upper palate issue
Sue Cannon
palate of children with Down syndrome to help with articulation?
Sue, Mom of
Greg 27
Mara 26
Hanna 23
Bennett 11.5 (DS)
Jennifer Wager
my son's speech.
K Anderson
Jennifer Wager <kega...@PEOPLEPC.COM> wrote:No but we used a palate expander for orthodontic purposes which has helped
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Linda Hodge
thing i have tried and exhausted all avenues trying to get in touch with
some-one here who has never heard of this palate expander. I have only seen
this once on a documentry on tv. I tried to get in touch with the film
company but never got any response. I`d be grateful for any info you may be
able to give me on this device as i think also it would assist in robbies
speech but, i dont know if he`s now too old to try this out.
Kind
Regards, Linda.
Jennifer Wager
----- Original Message -----
From: "K Anderson" <kjande...@YAHOO.COM>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.down-syn
To: <DOWN...@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 2:23 PM
Subject: Re: upper palate issue
Jennifer Wager
enough room for his permanent teeth to come in. It has been almost a year
and it has worked great. His teeth are almost regularly spaced. His will
still have to wear braces. An added benefit of him having so much room in
his mouth is that his Teachers, friends and even strangers can understand
him better. I do not know the type of expander that was installed. I can
obtain this information on his next visit.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Hodge" <li...@HODGE168.FSNET.CO.UK>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.down-syn
To: <DOWN...@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU>
Linda Hodge
Linda mum to robbie 6. 1./2yrs. I e-mailed to the list some
time ago with no reply re; the upper palate expander. Please could some-one
send me some info on this. I have tried EVERWHERE/ONE to get some onfo from
to no avail. No one including the "professionals" have heard about this and
it is SO important as i think this would benefit robbie greatly from this.
He still has trouble chewing food properly and cannot eat certain things due
to his oral issues. His speech is really improving but because of his tiny
top front teeth and the gap between top and bottom teeth is still unable to
say the start and finish of a lot of his words, when he tries to put his
teeth (upper/lower) jaws together there is such a large gap, like an arch.
The orthodontist say his second teeth will come in a bit larger?. Anyway,
please can someone send me some info.
Thanks again
Judy Waldman
Linda's request for information reminds me that maybe some information about
Dina Sheva's upper palate issues may be relevant.
I think that the high arch and narrow palate become one of the "downs"
things that may not be looked at carefully enough and could have an effect
on speech, regurg, and other eating issues.
Last year, at age 9, Dina Sheva went to a pediatric craniofacial plastic
surgeon to have a small benign cyst removed from near her eye. Only the best
was going to touch her gorgeous face! An office visit a week later to remove
the 3 stitches revealed more about her speech, or lack thereof, and her
regurgitation and choking problems than all of the ENT's, GI, ST's, Ot's,
Peds, etc. had ever noticed, including that she had a T&A.
The CF PS said he thought she sounded a bit nasal. He stuck his finger in
her mouth and thought she had a submucous cleft palate. Once I did the
research, I realized how this could effect her speech and articulation, food
coming out her nose (not often but more with liquids as a baby), aspiration
of food (and subsequent pneumonias), and spitup-reflux problems (again,
worse when younger).
After testing, it was determined she has VPI: Velopharyngeal Incompetence.
This has to do with the plates and tissues of the upper palate not closing
completely. None of her 9 years of ST was directed properly to addressing
the issues that air and sounds were coming out her nose instead of her
mouth. Her speech therapy was redirected to a P.I.N.C.H. technique. At this
point, it does not seem to be bad enough to warrant grafting surgery if the
new method of ST can accomplishment some improvements.
Judy
-----Original Message-----
From: Down Syndrome [mailto:DOWN...@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU] On Behalf Of Linda
Hodge
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 8:09 AM
To: DOWN...@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
Subject: Re: upper palate issue
Marge Lees
It probably is too early. You need to see an orthodontist. We've been
going to one for a couple years (Robert is 8). With us, it's a wait and see
thing. Robert is missing 5 adult teeth on top and 2 on bottom. His mouth
is small so we have to wait and see how they(his adult teeth) fit to see if
we need implants, braces or whatever. His baby teeth a slow to fall out so
they may need to be pulled at some point.
Marge
Michelle
had a palate expander put in last year. She had a great deal of oral
surgery to help with sleep apnea. I can possibly put you in touch with
her, if that helps at all? I have to say, if this is the same surgery,
seeing the pics afterwards and knowing how hard it was on both of them,
I would be VERY sure it is necessary. I know they were facing serious
serious medical issues if they didn't try it. Good luck.
-----Original Message-----
From: Down Syndrome [mailto:DOWN...@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU] On Behalf Of
Marge Lees
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 8:15 AM
To: DOWN...@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
Subject: Re: upper palate issue
Jeanne
11 going on 12 (does not have Ds) had a palate expander when she was
9. She has a high palate and overbite. The expander was in place
for several weeks, we had to turn a "gear" in the expander to expand
her palate each day and I swear we heard a "sound" when her palate
actually separtated (and some pain was felt - advil/motrin helped).
After the expander, she had a permanent retainer put in place (as
opposed to the type of retainer that a child can remove at night).
This was needed to hold her teeth and palate in place for a period of
time before her braces could be put on.
You need to know that while the expander is in - it will greatly
affect speech and eating. It takes up space in the roof of the mouth
and it took Emily several days to adjust to speaking with it in
(remember, Emily does not have Down syndrome). She also actually had
to adjust after it was removed too.
Talk to your family dentist and have him/her refer you to an
orthodontist. I do know that our first orthodontist (we moved) told
me that he had placed a palate expander on his 7 year old son - so
your child "may" be ready for it now - who knows.
We're actually looking at maybe at least two more palate expanders in
our future (both of my sons eventually I'm guessing).
Best wishes...
Jeanne
Tracey Finch
> The expander was in place
> for several weeks, we had to turn a "gear" in the expander to expand
> her palate each day and I swear we heard a "sound" when her palate
> actually separtated (and some pain was felt - advil/motrin helped).
>
asked about "turning" it, her response was that she didn't have to go
that route. That is, we would not have to adjust, but I didn't get an
answer (and didn't ask) if that meant monthly trips to her. We will
most likely start with one shortly after our next visit to her.
Tracey
maril...@gmail.com
2 sources for you about expanders. J am not familiar with tissue grafting but i have had persons i know (twins) need and get the VPI procedure when they were 5 yrs old and they did great---had a Cincinnati Ohio doc do the procedure, don't know his name. No one was able to figure out their need and the mom figured out the symptoms, diagnosis and surgical repair herself. It was quite a remarkable story.