What can i do to make it easier to eat with a palate expander?

Soft Diet & Rinse: Unfortunately, palatal expanders make eating difficult. The teeth are being moved & upper teeth may not meet the lowers normally until orthodontics is more complete. The teeth may become sensitive to the bite & to hot and cold. In addition, the "hardware" of the expander makes the normal cleaning of the palate by the tongue difficult. Focus on the goal of healthy teeth in an improved alignment!

Small bites: Small bites and soft diet. It will get easier with time.

Drink Water!: Eating with a glass of water next to you to help with rinsing the food stuck under and around the expander. Avoiding hard, crunchy, chewy and sticky food and leafy vegetables will also make eating with an expander easier. In addition, smaller bites and keeping food in between the teeth rather that a mouth full of food will help reduce the chance of getting food caught under the expander.

Cut-up foods: Selecting a softer diet is probably necessary and reducing the number of things that require lots of chewing. Also, cutting up foods into smaller bites is important. Supplementing your diet with nutritional shakes or drinks may be useful depending upon your situation.

Expander: Cut all food into smaller pieces and chew slowly

Modify diet: Soft, high protein diet (milk shake, soup, ice cream, pudding, hamburger, tuna salad, egg salad, yoghurt, baked beans, etc. Protein promotes healing. Keep mouth immaculately clean...Water pik very helpful. If needed, take an advil (ibuprofen) about 1/2 hour before meals.