SARPE Surgery

[one/more/step]

Hey everyone! I am brand spank'n new to this sight. I've never posted or joined any sights like this so give me grace if I post in the wrong area or something. I've been looking into SARPE surgery for some time now. Does anyone know of any good surgeons in Alberta, Canada? Thank you all for posting, your experience and openness is giving me some courage to push forward with this

[john123]

I'm finally getting the surgery! Somehow I managed to get the surgery for only $1500! $500 for the anesthesia and $100 for the surgery. The surgeon is going to be doing the operation in his office rather than through all the hospital stuff, which is why the cost is so much less. My date is July 26th so I'll be going back to school in August with a beautiful gap. Gonna be great!

[rosesrred1026]

It has been almost 2 months to the day past my SARPE. I've improved a LOT since. I'd like to post pictures, but, forgive my ignorance, am not quite sure how to do it on here yet unless I link to an external site. I'll figure it out when I can for anyone who'd like to see my progress. Life has certainly not slowed down even though I've been eager to post!

Summary of the process:
My procedure was done in Washington DC on May 16. The palatal expander was cemented the day before the SARPE. I had little to no pain; just the eerie feeling of my upper jaw moving around. I was swollen for a couple weeks afterwards and it was difficult to speak for a week and a half. I managed to get through a job interview 6 days after the procedure (and got the job! ), and was well enough to go back to work a week afterwards, even though I was still in recovery mode.

Five days after my surgery, my orthodontist and oral surgeon gave the green light to begin the expansion. I believe they said that they needed 6-7mm. I turned the expander twice a day for two and a half weeks before ortho told me to pause. Unfortunately, because I live alone and don't really have the wherewithal to have someone else help me turn the key, I hadn't been doing complete turns, which slowed down the expansion. Long story short, I had to go in every week in the month of June for them to do controlled turns for me.

As of this past Friday, my orthodontist did three more turns. He said I'd have to come in once more before the end of this month where he would do the last set of turns before stopping for good. I'm pretty much at where they want me to be; they just want to overcorrect to account for any retraction that may occur when the expander is removed. There is a gap between my two front teeth, but it is not too bad, given I had an overlap before.

My lower arch was braced June 10th, and my upper two weeks later on June 24th. My lower teeth hurt a LOT worse than my upper, given that some numbness remains from the SARPE.

I'd have to say that the hardest part was the dietary restriction. Even with creativity, blended food got old very fast. Plus I'm already very thin naturally, so I wasn't happy about the couple of pounds that I lost. I'm pretty much back to normal though, although hard foods and big sandwiches are still a no-go!

Will post more updates soon

[john123]

Had my surgery last friday. A week ago at this moment I was worrying my ass off. I wish I had known how relatively pain-free it was. The day of surgery was kind of rough, but mainly because of the anesthesia side-effect of nausea and the fact that I couldn't eat a thing. Other than that, I woke up the next morning with a little bit of soreness but it was nothing some advil couldn't fix. Took one advil, drank a cup of coffee, and was ready for a yogurt and jello filled day. The third day was definitely the worst one because that's when I experienced the most soreness. I took 2 advils that day. After that day, my pain and soreness was pretty much nonexistent. I never took any of hydros and took maybe 4 advils total. Not bad at all. My cheeks puffed up a little bit but honestly I liked them liked that. I miss those puffy cheeks.

Eating is almost back to normal. I had waffles, biscuits, and a chipotle burrito bowl today...and I'll be eating pizza tomorrow (it's been too long without pizza). Eating with my back teeth isn't really a problem.

Tomorrow's the day I start turning. I think i'm going for 11mm of expansion. I hope that won't be too much! After that I guess it's back to college with a gap...hopefully not for long, though. Can't believe I'm on the home stretch. It was a long 4 months waiting for the surgery and I'm so glad it's finally behind me. Crazy to think this is actually happening. Just crazy.

[katsface]

Quick Update...

My Teeth Finally Touch Again!!!!





and you can see that my lower arch is rounding out pretty well too

Super Cool! I'll post a better update and be a little more interactive later but I just wanted to share since my teeth just started touching again today

[john123]

Quick Update...

My Teeth Finally Touch Again!!!!





and you can see that my lower arch is rounding out pretty well too

Super Cool! I'll post a better update and be a little more interactive later but I just wanted to share since my teeth just started touching again today

Beautiful looking top set of teeth!

[redwine]

Katsface: wow, beautiful. Congratulations!

[ST24085]

Hey everyone! I am brand spank'n new to this sight. I've never posted or joined any sights like this so give me grace if I post in the wrong area or something. I've been looking into SARPE surgery for some time now. Does anyone know of any good surgeons in Alberta, Canada? Thank you all for posting, your experience and openness is giving me some courage to push forward with this

I'm planning to go with Dr. Kevin Lung. He's apparently one of the best in Alberta. Waiting times are crazy though. Be prepared :/.

[DivineJustice]

Hey guys, new member here.

I had braces for a little under 3 1/2 years now. My original treatment plan was supposed to be 2 years of braces with lower jaw surgery somewhere in that time frame, but unfortunately I ran into complications. I also had to get extractions to fix a slight overjet complication as well. Kind of makes me wonder if I should have gotten a second opinion before going with my Orthodontist's recommendations, however it is far too late to think about that now =/. So during the Summer of 2012 I was planning on going into surgery, my ortho hadn't cleared me yet. But then finally in July he said he might have more work to do after lower jaw surgery and they would send models of my teeth to the oral surgeon for evaluation. The oral surgeon didn't feel comfortable moving my lower jaw forward without first doing SARPE! He cited that my upper naw would be slightly narrow and I would relapse if the lower jaw surgery happened without SARPE first. I was really depressed to hear that. So I went through the hurdles of insurance to get them to clear my surgery. Unfortunately in August of 2012 I was denied coverage and would be expected to pay out of pocket. Hearing this my dad completely pushed my surgery to summer of 2013, saying that I am to close to school starting. I still don't get why I had to wait 8 months for that to happen, but I had no authority to tell him that he had to shell out thousands now.

So I had SARPE in May 2013, surgery went successful and no surgical complications (so far). Insurance even covered some of my hospital bills so that was +1 for the good guys. However, my expander malfunctioned and wouldn't turn a couple weeks later so my orthodontists office had to rip out my expander and get a new one in, that was one hell of a week I'll tell you. I got my wire back on in June and was beginning to close my gap. I finally got the expander off 3 weeks back and they put the missing brackets back on, but unfortunately I was slightly asymmetically expanded on the right side of my mouth and they would have to put rubber bands to help get the teeth aligned in preparation for my lower jaw surgery which I'm hoping can happen during December.

Today I walk into my oral surgeons office and I never get good news when I ask this guy questions. I asked the remaining length of my treatment and apparently it may extend to after I graduate college (May 2014) and then he tells me I may have to lose my front teeth down the line because my tooth roots have been affected during the closing phase and that it's not uncommon for it to be like this. I'm like what the hell! Sometimes I wonder if going through all these hurdles just to fix bad jaw alignment issues was even worth it if I'm losing so much teeth and money in the process. What do you guys think? Maybe I just live an unlucky life or something.

[katsface]

I got my expander OUT!!!!!!!

I actually got BOTH of them out at the end of September. It's FANTASTIC! So much easier to eat and talk!

I will say, in case anyone in the future gets a bonded expander like mine, it hurt a lot to have it removed. There's no glue solvent or anything. They just pry it off. If your tooth roots aren't super sensitive (if getting regular adjustments doesn't hurt much) maybe this won't bother you either. But my tooth roots are apparently very sensitive and sometimes it really hurts when they're just opening my bracket doors. Anyway, it was worth the pain. I LOVE not having that thing in my mouth!

I also got some interesting news (that I half expected) at my 6 month follow up with the surgeon. I've always had a gummy smile, which my Ortho has attributed to over active upper lip. I've also noticed now that my teeth have straightened out that my upper jaw slants down on my left side. I asked the surgeon about these things b/c I suspected that I might have a vertical excess of the upper jaw. He looked at it, looked at my incisal display when my lips were parted and resting, and agreed that I might need a LeFort to shorted my upper jaw in addition to my upcoming BSSO. But, he wanted to let my ortho have a look and see how he wanted to proceed before we committed to anything. Either way, he predicted that I'll be ready for my BSSO by this summer.

So, I went to my ortho a week later for my SureSmile scan, and he asked if I was starting to be happy with my upper teeth. I mentioned a couple of things, then I mentioned that I still think my teeth are too low, and he finally agreed that I was a surgical case. I mentioned that the surgeon said he thought that might be the case, and that he wanted to see if the ortho wanted to try to impact my teeth. Ortho said that impaction would not be as stable, and that he thinks I should correct with surgery.

Anyway, tomorrow I need to scheduled another 20 minute consult with the surgeon (who is really great and personable btw) to figure out the game plan.

My insurance it wonky right now b/c of the Affordable Health Care Act. (I don't want to engage in a political discussion, so I'll try to deliver this as "just the facts"). Instead of updating my plan to the new regulations, Anthem is just canceling that plan at the end of 2014. I'm still covered under my current plan until then. They wrote a letter telling me that my premium is going up, my insurance is being canceled in Dec. 2014, and that I have the option of changing to a different plan through Anthem, or finding a new company through the Healthcare Marketplace during open enrollment.

But, that makes me wonder if they will be inclined to approve or deny the new surgery (surgeries) if I stay with them until my plan expires. Unfortunately, with Anthem BCBS of VA, a pre-aproval is only good for 6 months. So the insurance coordinator at my surgeons office couldn't submit an entire treatment plan when I got approval for the SARPE. They only got the SARPE approved at that time. They told me they thought the BSSO was medically necessary, but the insurance co can still find ways of denying it if for whatever reason they want to. I also didn't know about the Lefort when I started this process, so I kind of went into it half blind and hoping things would work out for the best. Now, since my insurance is in flux, I wonder if they will be inclined to approve or deny.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and thanks for the compliments on my top teeth!

[JonnyP]

Hi there - newbie here,

I'm from London and here in the UK we have a bolt type of Sarpe expander rather than the cemented onto molars version (Hyrax???), so I'm not sure how relevant this is to you but any advice will be greatly received.

I had my sarpe surgery 12 days ago now and was just wondering if anyone had experienced the following:

1) very bad pain in very top / roof of palate above the expander and around the sides where it bolts to the bone? I can barley drink or eat at times. Warm water seems to sooth it.

2) cracking sound/feeling down the middle of my palate soon after turning the spanner

3) still bruised and swollen after almost 2 weeks (also had bottom wisdom teeth out)

4) I suspect my expansion is uneven ie just happening on one side. Hoe common is this and how can you tell?

I'm probably just being naive... After all it is quite a traumatic thing for your body to go through, so should really expect the odd problem / pain, just haven't read much from what others have experienced.

Maybe being 37 means the bones are more tough to manipulate etc.

Thanks in advance. This site has been very useful so far.

J

Cross bite & underbite
Expanding for 7 days and at about 4mm.
Had braces since Feb 2013 (10 months)

[Habzburg]

[quote="JonnyP"]
4) I suspect my expansion is uneven ie just happening on one side. Hoe common is this and how can you tell?
[/quote]

Hi Jonny,

I'm 37 too, with an underbite. I managed to avoid the need for SARPE although it was being considered early on in my case by my surgeon. I just had my lower wisdom teeth out yesterday and I was told to expect swelling and bruising but I've been very lucky so far.

From what I know you should be seeing even expansion on both sides with SARPE. If you're in any doubt about this, my advise would be to contact your surgeon or ortho straight away. I was told to expect a reasonable amount of pain had I needed the procedure so that sounds about right. Again, if in doubt contact your surgeon or ortho.

Your age probably isn't a big issue. As far as I know the reason people generally need SARPE is because the bones of the upper jaw/skull have completely fused which in males is usually after your teenage years, so being in your mid-twenties would be no better.

If you do a YouTube search for "nate SARPE" you'll see a guy who had SARPE aged 20. He's put videos up of his progress from start to finish too.

Best of luck with everything! Hope all goes well.

[JonnyP]

Hi habzburg,

Thanks for your input. I have seen ortho since this post and it turns out I had an infection and the skin had also broken down and showing some bone around the device which is causing the pain.

Also I've been advised that it's too difficult to tell re uneven expansion as there's still much swelling etc. so we are just keeping a close eye on things.

My advice for anyone having the bolt in your palate type if sarpe would be:

- make sure you stick with your antibiotics til the end.
- clean teeth after eating and use warm water and salt to rinse regularly
- take pain killers regularly, especially before eating and expanding if you have a lot of pain.

If you really think something is up do tell surgeon or ortho and get properly checked out as I was sent home after junior max fax doctor shined his torch for 2 secs and said all is fine when I knew it was not. Needless to say I had to go back after infection and pain got worse couple of days later when I saw the main man who confirmed my suspicions after a proper check in my mouth.

J

[ST24085]

Anyone in here have a borderline SARPE surgery? What I am referring to is they can only expand 5 mm with Lefort. Anything more than that needs SARPE. It appears I may be one of these cases; perhaps only requiring 6 or 7 mm MAX. My ortho is suggesting she can tip the molars slightly to have me avoid the surgery. I'd rather just do it right I think.

Anyone else have this or been through it?

[Anna5]

Hello!

That is a hard decision you have to make! I am sorry to hear that you are needing a bit more than 5 mm expansion.
If I were you, I think I would talk to my ortho about the possibilities of tipping your molars a little bit, otherwise you have to get SARPE for just 1 mm extra expansion and I am not sure whether this is worth another surgery.....

I wish you very good luck and wisdom with your decision!