Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey guys, I had SARPE surgery this past summer end of may to be exact (may 30th). I did all my turns and my ortho glued the keyhole of the expander when i saw him in august of last month. I just had my recent appointment with him hoping it was time to take it out, but he said he wants to wait longer. He also started making me use elastics to correct my cross bite i guess?

I've had lower bracers since january still no top braces yet, but he added 2 brackets along with the ones already on the RPE so I can start using elastics last month. So all in all I've had my RPE in my mouth since may 30th, and He glued it last month in August. I guess he wasn't 100% pleased with how the turning ended up going as on my left side of my mouth the teeth didn't expand 100% the same as the other side, one side is more out than the other so when I bite down its not a perfect bite.

Anyhow... Since my last appointment he told me i need to keep it in longer and see how the elastic treatment goes some more.. I'm getting impatient and i really wanna get it out and put top braces on so i can close the small gap between my front two teeth.. I'm starting to think the expansion didn't go 100% since my bite wasn't perfectly fixed after all the turning. What do you guys think?

How long did you keep your RPE in for? I had to do 2 turns in the morning and 2 in the evening when i was turning so it was quicker than most I guess.. But I mean I stopped turning since almost beginning of August I would have imagined i'd be done by now with this horrible appliance i just want it out lol

I had SARPE on April 28th 2010. It's now been 4 months and a half. I saw my orthodontist yesterday and he told me that we would remove the RPE in December ( I take that as a Xmas Gift ) So it will be in for almost 8 months.
It really depend on the orthodontist. Mine want to take the safe way. Normally it varies from 3 to 6 months depending on the orthodontist. In my opinion the longest you have it the less the risk you have of relapse. In my case I had to do 1 turn a day for 24 days. I also had to have remove 4 premolar in order to make more space for my teeth.

wow 8 months... yeah I guess that makes sense to avoid it from going back to the way it was.. Ugh.. I really hope mine doesn't take that long though, I miss having a mouth without this stupid metal thing inside, braces are nothing compared to this annoying thing.

I had mine in for just shy of three months after surgery. It was a bone-borne expander, different than the more commonly used ones, not sure if that makes a difference. Right now, I have an acrylic retainer of sorts (had it about three weeks), and my braces go on in about a week and a half.

Mine will be about 4 months (hopefully). Was put in mid May and will come out end of September to be replaced by a TPA. Did 4 turns for one week then 2 turns for another 1 week and then last month I had to do another 2 turns for another week - I think I was very close to maxing out my expander. The ortho was concerned about relapse since a TPA is not as strong as the expander - so another month.

7 and 1/2 LONG, LONG months And, I had top and bottom expanders. It was a total pain in the a**

I think 4 to 6 seems to be the standard...and to be honest closer to 6 I think is more prevalent from what I've seen on this message board.

After 7 or 8 months I'd be asking to get them out, because I'm not sure what the benefit would be after that period of time.

Best of luck and I hope your time goes by fast!

-Chicago29

I had mine in for 6 months after I stopped turning so it was actually 7 months in total. I think it can depend on how much you expanded and how quickly your new bone grows. It sux big time but its really short term pain for the amazing results you'll get

thanks for all your support and stories! I guess the most annoying thing for me is just wanting to get my top braces on so i can fully close the gap that was left over after expanding. I don't care much about how people think of my looks etc. but it gets tiring having to explain to people who i don't see often why i have a gap all of a sudden and having to tell the whole story of surgery etc. etc.

I can definitely sympathize with your concerns about the gap. I had my expander put in on June 2. Surgery was on June 3. I did 2 turns a day for 17 days which opened a huge gap (size of tooth) between my front teeth. I felt ridiculous. It is down down to about 4mm now. I got my braces on Sept. 9. I was told my expander will come out at the beginning of Dec., so it looks like 6 months for me. My ortho said that the earliest mine could possibly come out was 4 mnths. It was disappointing to hear that I would need to keep it in for 6 mnths. I hate the expander but it's better to keep it in rather than remove it too early and have a relapse or poor results.

hmm so you have your top braces already? with the expander still in? I didn't know they do that i thought they have to remove the expander before they put the top braces on. How long did the rest of the gap close after ur top braces got put on?

Indeed they do ! I also had braces for 8 weeks now. I'll be getting my lower braces in 6 weeks on my next apointment at my orthodontist. I still have a minor underbite. Hopefully my ortho will be able to correct it without surgery but he is still unsure wether or not i'll be having a second surgery. Time will answer this question though he told me that he will do his best to avoid the surgery if possible. As for the gap I had one of 3 or 4 mm. I avoided showing my teeth when laughing though I was showing them to my coworkers to make them laugh.

I got my braces on 6 weeks after I stopped turning so I still had my expander in for another 5 months after the braces were on. My gap started to close up immediately after I stopped turning which was a relief as my gap peaked at 9mm
The expander is the worst part by far - but now that I have it out I cant even remember what it was like to have it! Our minds must memory dump it because it was so horrible

I wore my RPE for an ENTIRE YEAR after my SARPE, to the day!...AND the ortho wanted to leave it in for the second surgery, if it "wasn't in the way" of what he needed to do. Thank god the surgeon called the ortho and told him to take it out, otherwise I think I'd still be wearing the damn thing!

I only had top braces put on my first 6 teeth as the expander starts on tooth #4 on the top. The remainder of the top braces will be put on when the expander comes out. The bottom braces were all put on but only the first 4 teeth on either side have been wired so far.

We usually leave the expander for about 6 months, but can place braces on the teeth during this time after the expansion is complete. The expander is usually removed when when we are able to use a stainless steel wire that is able to help hold the transverse dimension that we have established.

The amount of time an RPE remains is going to depend on the amount of expansion required, the amount of overexpansion performed (if any), and individual biological factors.