This is an issue I’ve had for most of my life with my upper jaw (called the upper arch) that is very narrow. I was told it happened because of excessive mouth breathing.
Could sleeping on my sides have caused that also? With the side of my face pressed against the pillow for endless hours throughout my life?
I’ve also been told by oral surgeons that I need braces and then oral surgery to break the rear parts and then move them to widen it.
This is too expensive and I won’t be paying for that ever most likely.
Are there any non-surgical options? If there are the oral surgeons don’t want to tell you about it because they want you to pay for the surgery.
You’re talking about bone structures. Assuming you’re an adult, that is, fully mature, the skull you have is the one you’re going to have unless you have surgery. There are no exercises to make your upper jaw wider any more than there are exercises to make your arms and legs longer.
Whether or not you have surgery on your jaw is up to you.
But if you’re having problems due to your jaw being too narrow then braces and/or surgery are the only things that will fix it.
Both of my kids had palate expanders, a device that was attached to some of their upper teeth, that I had to use a tiny key to widen it every day or so for a couple of weeks. This was done before either kid got braces. I assume those don’t work for adults, or won’t work well enough for your situation, but you could always ask the oral surgeon. (on doing some googling, there’s some contradictory info; the general assumption is that these don’t work for adults, but some are challanging that now).
I’d never heard of a connection between mouth breathing and narrow jaws; I was a lifelong mouth breather until I had nasal surgery in my late 20s, and I’ve never been told I had a narrow jaw. Not to say it isn’t connected, just not in my case. I doubt sleeping on your side made much of a difference, since the weight of your head was spread out over a much larger area.
Why would you want to bother with orthodontia / surgery? Is there some issue e.g. breathing problems, significant dental issues, etc. that might be helped?
As an adult I had to have two jaw surgeries to correct my bite as well as braces. My upper jaw was too narrow and I had to have SARPE or Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion they cut my upper palate right down the middle and I had to have the appliance with the key to turn it and watch as a giant gap appeared in my bite, though it wasn’t permanent.
It was so incredibly painful. I asked the Orthodontist once if these things could be done without surgery and he told me on even an adult theoretically it could be done even though the bone isn’t really growing anymore but it would take so many years as to be impractical. Even with two surgeries and braces it was still a two year process.
I know in some Asian countries they use Temporary Anchorage Devices in lieu of surgery to try and achieve the same results for certain malocclusions but I think they have higher rates of relapse and look quite invasive and painful.