SARPE Surgery

[badbite]

\My question is...I have this thick spongy area between my top lip and my nose. Has anyone else had this and how long before it goes away. Also, how long before I get feeling back in the lower part of my nose

Thanks

It takes a long time. I had my surgery in January, and though the sponginess is gone, it is still very weak. I think it took over 6 months or so for me to have a "normal" feeling there. I actually thought the feeling may not come back. It felt spongy and gross for a long time.

I have a few areas in my gum line that don't have all the feeling back. It is slowly getting better though

Foxface, The expander never hurt me all all. It just felt intrusive. It will get better over time. Remember, it will only be there for a few months!

[shari]

Thank you for your replies.

I guess it will be a while til I can laugh comfortably. Right now I have to hold my cheeks down when I laugh so that my upper lip area doesn't stretch too much.

The recovery for me has been alot harder than expected. Had alot of swelling and bruising. All the research I had done prior to the surgery said that it was a simple and easy procedure. I read through alot of the posts here and feel better knowing that I wasn't the only one that had a hard time with the surgery.

On with the healing!

[likemysmile]

Hi Sauerkraut. Thanks for responding to my question. I had my SARPE this morning and they put in two TADs at the same time. Appointment was for 8AM and I walked out the door with assistance at 10AM. With all the pre-surgery anxiety I felt, I actually felt worse last night than I do now. Of course still I'm pretty drugged up though.

I was directed to start turning my expander once a day this Thursday. No one showed me how to do it but I asked if which direction I should turn it. They said I'd feel it so I hope I will. Right now my my upper lip, nose, and most of my cheeks are quite numb still. I hope some of it will wear off sooner rather than later. I was happy to hear your numbness has entirely went away.

Well, I'm off to rest now. Just wanted to say thanks for the input! I'll post more later. My surgeon took a couple of pics during the procedure so I will post them on my site too.

Take care everyone!

[AtLast]

Hey everyone! I'm new & have questions for one of you pros, or anyone who's had SARPE. I'm 24 & have SEVERE upper crowding (severe is an understatement- I actually have one of my front teeth on the roof of my mouth) due to apparently a tiny upper jaw/palate. I found out a few days ago at my 2nd ortho consultation that I'd need to expand that puppy to make room for all my teeth & this happens with surgery & an key expander. I'm so excited to finally know what I need to do to fix the teeth that have long made me feel super insecure, and gave me a bit of a lisp (due to "alien" haha tooth on roof of mouth I'm guessing). But I'm also TERRIFIED as I read most are. After days of reading on this forum, I feel as comfortable as I'm going to about the post-op condition I'd be in. The main thing frightening me is cost! I finally know what to do to fix my teeth & don't know if it's going to happen all of a sudden, b/c I was only prepared for the expense of braces- not an additional surgery. My orthodontist said that'd be something I had to talk to the OS about & wouldn't even begin to ballpark a figure. However, I've read that some people are looking at a $250+/- consult fee just to meet w/the OS's. Having no idea if this surgery is even financially attainable, I don't want to shell out a huge consult fee, only to find out the surgery is waaay outta my means. My current health insurace doesn't cover orthognathic surgery, so it'll be allllll out of pocket for me (as the braces will be as well). So I can't even figure out if this is a $20,000 surgery or a <$5,000 surgery?! I feel so clueless & can't come up with any successful google hits!

Can someone please help me out? I'm sure it varies widely depending on surgeon, hospital, geography, etc, but I'm just going for a vague ballpark... Any idea how much the sarpe surgery generally costs?

[Foxface]

Jesus Christ. I can't believe some of you did this on an outpatient basis. Then again, the SARPE procedure I had was definitely the one that's also a LeFort something or other (don't remember the exact term, but chainsaw guy showed me all the bones he was about to detach, I would have preferred not to know quite that much, ugh), and I've been in hospital for 4 days now and will stay until Monday. Not too much pain, but my mouth feels decidedly weird, and there's some swelling. I just hope I can learn to turn the expander myself, because both my surgeon and the big cheese, Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. hc W. (they were all there prior to my surgery...) had trouble turning it when it was OUTSIDE of my mouth, and there's nobody I can ask to do it for me... Update on Monday, bon courage to the rest of you.

Edit: I also see that the attitude of the doctors and nurses does make a lot of difference when you're sick. The people doing my surgery were really nice, one of the doctors even squeezed my feet in passing and turned up the heating for me because I was so cold just before I went under. I was wrong to be afraid of general anesthesia. (Waking up on the other hand was really painful, but it got better after less than an hour and two rounds of painkillers, I was snivelling like a baby at first.) And I don't think I lost too much feeling. Right now my upper lip feels relatively normal, but maybe that's just because the rest of my upper face is so swollen?

[Foxface]

So, another update. I'm nearly a week post surgery and my face still feels sore and I get headaches. I also have a hard time closing my mouth. All of that doesn't bother me as much (I'm sure it will pass) as I just don't know if I'm handling the expander correctly. I know I shouldn't fret, but I have no one else to turn the damn thing for me and I don't want to, err, screw it up, hur hur.

So I'm going back to the ortho this afternoon for a quick checkup to see what she thinks. I really can't tell if my gap is big enough for 5 turns (it's between 3 and 4 mm now - but didn't some of you have a massive gap sooner?) , and if I've been overturning, turning correctly or NOT TURNING AT ALL... I'm mainly afraid of my bones fusing before I got the palate to expand to where it's supposed to go, or having to have a second expander, or having to turn for an additional week because I was dumb about the expander thing.

Does / Did anybody else feel like that, or am I just panicky?

[badbite]

Foxface, don't worry, I felt like that too. I was only allowed to turn once a day (for over three weeks). I was scared my bone would heal/fuse before I stopped turning. It didn't happen. Then I was scared because I never got a TPA. Now I am scared that my upper jaw is going to end up being to narrow. We'll see. I am just trying to trust my ortho and surgeon, and hope for the best!

[BraceFace36]

I'm considering having the SARPE surgery next month. Like you, my insurance will not cover the procedure - we asked, they said no!

My insurance did, however, cover the cost of the consultation, so that's $92 I don't have to pay.

If I have the procedure, it's going to be roughly $3,000.00. I don't have the severe crowding you describe, so I wonder if you'll need surgery beyond just the SAPRE? As I've trolled various blogs, there are so many different types of orthognathic surgery, the only way to really know what you'll need and what it'll cost is to see an OS.

Hey everyone! I'm new & have questions for one of you pros, or anyone who's had SARPE. I'm 24 & have SEVERE upper crowding (severe is an understatement- I actually have one of my front teeth on the roof of my mouth) due to apparently a tiny upper jaw/palate. I found out a few days ago at my 2nd ortho consultation that I'd need to expand that puppy to make room for all my teeth & this happens with surgery & an key expander. I'm so excited to finally know what I need to do to fix the teeth that have long made me feel super insecure, and gave me a bit of a lisp (due to "alien" haha tooth on roof of mouth I'm guessing). But I'm also TERRIFIED as I read most are. After days of reading on this forum, I feel as comfortable as I'm going to about the post-op condition I'd be in. The main thing frightening me is cost! I finally know what to do to fix my teeth & don't know if it's going to happen all of a sudden, b/c I was only prepared for the expense of braces- not an additional surgery. My orthodontist said that'd be something I had to talk to the OS about & wouldn't even begin to ballpark a figure. However, I've read that some people are looking at a $250+/- consult fee just to meet w/the OS's. Having no idea if this surgery is even financially attainable, I don't want to shell out a huge consult fee, only to find out the surgery is waaay outta my means. My current health insurace doesn't cover orthognathic surgery, so it'll be allllll out of pocket for me (as the braces will be as well). So I can't even figure out if this is a $20,000 surgery or a <$5,000 surgery?! I feel so clueless & can't come up with any successful google hits!

Can someone please help me out? I'm sure it varies widely depending on surgeon, hospital, geography, etc, but I'm just going for a vague ballpark... Any idea how much the sarpe surgery generally costs?

[sauerkraut]

Shari: I hope things are going a bit better for you now! I’m sure for the surgeons SARPE is a straightforward procedure, but they don’t actually have to live through the recovery, do they ?

Likemysmile: you’re welcome! Hope you’re doing OK and that turning the expander goes well.

Foxface, I had to smile when you said about all the bones they detach. It reminded me of my surgeon showing me a model jaw and drawing pencil lines to show where he was going to make his incisions. In the end the model was so smothered in pencil marks I thought it might have been better to indicate where he did NOT intend to cut. I hope the ortho’s been able to put your mind at rest about turning the expander (I never did manage to turn mine myself but others on here have managed so it must be do-able ) and that the aches and pains are easing a bit now .

Badbite: nice to see you still posting on here. How are things going now and how are you getting on with the braces?

Atlast & Braceface36: Sorry, I can’t help with the cost question but I just wanted to say welcome anyway

How’s everyone else doing?

[shari]

Foxface - I never had much of a gap during the turning process, 2-3 mm at the most and now I'm almost 8 weeks post op and have no gap at all. I can tell by the way my molars are positionned and by the expander that I got the width required. My ortho also said there is a period of 30 days after the surgery before the bone fused.

sauerkraut - I'm feeling much better thanks, my front teeth and gums are still numb and I still have swelling above my upper lip and around my nose but I am trying to be patient about it all since I know now may take a while.

Question?? I'm almost 8 weeks post op and for about a week now I've been feeling some pressure, almost like my palate is trying to go back where it once was causing some discomfort where the expander touches my teeth. Anybody else go through this??

A little over 4 weeks til I get my upper braces on. Looking forward to getting things lined up correctly!

Happy healing to those who have recently gone through the surgery. It does get better....I know! and thanks to all that offer their support

Shari

[badbite]

When I thought my insurance would not cover the SARPE, my OS was going to do it out patient and it wouild have cost $4500. My insurance did apporve it. If I had to pay that whole bill it would have cost me (I think -if I remember right ) about $18,000-$20,000. I ended dishing out almost $3,000 after the insurance. I have to say-----well worth the money.

sauerkraut, the braces are going well. My ortho say there is a very slight chance I may not need another surgery, but right now it is a waiting game to see what will happen. This may seem weird, but I have been thinking that I kind of want the seceond surgery (for the best results). If I don't get the surgery, I'll need a tooth pulled. How is all with you?

[crazybeautiful]

Hey everyone- need to moan a bit I'm afraid.

So now my back molars are braced up my cheeks are a mess! They are literally being caught on the metal and being hooked from the inside. It's like some device from Saw I'm telling you I keep having to puff out my cheeks to detatch them. I'm wearing wax but when I eat it's a right bugger. Plus the food gets wedged right at the back; it's like I've got the expander in again!


I'm sure I'll be over it by next week, but for the moment I'm feeling annoyed.


Everyone else ok?

[sauerkraut]

shari: I don't remember feeling pressure like you describe, but I wonder if it's just the sensation of the bone re-forming? Though I'm convinced our mouths do try pretty hard to get back to how they used to be for all those years before the surgeons messed about with them I had some relapse, and my weird and wonderful ridge even tried to grow back, but my TPA thingie seems to have held things in check. And I wouldn't have thought you can relapse while the expander is still in. My ortho told me it's not even strictly necessary to seal the screw when you've finished expanding because it ought to hold on its own (but he sealed it anyway )

badbite: glad to hear braces are going OK. Mine are OK too, though I do get a bit fed up with the gaps on the lower arch. Where the archwire spans the gaps it cuts into me like cheesewire . I put on wax when I remember but most of the time I just put up with it. It sounds like we're in a similar situation regarding surgery because my ortho also still holds out a miniscule hope that I might avoid the lower jaw op. And, like you, I almost feel I'd prefer to have it anyway. I was geared up to it from the beginning and having come so far I don't want to end up with too much of a compromise. So I'm also playing the "wait and see" game.

crazyb: ouch that does sound painful! I know exactly what you mean about the metal catching inside your mouth. Do the famed salt water rinses help you at all? I tried that a couple of times when I first got braces but it's probably something you have to keep up for a while and to be honest I could never really be bothered! As you say, it usually sorts itself out in the end. But it's not much fun while you're going through it. Isn't it great that we can come here and moan and find people who understand !

[badbite]

crazyb, that is terrible. You have your back molars braced? I don't know if I will or not. Hopefully yor cheeks will get used that soon. Maybe the wire is sticking out to far or something.

shari, I don't remember pressure like that either . The only pressure I felt was just after a turn. I would tell the ortho about that.

sauerkraut, my upper teeth look really good now too. I still have a crossbite though. The ortho doesn't seemed to be worried about it yet. I will need IPR on my two front teeth so they come together better. My lower teeth, poor teeth --they are really bad at this point.

[shari]

My ortho never sealed anything?! He just had a peek once I was done expanding and said everything looked great! I would hate to relapse after all the pain!
That being said, the pressure has eased. I had a busy week so maybe I was just overdoing it.

Goog evening everyone!