Sarpe and mandibular distraction

[BracketRacket]

I know it looks horrid, but like anything else, you adapt to pretty much anything pretty quickly! I wouldn't say that I didn't notice it was there, but I definitly got used to it. One upside to the bone-borne device (at least for me) was that it was removed after three months, whereas the others seem to stay in much longer.

[jake95]

i've been out of surgery for about six hours now. the pain and swelling is awful. not so much the upper sarpe but the lower sarpe (MSDO). these devices are going to be a pain. both devices are bone borne. the top looks just like yours BracketRacket. the lower one is under my skin in front of my chin. i'm expanding 10mm on top and 13 to 15mm on the bottom at 1mm per day. excuse my typing in this message, i just dont are to correct anything right now. thx again for your motivating words guys

[I love my teeth]

Jake-

Glad to hear you are out of surgery! Best of luck to you, it sounds like you have a long road ahead of you, but I know you will do just fine...keep us updated!

[chicago29]

Hang in there, Jake. The first 5 to 7 days are by far the worst. Your swelling is likely to get worse tomorrow and Friday and it should start coming down after that. Having bone borne expanders are going to probably cause even more swelling.

You're expanding A LOT. Make sure you follow your surgeons exact instructions. My guess is you won't start expanding until the middle of next week as there is usually a latency period with expansion.

Relax and take it easy, and try to keep in as many fluids as you can. Keep us posted.

-Chicago29

[jake95]

thx chicago, i stating upper expansion friday and lower next wed. upper jaw not too sore but man the lower bone born hurts pretty bad. i'll post pics next week

[jake95]

saw OS today he said he had to do a lefort one with my sarpe. so he told me my upper jaw is just free floating. pain is getting better but swelling is getting worse.

[chicago29]

Many SARPE's are just a two piece Lefort 1 without the downfracture...so that's very common. Especially in situations where more then 5mm of expansion are required. You should peak with the swelling today...Keep hydrated and rested and by this time next week you will start looking normal again. I promise

[jake95]

Much better day today, I only need pn meds before i went to bed. the swelling is finally going down, u were right about day three being the worse. I see the os tomorrow and start cranking upper and lower expanders. surprisingly i'm to to worried about the top, its expanding the lower that scares me. Anyway guys thats just a quick update.

TMD_kaak.jpg

[jake95]

Much better day today. The swelling has really gone done, no more blood in my nose. My gaps are huge. Now if I could just eat some real food, a no chew diet stinks.

[Nathaniel]

Much better day today. The swelling has really gone done, no more blood in my nose. My gaps are huge. Now if I could just eat some real food, a no chew diet stinks.

I know how you feel! I blended a McDonalds Chicken Snack Wrap and their fries (seperately, of course). It actually tastes normal. I refrigerated the wrap first thought because I figured if it was harder it would blend better, then I microwaved it. Tastes the same, and doesn't look that gross at all! Now, I'm not sure if a Big Mac would yield the same result but you can try too if you like!

[jake95]

So I went to taco bell ordered a Mexican pizza 2 chalupas and a couple tacos. Keep in mind I'm on my no chew diet. Anyway I scraped all the meat sour cream cheese and beans, put it in a bowl stirred it viggeroulsy and enjoyed myself a great meal. Had to swallow most of it whole but it was easy and satifying.

[jake95]

I always had a tough time breathing out of my nose. It was never really stuffed with snot it just always felt closed off. But the last 3 days have been amazing. Ever since I hit the 4mm mark on my upper device both my nostrils have been so open. I'm at 7mm today, 3mm to go. I hope this nasal clearing is permanent because I love breathing out of my nose.

[Nathaniel]

I always had a tough time breathing out of my nose. It was never really stuffed with snot it just always felt closed off. But the last 3 days have been amazing. Ever since I hit the 4mm mark on my upper device both my nostrils have been so open. I'm at 7mm today, 3mm to go. I hope this nasal clearing is permanent because I love breathing out of my nose.

I know it's fantastic!!

[jake95]

hey guys, havent updated in awhile. I'm doing fine now, i was miserable during expansion but am much netter now. i'm finally getting use to these devices. the lower rpe was never a problem, it was always the upper boneborne device that would irraritate the crap out of my. i'm chewing soft stuff now which make my stomache feel much better. pictures soon.
in the mean times heres a link to me skydiving. check it out in post it to your facebook, i'm trying to get a lot of veiws on it. your help will be greatly appreciated.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd5Bt1fygfo

[hellogoodbye]

hi everyone i just stumbled across this board by accident - i just had my sarpe surgery on wednesday, and started turning the expander today. i've got a quick question for all you sarpe veterans - my orthodontist said to expect a gap no larger than the width of a string of spaghetti between my front teeth... was he lying, because i've been hearing all these horror stories about 2cm gaps and stuff like that... realistically, what should i expect here?

anyways, i'm so glad these boards exist, it's nice t be able to talk to other people who've had the surgery before