This article reviews different methods of maxillary expansion including rapid maxillary expansion (RME), slow maxillary expansion (SME), and surgically-assisted maxillary expansion. RME uses appliances like Haas or Hyrax expanders to apply heavy forces and separate the midpalatal suture quickly in 2-3 weeks. SME uses appliances like quad helix or coils to apply lighter, continuous forces over months. Surgically-assisted expansion is used when expansion is needed in older patients after suture closure. Maxillary expansion treats transverse deficiencies, crossbites, and improves nasal breathing. Complications can include discomfort, relapse, and tooth tipping.

1. MAXILLARY EXPANSION
A review article by
Anirudh Agarwal & Rinku Mathur
Source: International Journal of Clinical Pediatric
Dentistry (Sep- Dec 2010, Vol. 3, No. 3 )
Presented By – Roshni Maurya

2. This article aims to review the
maxillary expansion and commonly
used appliances.

3. Maxillary expansion treatments have been used for more than a
century to correct max. transverse deficiency. The earliest
common cited report is that of E.C.Angell published in Dental
Cosmos in 1860.Correction of this discrepancy usually requires
expansion of the palate by a combination of orthopedic and
orthodontic tooth movements. Today, three expansion treatment
modalities are used: RME; SME; and Surgically assisted
maxillary expansion. Clinical conditions indicated includes cross
bites, distal molar movement, functional appliance treatment,
surgical cases(arch co-ordination, bone grafts),to aid max.
protraction and mild crowding.

4.  It was first described by Emerson Angell in 1860 ;later repopularized by Haas.
 Main object is to correct max. arch narrowness.
 Advocates of RME believe that it results in minimum dental movement(tipping) and
maximum skeletal movement.
 When heavy, rapid forces are applied to post. teeth, forces are transferred to the
sutures. When force delivered by appliance exceeds the limit needed for orthodontic
tooth movement and sutural resistance, the sutures open up while teeth move only
minimally relative to their supporting bone.
 The appliance compresses the PDL, bends alveolar process, tips the anchor teeth,
gradually opens the midpalatel suture and all other max. sutures.

5.  Maxillary halves: Hass and Wertz found maxilla to be frequently displaced
downward and forward.
 Palatal vault: Haas reported that palatine process of maxilla was lowered due to
outward tilting of max. halves.
 Alveolar process: Lateral bending of alv. processes occurs early during RME, which
rebounds back after a few days.
 Maxillary anterior teeth: It is estimated that during active suture opening, incisors
separate approx. half the distance the expansion screw has been opened. This
diastema is self-corrective due elastic recoil of transseptal fibers'.
 Maxillary posterior teeth: There is buccal tipping, extrusion of max. molars.

6.  Effect of RME on mandible: There is concomitant tendency for mandible
to swing downward and backward.
 RME and nasal airflow: Anatomically, there is an increase in the width of
the nasal cavity immediately following expansion thereby improves in
breathing. The nasal cavity width gain avg.1.9mm.but can be wide as 8 to
10 mm.

7.  INDICATIONS
 Cases with transverse discrepancy
=>4mm
 Maxillary molars are buccally
inclined
 To facilitate max. protraction in
class III
 In cleft lip and palate patients with
collapsed maxillae.
 Moderate maxillary crowding
 CONTRAINDICATIONS
 Patients who have passed the
growth spurt.
 Recession on buccal aspect of
molars
 Anterior open bite
 Steep mandibular plane
 Convex profile.
 Patients showing poor
compliance

8.  Discomfort due to heavy forces used
 Traumatic separation of midpalatal suture
 Inability to correct molars
 Requirement of patient/parent cooperation in activation of appliance
 Bite opening
 Relapse
 Micro trauma of TMJ and midpalatal suture
 Root resorption
 Tissue impingement
 Pain
 Labor-intensive procedure in fabrication of appliance

9.  Patient/ parent should be informed in advance about upper midline
diastema during the expansion phase, that is likely to close
spontaneously during the retention period.
 Patients should be instructed to turn the expansion screw ¼ turn twice
a day(am and pm),which may be associated with minor discomfort.
 Patients should be reviewed weekly and some clinicians recommend an
upper occlusal radiograph to be taken one week into treatment to
ensure that midpalatal suture has separated.
 In absence of such evidence, its imp. to stop appliance activation as
there is risk of alv.# and/or periodontal damage.
 Active treatment is usually required for a period of 2-3 wks.
 Retention period of 3 mons is recommended for bony infilling of
separated suture.

10.  These are of two types:
 Banded Appliance –Are attached to teeth with bands on maxillary
first molar and first premolars; are hygienic as there is no palatal
coverage. It is of 2 types:
a)Tooth and tissue borne
b)Tooth borne
 Bonded Appliance – Appliance is constructed with an acrylic cap over
the posterior segments, which is then bonded directly to the teeth.

12. They consists of only bands and wires without any acrylic covering.
1)HYRAX EXPANDER:
• Introduced by William Biederman in 1968.It makes use of a special screw called HYRAX (
Hygenic Rapid Expander),which is essentially a nonspring loaded jackscrew with an all wire
frame.
• The screws have heavy gauge wire extensions that are adapted to follow the palatal contours
and soldered to bands on premolar and molar.
• Each activation of screw produces approx.0.2mm of lateral expansion and it is activated from
front to back.
• Main advantage is that it does not irritate the palatal mucosa; is easy to keep clean; capable of
providing sutural separation of 11mm within a short period of wear; maximum of 13mm can
be achieved.

14. 2) ISSACSON EXPANDER:
• Makes use of a spring loaded screw called Minnie expander soldered
directly to the bands on first premolar and molars.
• The Minnie expander is a heavily calibrated coil spring expanded by
turning a nut to compress the coil. Two metal flanges perpendicular to
the coil are soldered to bands on abutment teeth. It may continue to
exert expansion forces after completion of expansion phase unless they
are partly deactivated.

15.  They consist of an expansion screw with acrylic abutting alveolar ridges.
TYPES:
• HAAS-It is a rigid appliance designed for maximum dental anchorage using a jackscrew to produce
expansion in 10 to 14 days.
• DERICHSWEILER-The first pm and molars are banded. Wire tags are soldered to these bands and
then inserted to the spilt palatal acrylic, which contain the screw.
ADVANTAGES:
 Produces more parallel expansion
 Less relapse
 Greater nasal cavity and apical base gain
 More favorable relationship of denture bases in width and frequently in the anteroposterior plane as
well.
 Creates more mobility of maxilla instead of tooth.
DISADVANTAGE:
 They tends to have higher soft tissue irritation.

17.  First described by Cohen and Silverman in 1973
ADVANTAGES:
 It can be easily cemented during the mixed dentition stage, when retention from
other appliances can be poor.
 No. of appointments are reduced.
 There is reduced posterior teeth tipping and extrusion.
 It provides Bite Block effect to facilitate the correction of anterior cross bite
(McNamara)

18.  It is designed for orthopedic expansion along with labial alignment of
incisors. As expansion occurs, the IPC controls the NiTi open coil
spring force applied to the lingual surface of ant. teeth. Wire around
the distal end of the lateral incisors limits the midline diastema that
often occurs RPE treatment.

19. • Slow expansion has been found to promote greater expansion stability, if given an
adequate retention period.
• It delivers a constant physiologic force until required expansion is obtained.
• The appliance is light and comfortable.
• Prefabrication eliminates extra appointments for impressions and the time and
expense of laboratory fabrication.
• For SME, 10-20 Newton of force should be applied to maxillary region, only 450-
900 gm of force is generated, which may be insufficient to separate a progressively
maturing suture.
• Maxillary arch width increases, ranged from 3.8- 8.7 mm with slow expansion of
as much as 1mm/wk using 900 gm of force.

20. Coffin appliance:-
• It is a removable appliance capable of slow dentoalveolar expansion , given by
Walter Coffin in 1875.
• Consists of an omega – shaped wire of 1.25mm thickness , placed in mid
palatal region.
• Free ends of omega are embedded in acrylic covering the slopes of the palate
• Spring is activated by pulling two asides apart manually.
Magnets
• Repulsive magnetic forces for max. expansion was first described by
Vardemon et al 1987
• Banded magnets produced more pronounced skeletal ; versus overall
expansion effects
• Continuous force of 250-500 gm could generate dental and skeletal
movements , the degree depending on patient status (age, growth, etc)

21. Advantages
• They impart measured continuous force over a long period of time , so risk of external
root resorption is decreased.
• These are quite bulky as they must be adequately stabilized and contain stout guide rods
to prevent magnets becoming out of line and causing unwanted rotational movements.
Disadvantages
• Magnets tend to be oxidized in the oral environment because of potential formation of
corrosive products but this can be overcome by coating magnets.

22.  The appliance was originally used by Ricketts and his colleagues to treat cleft palate patients.
 It is a fixed appliance constructed of 36 mil steel wire soldered to molar bands.
 Lingual arch should be constructed so that it rests 1-1.5mm off the palatal soft tissue.
 Activated by opening the apices of W-arch , easily adjusted to provide more ant. than post.
expansion or vice-versa if this is desired.
 Delivers proper force levels when opened 3-4mm wider than the passive width , should be
adjusted to this dimensions before being inserted.
 Expansion should continue at the rate of 2mm/month until cross bite is slightly overcorrected.

23. • It is a modification of coffin’s W-Spring, was described by Ricketts.
• The incorporation of 4 helices into the W-spring helped to increase flexibility and range of
activation.
• Length of palatal arms of appliances can be altered depending upon which teeth arch in cross
bite.
• Prefabricated appliances of Ni-Ti have been introduced more recently.
• Advantage of using Ni-Ti over stainless steel includes its more favorable force delivery
characteristics due to its super elastic properties.
• It works by a combination of buccal tipping and skeletal expansion in ratio of 6:1 in
prepubertal children.

24. • Desirable force level of 400gm can be delivered by activating the appliance
by 8mm, which equates to approx. one molar width.
• Patients should be reviewed on a six-weekly basis.
• Expansion should be continued until the palatal cusps of upper molars meet
edge-to-edge with the buccal cusps of mand. molars.
• A degree of over correction is desirable as relapse is inevitable.
• A 3 month retention period, with quadhelix in place is recommended once
expansion has been achieved.

25.  Good retention
 Large range of action
 Orthopedic effect
 Differential expansion
 Habit breaker
 Fixed appliances can be incorporated
 Molar rotation
 Non-compliance
 Cost effective
Disadvantages
 Molar tipping
 Bite opening
 Limited skeletal change

26.  Active components of jet are soldered or attached to molar bands.
 Telescopic unit is placed up to 5 mm from center of resistance of max. teeth,
but must be 1.5 mm away from palatal tissue.
 Force applied in mixed dentition is 240 gm ; 400 gm in permanent dentition .
 Activation is by moving the lock screw horizontally along the telescopic tube.
 A ball stop on the transpalatal wire allows the spring to be compressed.

27.  They were introduced by Wendell V.
 Generates optimal, constant expansion forces.
 Central component is made of a thermally activated NiTi alloy and rest of
stainless steel.
 May be used simultaneously with conventional fixed appliances, only an
additional lingual sheath on molar bands is required.
 A 3mm increment of expansion exerts only about 350gm of force and NiTi
alloy provides relatively uniform force level as expander deactivates.

28. Indications:
 To widen the arch.
 To correct posterior cross bite when large amount (> 7mm) of expansion is required
to avoid the potential increased risk of segmental osteotomy.
 To widen the arch following maxillary collapse associated with a cleft palate; in
cases with extremely thin and delicate gingival tissue; presence of significant buccal
gingival recession in canine-bicuspid region of maxilla, and in condition where
significant nasal stenosis is found.
Techniques available are :
 Surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion (SARPE) has gained popularity as a
treatment option to correct MTD. It allows clinicians to achieve efficient max.
expansion in a skeletally mature patient.
 Segmental maxillary surgery :- Transverse expansion can be produced during a Le
Fort 1 osteotomy by creating an additional surgical cut along the midpalatal suture.
The maxillary halves are then separated and retained in new position. This is
indicated in pts .who require expansion and have coexisting sagittal and/or vertical
maxillary discrepancies.

29. Expansion of the maxilla and the maxillary
dentition may be accomplished in numerous
ways. The type of skeletal and dental pattern
greatly influences the type of expansion chosen
and the type of expansion selected can greatly
facilitate the overall treatment objectives.

30. THANK YOU !!!