Fig. 4 “I believe that early expansion can solve airway problems which can effect the child their entire life, and is best done prior to the final bony development where it hardens and becomes more rigid.” Fig. 6 Fig. 5 Fig. 7 The difference between their treatment philosophies is that Dr. Gonzalez gets in and out as a phase one with a TAT (touching all teeth) retainer while Dr. Carapezza times it so that he completes one longer phase of treat-ment which ends when the permanent dentition is fully in with his orthodontic guidance. I am currently doing a phase one and phase two therapy with the TAT retainer, but this could be used as an adjunct to Dr. Carapezza’s treatment if you times it correctly. There are a number of suppliers of these now and are readily available. What I like about the upper is the ability to distalize like Dr. Carapezza to correct unilat-eral or bilateral growing Class II cases. I have heard many times you can not expand the lower, but in my experience if you move the teeth as a group they move the alveolus at the same time creating true expansion. Early Expansion I took Dr. Edward Gonzalez’s course in Florida on pediatric orthodontics and quickly learned the benefits of early expansion. His daughter does much of his lab work and he was using the quad helix appliance with great results. I could only find John’s Dental to make the appliances for me and was looking for something that I could also generate some other forces with like Dr. Carapezza does with his utility arch wires with bends who also taught me much through his course. I have been using the transforce and transverse nickel titanium expanders to great effect to combine some of both Dr. Gonzalez and Dr. Carapezza’s results. 26 Fall 2017 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Fall 2017: Page 26
