Badbite, it was my ortho wanted the tooth extracted so I imagine he needs the space and in time it will be filled when the other teeth all move where they’re supposed to. My teeth really are super-overcrowded! Presumably you’ve got to wait until everything else is done before you can decide about an implant? Glad you’re getting on ok with the braces, still. Have you mentioned your concerns about relapse to your ortho? Try not to worry, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing!!
Crazyb, I know what you mean about the struggle to get at the obscure places to brush & floss. I’ve also had such problems for years and I’ve had periodontal disease and now have badly receding gums. All a bit of mess, really! The dentist and the ortho both think it’s quite likely more weak spots will come to light when new surfaces are exposed. I had my extraction site checked on today, and the newly revealed side of the tooth next to it is showing signs of demineralization, but no actual cavities, thank goodness. Oh and do you manage to floss the teeth where the molar bands are? I’ve almost given up on the teeth right at the back, what with having to thread through wires and past metal bits to try and find gaps that aren’t really there!!
Luke88, how’s it going? Have you finished expanding now?
Delag, any more problems with your upper lip thingie? (I said I wasn’t one for technical terms!) It sounds like your ridge is something a bit different from mine, so I shall just continue being weird on my own!!
Nesbob, hi and welcome! I can’t help out much with the technical terms I’m afraid, I just call the op I had SARPE because it sounds like what everyone else here had. It would be different in German anyway, but the surgeon did put something about LeFort on my notes as well. Before my op the OS showed me with pencil lines on a model all the places he would be making an incision – basically, like you say, all along the upper gum line – to release the bone. I ended up thinking it would have been simpler if he showed me where he intended NOT to make an incision
. The hammer and chisel bit comes in, I think, when they crack open the suture line, along the top of the mouth where the two halves of the palate have fused together. Bit like cracking open a coconut, I suppose. Fun, eh?
As for recovery times, it’s hard to say, really, as everybody’s different. A lot of it depends on how you respond to general anaesthesia – assuming you’re having a general, and not being operated on under waking sedation, which some people do. I have a few other medical issues which mean it takes me a long time to get fit again after an operation, so I was exceptionally tired for many weeks afterwards. But I was still back looking after my 3 kids and doing some work from home within just a few days of the op. Make sure you get as nutritious a diet as possible, even if you have to liquidize everything, as that really helps. There’s a sticky at the top of the page with recipe ideas.
When is your op, do you have a date for it yet? Do you already have the expander in?
