SARPE Surgery

[bimberley]

Hi everyone,

I found this forum while doing some research after my SARPE + wisdom teeth removal surgery on December 11th.
I've now starting doing 2 turns per day but have noticed that the gums on one of my front teeth have very minimally but constantly are bleeding. My dentist has informed me that it could be 'inflammation of the sulcus' and that I am now only going to be doing 1 turn per day. Did anyone else go through similar issues when they first started?

Interesting to read the stories on here and how so many people are going through the similar journey.

Thanks!

[Psa]

@bimberley hope everything turned out perfectly with your sarpe surgery and the inflammation. I didn't experience any bleeding like that myself. I hope you are well.

A question for everyone. How long did it take you to get complete feeling back after the surgery? I am now 9 months post op and still don't have complete feeling back yet. My upper teeth and cheeks right beside the nose feel kinda weird.

@Sadoozie. De hvide bracket er som sådan rare at have på, at da man ikke bemærke dem lige så tydeligt elastikkerne derimod, ugh! De bliver gule og det irriterer mig voldsomt. Må bede dem bruge grå elastikker næste gang, selvom det måske vil se lidt underligt ud Jeg har ingen dato fået omkr. næste operation, men fik at vide at jeg skulle have bøjle på i ca. 2 år, så der kan godt gå noget tid endnu. Hvad med dig, alt vel? Og hvor længe gik der i øvrigt med at få følelsen tilbage i overmunden?

[mkstorm0710]

HI All! I had my SARPE on 4/23/15, and felt that recovery was overall pretty easy; I went back to work after a week. I only really struggled with speaking for a couple weeks (mostly due to the appliance), and the obvious swelling that took a couple weeks to go down. I had very little pain, and took pain meds for only a couple days. I'd estimate that all my numbness was gone within 2-3 months (the only numbness that was remaining after the first month was a spot of about 1/2 inch on my upper lip). My dad stayed with me for a week, and was great to have around--he made smoothies and soup for me every day, and made sure that I was getting out of my apartment on a regular basis and walking around as much as possible. Hope everyone has as easy of a time with SARPE as I did!

[Sadoozie]

Hi PSA! The numbness went away so gradually that i think it wasn't until a few months ago that it completely went away by my front teeth. Do you still have a thick steel wire across the roof of your mouth? I was told that they will remove it once we get closer to the next surgery. Speaking of the next surgery, i still dont have a date for it yet. Am hoping that it will be before summer though. i too, was told that the entire process will take between 2-3 years.





PS: Jeg har mini-minimalt ondt af dig pga. luksus problemer omkring hvor gule elastikkerne bliver. Du kunne bare havde valgt at have massiv (#skinner i sollys, #blænder trafikken, #ocean block) metal togskinner ligesom mig og sluppet for dine nuværende bekymringer

[Yvonned]

Had sarpe June 8 2016... Progressing well. Still have swelling on upper lip, and right cheek and nose. Sure hoping the swelling will totally subside, as my nose looks funny and bigger (eek!) Numbness still there.
Have been given the ok to start soft chew (pasta, etc) but wondering at what point can do full chew. Forgot to ask surgeon.

[MissH]

I had my SARPE/SARME last Thursday so I am at about day 4. I'm bruised and swollen but not much pain....its more uncomfortable where the stitches are.
I have done about 3 turns and I can't believe it isn't painful it's so weird!!

I am dying to eat some potato chips!!! - probably a good few weeks off that.

Surgeon thinks ill be expanding until about 7mm.....but i don't care about the gap. Im a school teacher and I have explained everything to my kids so they're so understanding and were amazing when I had the expander put in about a month ago. I know the expander was in very early but i'm glad I did it. I was able to get used to talking/eating/drinking/swallowing pills before the surgery.

SO OVER SWALLOWING PILLS!!!

I hope anyone else who is having/have had this done is going well!!

[MissH]

Saw my ortho today! 1 turn per day for 3 weeks then I'm done!! 21 to go!!!

[Spirus]

Today I had my first turn on my hyrax machine, and the previous Wednesday I had my surgery.
I am still swollen although I seem to be unswelling unevenly. The right side is more swollen that my left side.
Is anyone having post op blues and stuff?
I have become super emotional for no particular reason and I am crying at odd times for no reason.
I am all ok and then suddenly I will start crying for no reason.

[Spirus]

Hi guys

I am now 17 days post op, and i am having pain at my uper jaw when i am walking a lot or when i am driving for some time.

Also if i put pressure with my tongue at the left side of my hyrax i can feel it moving in comparison with my right side.

Is that normal ? did anyone had similar experiences?

[madblogr]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to jump in and add my name to the list of those who have gone through with SARPE. I had my procedure done back in June and actually went through two expanders expanding a total of 17mm due to a narrow jaw starting out (14mm at the 5s!). Now I'm 4 days post-op on having a mandibular osteotomy and will be expanding the lower jaw 5-6mm using similar expanders on the bottom jaw, one tooth anchored and the other bone anchored. For me it has been definitely worth it as I'm already noticing breathing improvements (besides crowding, breathing issues have been the biggest reason to have this done). Good luck everyone going through the process right now!

[Perfectsmilepending8]

Hi all,

I'm 8 days post surgery and overall feeling better than I thought I would be. Swelling has gone down considerably but is still there. Still have some numbness in my nose, front teeth, top lip and some slight numbness in my cheeks.

I stared turning my RPE on Monday (2days ago) and already have a very small gap in my tooth. I've been doing two turns a day and since starting the turns I went through being nervous about turning, getting the hang of it, getting excited to turn and now freaking out that I may have a 10mm gap very soon.

@Spirus how are you getting on with yours?

Any advice on how to deal with having a 10mm much appreciated and timelines that you had a large gap for.

Had a good read of the full discussion and great to not be the only one going through this.

[jaime]

Hi all,

I'm 8 days post surgery and overall feeling better than I thought I would be. Swelling has gone down considerably but is still there. Still have some numbness in my nose, front teeth, top lip and some slight numbness in my cheeks.

I stared turning my RPE on Monday (2days ago) and already have a very small gap in my tooth. I've been doing two turns a day and since starting the turns I went through being nervous about turning, getting the hang of it, getting excited to turn and now freaking out that I may have a 10mm gap very soon.

@Spirus how are you getting on with yours?

Any advice on how to deal with having a 10mm much appreciated and timelines that you had a large gap for.

Had a good read of the full discussion and great to not be the only one going through this.

Hey there Perfectsmilepending, congratulations on being out of the woods. You're definitely past the worst of the recovery. I had SARPE in 2013 and I think my gap was only about 5mm but it still looked huge. Unfortunately I had a few social commitments with people I had never met, so I would just explain really quickly that I'm having some dental work done so I look and sound a little funny. No one blinked an eye.

As far as the gap closing, it took 55 days to close from the time I stopped turning the expander. I don't think this necessarily means it'll take 110 days for yours. You'll be amazed how quickly it closes.

[Collie]

I had SARPE on the morning of the 6th. The pain comes and goes, it was really bad this morning when I woke up. I'm extremely swollen right now but thats to be expected in the 48-72 hour post op period. I start turning the expander in two days, and what I'm nervous about it not being able to open my mouth wide enough to do it? I cant even fit two fingers right now. Any suggestions to help my range of motion? i've been using moist heat in hopes to loosen up the muscles but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

[madblogr]

I had SARPE on the morning of the 6th. The pain comes and goes, it was really bad this morning when I woke up. I'm extremely swollen right now but thats to be expected in the 48-72 hour post op period. I start turning the expander in two days, and what I'm nervous about it not being able to open my mouth wide enough to do it? I cant even fit two fingers right now. Any suggestions to help my range of motion? i've been using moist heat in hopes to loosen up the muscles but it doesn't seem to be helping much.

I just had to keep attempting to open as far as I could, pain allowing, throughout the day. Almost think of it as stretching but for the jaw. By time it was time to start expanding, I had just enough range. It also really helped by having someone else work the tool for the first week or so since even with being able to open up for the tool, I couldn't see past my own hand and the tool, lol. Swelling went down gradually and I found it really helped to stay elevated as much as possible, even when sleeping, I tried to stay at at least 45 degrees.

[Collie]

Is it normal to still be a bit swollen 9 days post op? Does turning the expander aggravate the "injury" in a way and impede the healing? I'm currently turning twice a day and will be for the foreseeable future since my crossbite was quite severe on the left side. I see my ortho tomorrow so I'll ask her of course, just wondering what everybody else's experience was.