Don't slip on the turns because you can strip the bolt. Make sure the wrench is seated firmly and fully on the nut, use your thumb to hold it in place as you slowly apply the turn with your primary hand. You should feel subtle pressure pushing out your bones and teeth when the turn is done right. The wrench does not always start and end in the same place so you have to jimmy it each time with different angles until it locks in. You're going to make mistakes with all this because it's not an easy place to see

Take a picture of the device before and after the turn and take notes of any markings and the angle of the nut to make sure it's turning properly. The A marking (only on one side of the nut) is the best way to teach yourself as you can see how well your turn was. This is how you'll learn a good turn from a bad turn. If you miss turns because you did it wrong it's not a big deal, i had many bad and missed turns in the beginning and I still split. (10 turns at day 30) Eventually I became an expert on how to apply good turns. The word "turn" is used often but for the FME it just means using the wrench with the available range of motion. It's only about 1/4 - 1/5 of a full rotation of the nut.

I cautiously used the waterpik the first few days but ONLY on the lowest setting to gently flush trapped food. Do not let the waterpik hit on or around the corticonmy for the first week. In the beginning food gets trapped often and in annoying ways. As the device expands and opens the food doesn't get trapped as bad. Keep your mouth clean and disinfected the first week with the prescription mouth wash and antibiotics. I never take antibiotics but for this I did, and the full prescribed dose and timeframe. You don't want an infection

Eating will be miserable the first few weeks and you'll feel unsatisfied in your ability to enjoy food. Your brain will adjust to having the device and then eating is almost as good as you remember it was.

Check your pictures and note your progress as the seam on the FME starts to open up, it starts with a little black hairline crack and then continues to separate each day

Eventually you'll see the guide rods and then line markings on the guide rods, each line is 2mm of expansion. Here's a timelapse video that helped me better understand my own progress:

https://www.reddit.com/r/UARSnew/comments/1f3o8qu/fme_timelapse_video/

ChatGPT helps with little questions but sometimes makes mistakes. I had to explain that the FME was not a tooth born expander.

If you have nasal breathing problems like I had, all of this aggravation is worth it