SARPE Surgery

[chicago29]

Hi crazybeautiful,

I STILL have the expanders...BUT, they come out this upcoming Wednesday. I leave Thursday for a trip to London and Munich and I practically demanded to my Ortho that they come out. I told him I won't be able to drink beer and enjoy Oktoberfest with these damn expanders!! Luckily, he agreed it is time for them to be removed...

I will be sure to post what it feels like when they are out...It is now but a few days away. I honestly can't believe it!

Take Care
Chicago29

[glenncoyle]

thanks chicago29 and crazybeutiful!!

people at work think im mad in doing this, but its not for them its for me. ive put off moving into an apartment i have bought (kept the tenants in there a bit longer) to make sure i can afford to do this all.

im not worried about the surgery, thats the easy bit, ill be knocked out

ill try and keep my blog updated with details and ill let you know how i get on.

Chicago, enjoy the october fest!! I was there a few years ago and had a ball, give you a tip do not wear underwear in the pig pen in the haufbrough (spelling sorry) tent. you will know what i mean when you see it i lived in london for a few years so feel free to PM me if you want some ideas of things to do.

[crazybeautiful]

Ah, sorry if I sort of rubbed it in that you still have your expanders in there, chicago! Well, when you do get them out, it'll feel great

Enjoy your trip to London and Munich. I've only been to London a couple a times on school trips, etc (I live in northern England) to see Shakespeare at The Globe, but you know, I can recommend that!

PS- to promote tourism to Northen England, may I suggest travelling to see the York Moors or the Peak District. The north is much better than the south

[Braceventura]

I had lower braces put on in August 2008. After my lower teeth all came together after 10 months, my Ortho set up my SARPE.

I had my RPE put in July 16th. I had my SARPE on July 22nd. I finished my expansion (about 8MM, 40 turns) around August 1st. Lots of fun I could have done without.

I've read a lot of your posts and my experience seems to closely approximate most of yours.

Overall, it's been a relatively straightforward experience since I read a number of blog's on the topic in advance (e.g. Graham, Michelle, Brandy).

However, one question I have for those of you who have gone through this relates to numbness. It has been about 7 weeks since my surgery and my upper gums are still virtually completely numb along with partial numbness of my upper left lip.

When I push on my upper teeth I can now feel them much better than after the surgery (they felt wooden -- like a novocaine block). However, my upper gum is still without much, if any feeling.

For those of you who had this surgery a while ago, did you experience the same thing? If so, how long did it take for you to be able to feel your gum? For those of you who had the surgery recently, are you experiencing this same phenomenon?

The OS said all this should return to normal BUT she's never had the surgery herself!

[avy]

I had SARME done on the 12 June this year and I only started to get feeling back in my upper gums about 2 weeks ago. I would say I have about 30 - 40% back so far but I am getting a little more each week so hopefully I will get more and more back. I went to see my surgeon last week for my 3 month checkup and she said normally patients only start to get feeling back after 3 - 4 months in her experiences... sometimes 6 - 12 months. She also told me in the beginning that there is a good chance I wouldnt get feeling back because of the nerve damage that can be caused by severing the gum line. I would wait at least 3 months before getting concerned about numbness. I had some weird numbness all the way up to my eyes for about 2 months and I was really worried it wouldnt go away! Luckily its almost gone now but that had me alot more worried than my gums feeling numb

[Braceventura]

Avy: Thanks for your reply.

I will take your advice and hold on for a while before getting too concerned -- although I suppose it doesn't matter whether I'm concerned or not, it is going to be what it is going to be.

That said, I do feel that my dentist, orthodontist and oral surgeon should have been a lot more upfront re: the 'discomfort' (I love that word -- a euphemism for 'hurts like sh#$') and some of the immediate-medium term side-effects.

I don't think any one of them told me up front that I would probably experience a lot of numbness for several months -- let alone that it might be permanent.

I'm not sure it would have affected my decision to proceed with the surgery but it would have been useful information

[chicago29]

braceventura,

By the way, that's a great screen name

I had SARPE and MSDO done in February. Luckily, I have only one small bit of "altered sensation" on my bottom lip (it is not totally numb or anything). So, I can't comment on your numbness except to say that I think it is very, very likely you'll get it back.

As for the "wooden block" feeling, you're likely to experience this from 12 to 18 months after the surgery. The reason, according to my OS, is because your teeth have moved into new bone and it takes a long time for things to settle. I know what you're going through. It isn't fun by any means, but it isn't really anything that stops me from doing anything.

Take Care
Chicago29

[colorpurple]

I really want your advice on this --

I had my SARPE on June 16th, 14 weeks ago, and I still look CONSIDERABLY swollen. I talked to my OS about this last week, and he said that it could be the RPE appliance making my face appear swollen (I have a bulky plastic RPE appliance in my mouth now) and that I should take it off and see how my face adjust and then see if it doesnt adjust, see if its an infection.

Can i DEMAND my OD take off the appliance? I know he's very resistant to it. I am miserable with this thing and I"m scared that my face is permanently ruined. Can I ask him to remove it and put in a TPA? I can't go on like this -- its over 3 months and people constantly comment on what's wrong with my face.

Please advise. I'm thinkng about just walking into his office and demanding he take it off.

[glenncoyle]

colorpruple - if you are not happy with what your OS is telling you, or you need confirmation, I would suggest getting a second opinion from another one.

you could ask for advice here, but id suggest that 99% of the people on here have gone through the procedure and have adviceon how to cope, but not how to deal with issues, each case is different.

plus the fact, i dont think you would find any OS would offer hard advice without investigating your situation.


Crappy to hear, that its not going how you plan, hopefully everhting gets sorted!!!!

[crazybeautiful]

I can't really imagine the expander itself making you look swollen because it lays within the arch, rather than outside of it (or is that an over-simplication? I don't know).

I was extremely swollen after my surgery, and sometimes it just takes longer for some people. Are you actually swollen, or is it just that illusion because your mouth is now considerably larger?

Ask your ortho to look into signs of infection, however as for it being the expander, I'm not really convinced

[colorpurple]

Well people tell me I look swollen. CB- how long were you swollen for? My OS suggested getting a CT scan.

[crazybeautiful]

I was swollen for a fair amount of time, but I can't remember exactly how long because it's been a while

Do you feel it is very swollen? I'm just asking because it's hard to discern sometimes if it's swelling or just facial change, etc. I would go with the scan though just to be sure if you have that option

[Jvivek]

I also have a narrow upper and lower jaw, very moderately narrow, I just had surgery to move my lower jaw 10mm forward and my chin 7mm forward. Since my orthodontist has mentioned in the past that my jaw is narrow in the past, he has never mentioned the sarpe surgery to me. I just read about it here, could I achieve my results of jaw widening by just using a expander alone?

[crazybeautiful]

Usually if you really need SARPE you have it done prior to the 'main' surgery, as it were.

If it's an issue for you, you could try using non-surgical expansion. However it isn't hugely effective, and perhaps because you've already had the surgery it wouldn't really be wise to alter how your jaws meet up, as surely this is now in something of an optimum position. Generally you need to align the arches first, not afterwards. How narrow are we talking here?

[Jvivek]

I think I need 4 mm expansion, the problem was my lower jaw was causing the upper jaw to collapse.