SARPE Surgery

Message

Fri Dec 08, 2006 9:22 pm

Hey Mel,

How come you had to wear the expander 8 months? I thought most people didn't have to wear it more than four.

Everbody talks about losing weight after the surgery, seems to me this expander must be a weight-loss device all by itself.

Jenn

Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:22 pm

I'm certainly not losing weight with my RPE, but then I went back to food in a week.

Jean you look good. My gap is slightly bigger than yours right now. I expand until Wed. then we will stablize the expander.

I get my braces 1/15.

Kim

#543 Post by **chopchop** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:13 am

Hey,

Hows everyone doing with their expander/Surgery recover/braces. Im feeling great 3 weeks post op, been going to the gym since 1 week post op which i didnt expect to do. I can eat nearly all things, things like meat i kinda mould in my mouth then swollow with minimal chewing, which probably isnt great for digestion.

I have now got a gap after 16 turns with 4 more left, although its still fairly small, cant stick a A5cent coin in my gap though. I've had braces since pre surgery maybe thats keeping the gap to a minimum??

Also a question, Brandy the sarpe pro will most likely know, does the gap in the teeth represent the total amount of space made by expansion?? because if so i think i need alot more turns to get enough space.

#544 Post by **Brandyleigh35** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:11 am

As a matter of fact I do know the answer to this question, and it is NO! How wide your gap gets is just an individual thing. It does not determine the amount of space gained. We gained 9mm of space in my mouth but my gap only ever got to about 3.5mm. I have seen others who got a 6mm or more wide gap, but only expanded 7 or 8mm total. I was just lucky (my teeth have separation anxiety and don't like being apart LOL) but the gap really has little to do with the actual space gained, it is just a by product of the expansion process.

I read somewhere that your front teeth actually have a protein that is released that helps keep them together. That is why they will eventually move back on their own even without help. Your doctor should be able to tell you roughly how much space they are looking for. Mine told me about 8mm. We expanded to 9mm to allow a little wiggle room as there is usually about a 1/2 to 1mm relapse afterwards. So he accounted for that and now things are exactly where they need to be. Each turn of the key is 1/4mm so you can calculate how far you have expanded (roughly) based on the total number of turns you've made.

Hope this helps answer your question!

Brandy

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#545 Post by **decisionmade** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:31 am

hi all! it has been a very long time since I have posted here but just have to tell you my results are nothing short of amazing!! I'm going to post new photos later on today but for you "sarpers" just starting out..I am soo HAPPY I took this route and am smiling big! My braces come off in about a month!

good luck to all with your continued progress!

dm

#546 Post by **Selims** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:33 pm

Hi All,

I am curious, after reading the posts on this forum for the past few months, it appears that the average time for the complete process is 1 to 1 and 1/2 years. Is that about right.

Also, does anyone know of a good site (apart from this one) that has case studies for RPE and detailed technical information?

Thanks!!!

#547 Post by **overseasmel** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 5:02 pm

My treatment schedule was:

Late March 2006: Expander in
21 April 2006: SARPE surgery
21 Apr- 15 June: Turning key once a day
Expander remained in until 20 Nov 2006
20 Nov 2006 Expander off, braces on. Brace time estimated at 18-24mths.

http://www.ada.org.au/media/documents/P ... page38.pdf

See this link for some technical information.

Hope that helps.

Mel

PS. Re other people's comments, my maximum expansion (at the point where the RPE was fixed) was 14.5mm. My gap at the front reached 9mm. It closed to 1.5mm pre-braces, and has now expanded to 2mm with them!

THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR THIS IS SPAM PLEASE REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR. 4beauty asked I think why mine was for 8 months. Well it sat in there for almost a month before surgery doing nothing but annoy me, as the ortho was going to be away in the week prior to my surgery. Then I turned for 2 months, which is a long time. Then because the expansion was so large the ortho wanted the expander in for 4 months at a minimum for the bones to grow over/ reknit. In the end he was happy at just less than 5 months.

Here's some pics- before insertion of the expander and surgery, and then one month after braces applied. The pen-lid is there for size comparison:

Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:12 pm

It wasn't very considerate of your ortho to let it just sit in your mouth for a month.

Mine said I should try to have it in no longer than a week before surgery, because that was about as long as it would take to get used to it. That should have alerted me that my mouth was about to get a new, unpleasant roomate.

jennifer

#549 Post by **chopchop** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:30 pm

Overseasmel, geez you got some serious expanditure, in that pic it almost looks rectangular.

Im worried that im not gonna expand enough, the ortho only told me 20 turns, which i dont think is that much compared to everyones. And i dont see the ortho until the 17th of January, which is 1 month after i stopped turning the key. If there isnt enough space could i start expanding again successfully, or is there only a limited time to expand post surgery?

I might just do a few extra turns (a week after ive already stopped expanding), like 23 or 24 instead of 20? this cant be too bad can it?

Be good to hear ur opinions, expecially brandy or other sarpe pros

#550 Post by **chopchop** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 12:39 am

oh btw, anyone seen this? You have to wait till like 3/4 of the way trhough.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9s8Lr3rOaZQ

#551 Post by **overseasmel** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:39 pm

Of course I am no doctor or ortho, but:

Technically I think expanding a week after you had stopped would be fine, as it takes a while for the bones to recognise that you have stopped and start to want to grow back over.

Presumably your ortho measured how much you need and calculated that 20 turns would be sufficient. The way to check on your own is to see if all you upper teeth are outside your lower teeth (other than maybe some freaky lower outlyers who will be brought in with braces. With me, the area we were concentrating on was around my first molars. The ortho wanted to see them have at least 1.5mm overlap. The problem was particularly acute on my left side, and he kept me turning even though I was overexpanded at other points until this bit was right.

Your teeth will move back in a little once the device is taken out. With me, because I was overexpanded at the back, he took off the back arms of the device a month after I stopped turning and just let them resettle inwards a bit. So I guess my point is that some minor overexpansion isn't a problem and is indeed desirable, due to natural regression afterwards.

Anyway, they're my thoughts.

Merry Christmas!!

#552 Post by **Brandyleigh35** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:26 pm

I had some same concerns with my expansion as my ortho was going on vacation as I was going to finish my expansion during his away time. It was going to be like 2 weeks til he saw me again. He told me that you can continue to expand after stopping even up to a month later. So I personally would say no worries. It should all be fine I would think.

Brandy

#553 Post by **Brandyleigh35** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:57 pm

I'm just reviving this post as I think it has a ton of info for new SARPE candidates and didn't want them to miss it.

Brandy

#554 Post by **mia22** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:11 pm

Hi everyone!

Well I had SARPE like a year ago, and this website was one of the best things for me. I just wanted to say hi to all you SARPE people out there and if you guys want you can click my link to see pictures of the initial process. I will be done with braces in about 10wks so I'm pretty excited and I am going to post a present picture soon.

Hi Brandy

how have you been? I'm gonna check out your page, it's been a long time!!

ciao
mia

#555 Post by **Brandyleigh35** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:36 am

Miss Mia!
Where the heck have you been??? I think of you often and check out your blog frequently (hoping you have updated it) You need to post some new pics girl! I want to see the end results. After all we had to go through.....I want to see your awesome new smile!

10 weeks and your braces come off, my son will be getting his off about that time too! Needless to say I'm envious! I still have 3 more surgerie to go and probably another year of healing! UGHHH! But it will be worth it, or at least that is what I keep tellin myself LOL!

Looking forward to an update!

Brandy

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