather than palatal expanders for two reasons:<\/p>\n 1) the ALF appliance does not intrude on the tongue space, whereas many palatal expanders do. This design feature is critical for any child also going through Orofacial Myology Therapy<\/a>, swallow therapy, speech therapy, or trying to convert to nasal breathing.<\/p>\n 2) the ALF design itself promotes proper tongue positioning, thereby allowing structure to develop\u00a0around<\/em> the function. We believe that when structure is developed around function, it is more integrated into the function and therefore less likely to relapse!<\/p>\n