The Bones of Children’s Mouths Are Being Wrenched Apart

The Bones of Children’s Mouths Are Being Wrenched Apart

Every night before bedtime, my daughter tilts back her head so that a pair of metal plates inside her mouth can be cranked apart another quarter of a millimeter. We turn a jackscrew with a wire tip; it spreads the bones within her upper jaw. At times she groans or even cries: she says that she can feel the pressure up into her nose. This is normal. My daughter is 9 years old. She has a palate expander. So does her best friend, and, by her count,…