06 Jun The Most Effective Narrow Palate Treatment Options Explained
According to a study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 80% of the participants had a narrow palate. Structural mouth abnormalities, including a narrow palate, are often present at birth.
Thumb sucking can also lead to an improper palate development. If not treated during childhood, treating a narrow palate as an adult or teenager becomes more difficult. A narrow palate can lead to breathing difficulties, crowded teeth, and speech impediments.
Let’s discuss some of the best narrow palate treatment options and why treatment is crucial.
What Causes a Narrow Palate?
A narrow palate means there’s no space in your mouth, which can cause dental overcrowding. Additionally, the lower arch may fail to align with the upper arch, resulting in visible asymmetry.
Some of the common causes of a narrow palate include the following:
- Developmental issues and genetics of a fetus
- Facial injury
- Nasal obstruction or congestion
- Medical conditions like enlarged tonsils and sleep apnea
Importance of Treating a Narrow Palate
Narrow palate treatment is critical for your overall dental health and well-being. Among the main reasons you should treat a narrow palate is for tooth alignment and improvement of bite. Once a narrow palate is corrected, it leaves more room for your teeth to grow properly, which reduces misalignment and crowding.
This, in turn, makes it easier to maintain proper oral hygiene, preventing gum disease and cavities. A narrow palate treatment also improves the appearance of your smile.
Additionally, treating a narrow palate enhances your breathing. This is because a narrow palate can interfere with airflow, causing trouble breathing through the nose. Therefore, you breathe through your mouth, which can lead to other oral health issues.
A narrow palate treatment broadens your airway, allowing better breathing and airflow. This reduces your risk of sleep apnea and reduces snoring, ensuring you get an uninterrupted night’s sleep.
Plus, correcting a narrow palate can improve your speech. Creating more space in your mouth allows your tongue to move freely. This goes a long way in addressing speech impediments that may result from a constricted palate.
Narrow Palate Treatment Options
Treating a narrow palate becomes more complex as you grow older. Various effective narrow palate treatment options can enhance your smile and provide oral health benefits. Below are some of these treatment options, along with an explanation of how they work.
Palate Expander Options
These are the most effective and common methods for treating a narrow palate. Palate expanders are custom-made to fit the upper teeth. These devices slowly widen the upper jaw. This creates more space for your teeth to grow properly and helps align your bite.
The expander is regularly adjusted to keep the palate apart for new bone formation in the gap. Dentists primarily use palate expanders in teenagers and children under 15, just before the palate fully develops. Depending on the child’s age or the severity of the narrow palate, treatment with palate expanders may take six months to one year.
By treating a narrow palate early with an expander, you avoid the need for further orthodontic treatment later in life.
Braces
Braces play a significant role in jaw alignment correction. These orthodontic solutions align and straighten the teeth properly after the palate expands. Treatment with palate expanders and braces yields ideal results, as the expander creates room while the braces move the teeth to their desired position.
Moreover, braces correct misalignment and residual crowding, giving you a beautiful smile. You can wear braces for one to three years, depending on your case. By working together with palate expanders, braces comprehensively correct both the teeth and the palate.
Extraction
For adults with a narrow palate and whose jaws are completely developed, it may be necessary to extract certain teeth to free up space. Extraction involves removing the premolars and molars. This measure helps realign incisors without interfering with the smile’s appearance.
Surgery for Severe Cases
Surgery becomes necessary in severe cases when braces and palate expanders cannot adequately correct a narrow palate. Surgical options are considered if the patient is older, their jaw is no longer developing, or the palate is too narrow.
Orthodontic treatment typically follows surgery to ensure the teeth are properly aligned. This option offers significant improvements, enhancing both the appearance and function of your smile.
One common surgery for a narrow palate is called Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion (SARPE).
Myofunctional Therapy
This consists of mouth and facial movements that strengthen, stretch, and exercise the muscles of the face, mouth, and tongue. Once these muscles are stronger, the tongue and mouth are positioned more naturally. The tongue creates pressure on the mouth’s roof, which signals the palate to grow and widen.
When the palate expands, it allows the lower jaw and the tongue to move forward. Therefore, this leaves room at the back of the mouth, which widens the size of the airway.
Myofunctional therapy uses natural exercises to help with the following:
- Replace mouth breathing with nasal breathing
- Increase the size of the airway
- Reduce the risk of choking and encourage a better swallow
- Straighten teeth
- Enhance proper tongue placement
- Improve facial growth
- Reduce various behavioral and health issues
These exercises are done daily and may take weeks or months, depending on the child’s age and the severity of the narrow palate. Myofunctional therapy is a non-invasive narrow palate treatment option that requires patient cooperation and consistency for positive results.
McIlwain Dental Specialists: Your Oral Health Experts
Narrow palates in children and adults most likely cause breathing and speech problems. Some of the factors that contribute to the development of a narrow palate include thumb sucking, tongue-tie, abnormal mouth development, and genetics. If you or your child has a narrow palate, you should visit our dental specialists to discuss treatment options.
At McIlwain Dental Specialists, we utilize state-of-the-art technology and our expertise to provide long-term preventative oral health care to adults and children. We have various orthodontic treatments ranging from Invisalign to traditional braces to fit your lifestyle needs.
Contact us today and discover a healthy smile with narrow palate treatment.