Metal Mouth Message Board

Thanks for the tips

well... update!

got my bottom wire extended to my back molars today, my bottom teeth are moving into position amazingly fast. which is awesome.

still no wire or brackets on my uppers... though im now scheduled for banding on April 11th! can't come soon enough. 6 weeks after that i get my expander removed. coming up so fast!

as for the gap progress... as of my last measurement it's at 3mm. it was 11mm to begin with, so it's mostly closed! entirely without the aid of a wire/brackets. all my other teeth have moved with them too, so they all look pretty good besides the gap. . it still looks goofy imo, but hopefully it finishes closing up more (if not all the way) by the time i get banded. my front teeth have started SLIGHTLY tilting inwards but it's really not that bad at all.

35ksmile wrote:well... update!

got my bottom wire extended to my back molars today, my bottom teeth are moving into position amazingly fast. which is awesome.

still no wire or brackets on my uppers... though im now scheduled for banding on April 11th! can't come soon enough. 6 weeks after that i get my expander removed. coming up so fast!

as for the gap progress... as of my last measurement it's at 3mm. it was 11mm to begin with, so it's mostly closed! entirely without the aid of a wire/brackets. all my other teeth have moved with them too, so they all look pretty good besides the gap. . it still looks goofy imo, but hopefully it finishes closing up more (if not all the way) by the time i get banded. my front teeth have started SLIGHTLY tilting inwards but it's really not that bad at all.

Congratulations on the smaller gap man, so you get braces on the 11th? What do you have now, just a power chain?

i have absolutely nothing on my top teeth. no brackets, no wire... nothing. besides the expander.

35ksmile wrote:i have absolutely nothing on my top teeth. no brackets, no wire... nothing. besides the expander.

Wow so naturally it all went back on it's own? Sweet! How much did you expand to?

Nathaniel wrote:

35ksmile wrote:i have absolutely nothing on my top teeth. no brackets, no wire... nothing. besides the expander.

Wow so naturally it all went back on it's own? Sweet! How much did you expand to?

Oops, my apologies 11mm. haha.

Update: I am getting all my braces on April 14th!!!

I haven't been on the boards in a while... but I thought I'd throw that out there. I guess since 35ksmile and I both had SARPE at around the same time- (November) and are getting braced at around the same time... that should help people know what to expect a little more

Also- I saw my jaw doc... and he wants to probably slide my upper jaw forward a TINY bit (like 1mm) and my straighten out my bottom one, since it's a little crocked. :/ Eh. He assumed that I probably wouldn't want to do it and I am pretty much feeling that I don't. lol. 1mm? I don't know... right now I am thinking that I'm not going to go for it... but I'm going to see how my teeth move and all that good stuff before I make a final decision on it.

5 days now until my sarpe surgery, im starting to get a little nervous but excited at the same time - as crazy as that sounds. I have felt like my life has been on hold until the surgery is over so im excited everything is finally happening.

Hi Guys
I am 4 days post SARPE now and everything is going well. I have already started turning the expander which I find a little uncomfortable. I think the worst part of my process is having the implants, they are pressing up against my cheeks and causing some discomfort.
I am just so glad the whole process has started and I know it will all be over soon. So good luck to any fellow impending sarpe patients

peckabel wrote:Hi Guys
I am 4 days post SARPE now and everything is going well. I have already started turning the expander which I find a little uncomfortable. I think the worst part of my process is having the implants, they are pressing up against my cheeks and causing some discomfort.
I am just so glad the whole process has started and I know it will all be over soon. So good luck to any fellow impending sarpe patients

Congratulations peckabel! Glad to see everything's good The expanding will get easier once your bones/muscles/etc. get used of it. I say for about a week and a half or so you'll feel that slight discomfort [which I guess lasts for a few hours then goes away?], but after that week and some days you won't feel any different when you expand! Are you having any other procedures done in the future as well?

Cheers,
Nathaniel

Nathaniel wrote:

peckabel wrote:Hi Guys
I am 4 days post SARPE now and everything is going well. I have already started turning the expander which I find a little uncomfortable. I think the worst part of my process is having the implants, they are pressing up against my cheeks and causing some discomfort.
I am just so glad the whole process has started and I know it will all be over soon. So good luck to any fellow impending sarpe patients

Congratulations peckabel! Glad to see everything's good The expanding will get easier once your bones/muscles/etc. get used of it. I say for about a week and a half or so you'll feel that slight discomfort [which I guess lasts for a few hours then goes away?], but after that week and some days you won't feel any different when you expand! Are you having any other procedures done in the future as well?

Cheers,
Nathaniel

No thankfully I only need the sarpe surgery. They said they can fix my bite by using the anchorage plates. I did have one joint specialist say he thinks ill need further surgery but the surgeon and ortho disagreed.
I am still having some pain even 9 days post op especially in my sinus area. Over the weekend the pain was terrible, but its starting to ease. Did you experience this?

Hey Guys!

I just wanted to stop by and say that tomorrow (April 6th) at 8:00am EST I will be having SARPE Surgery done! I am super excited and can't wait! It has been quite a long process to get to this point and I'm really glad that I am getting underway.

Any advice going into it? Any advice on what to make sure I have for after the surgery (food, accessories)?

WaterBoy13 wrote: Any advice going into it? Any advice on what to make sure I have for after the surgery (food, accessories)?

Get a blender if you don't have one and buy some pre made protein drinks. For the first few days I have things like smoothies, protein shakes, soup and even a beef casserole that I blended. I talk about it in my blog, have a read for some tips.

Hey Guys! Soooo its April 7th and I had my SARPE Surgery done yesterday. Spent the night in the hospital, which I know some people haven't but I am very glad my surgeon suggested it as I feel I am healing a lot faster and a lot more comfortable because of it.

I have (in my opinion) pretty minimal swell and pain. I have a fat upper lip by the rest of my face is just a little puffy and not too bad at all. My teeth feel fake when I touch them as I have absolutely no feeling in them. haha Hopefully that doesn't last too long as I have ready most people regain all sensation, but was warned by my surgeon that it is possible for it to be my 'new normal'.

So all in all it is going well... I am feeling pretty well and have no big complaints or regrets. Plus it is great timing as I get to sit home and watch The Masters Tournament on TV the rest of the week and weekend! haha

Hey Ladies and Gents,

Well. Got my top braces on today. A very thin wire just to straighten my teeth. No powerchain to bring my front teeth together (yet?). Not extended all the way to the back molars.

I'm now scheduled to get my expander out on May 19th - hooray! Nearly exactly 6 months after my final turn of the expander (Nov. 20th). Aaand it's right before the May 24 weekend so I get my expander out and get to booze it hard and enjoy good food with my friends for the long weekend. At that point I'll also be getting my top and bottom archwires replaced with stronger ones and possibly a powerchain between my front teeth.

As for the dreaded "gap"... when I measured yesterday morning it was at 1.5mm, got that small all on its own with no braces, chains, etc. I checked it today with the braces on and it's already shrunk a bit more. We'll see what happens.

Aaand as far as straightening progress... as far as I can tell my bottom teeth are nearly perfectly straight at this point. The wire travels smoothly across all of my teeth and there's only a tiny gap between my front two bottom teeth that will be closed with the next archwire. That's been super fast. My top teeth are pretty effing misaligned right now, the braces make it super obvious, but I know they'll straighten up pretty quickly. I didn't realize they got as crazy as they did from the expansion!

But, yeah, expander out in 5.5 weeks! Can't wait. The last big step I think, otherwise it's all adjustments and then my next surgery (LeFort).

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask here.