SARPE Surgery

Message

#1096 Post by **shari** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:35 am

A little update on me. I'm 8.5 weeks post op and still have a little bit of swelling in my cheeks and under my nose. Almost pain free, my front teeth are still a little sore when I brush them or if I try and bite into something a little too hard. All in all I'm feeling pretty good and am very satisfied with the surgery. I'm having my upper braces put on December 2nd and am looking forward to getting things going.

Here are my before and after pics. I don't miss the gummy smile!!!

Before Sept 2008

After November 2008 8 weeks post op

Sat Nov 22, 2008 8:26 am

Wow, what a difference. Your teeth look great!

As for an update from me- I can't believe it but my canines are now semi-officially in their correct position! (semi-officially because they need to move a little bit more

). To say they used to sit above- basically infront of- my laterals, right next to my centrals, I'm pretty pleased. I hated my fangs and now they're nearly but a memory, lol

If I find my phone plug-in I'll post pictures.

Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:41 am

bump to keep this floating around where people can see it

#1099 Post by **sauerkraut** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:45 pm

Well done, CB. Glad to hear your teeth are getting into line for you. Would love to see pics. One day I'll try & work out how to post some. My 12-year-old daughter has just guided me thru uploading a couple to Facebook so I'm sure I'll get there in the end

Thu Dec 04, 2008 7:15 am

I've just today found my plug-in, so hopefully this will work. The pictures aren't very good, but you get the idea

My teeth before SARPE and braces:

My teeth after SARPE, 6 or so months on with braces:

Fangs be gone!

#1101 Post by **shari** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 7:50 am

CD - That's incredible! what a change, your teeth look great.

I had my top braces installed on the 2nd and I'm happy to say there isn't all that much discomfort. Only a little bit of irritation in one spot but the wax is helping alot.

I'm so pleased with all the changes so far and really looking forward to getting started with the bottom teeth as that is where the crowding is the worst.

I'm having my first adjustment in 7 weeks

Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:56 am

Thanks

Good luck with the braces- you'll start seeing changes pretty quickly. My teeth all have bouts of irritation, which can be a bit annoying. One day a molar will be hurting, then a canine, etc- shows they're moving though!

#1103 Post by **sauerkraut** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 7:08 am

That's looking brilliant, CB. You must be well pleased with your progress

Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:18 am

Thank you both

If I could take pictures on a good camara, it would be better. But compared to what my mouth was before, I'm certainly happy!

Because I still have the underbite, most of my teeth don't touch anyway, but sometimes I feel my left canine touch the bottoms, and it's weird but great given they have never been able to do that before (well, you see how far up they were from the arch to start with

)

As you will know Meryaten, we Brits don't care to much about teeth perfection, so really I'm just glad I don't have the fangs anymore. Now to sort out my underbite.....I am hoping for summer next year (just because it fits my schedule the best!

), but my ortho doesn't really keep me informed as to what stage I am at or how long it will take. If I didn't spend all my time there with my mouth open, I'd ask

#1105 Post by **Delag** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:39 pm

Hi Guys - long time no see! I have been staying away( trying not to obsess) while waiting to see it I need surgery #2. The SARPE left me with an open bite (Nesnob), but it has closed nicely with elastics. The docs say it looks like I can avoid the other surgery as everything is functional, but I have been left with more of a gummy smile. Now it is a question of looks vs. money. I was hoping for astetic improvment, but it was more of a lateral movement - some things got better while others got worse. Nothing huge mind you, I'm just a perfectionist. I am still a bit swollen at 9 months out and have reduced movement of my upper lip. When I mention it to the docs they just say Â´really?Â´, and so it goes. Swelling is always worse after an adjustment.

CrazyB - you look fantastic!

#1106 Post by **lueyfufu** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:42 pm

Yayayayayayay! As of 8:30am today, I am expander-free! I'll get around to posting pictures eventually, but I can say that I no longer have fangs, and I even have a little room to spare along the upper toothline. It's fun to see so many changes in such a short amount of time.

Here's a question: Have any of you noticed that it's more difficult to close your mouth when you eat since the surgery and such? At first I thought it was just because of the expander, but now that it's out, I'm still finding it hard to eat with my mouth closed. It's like I can't open wide enough to get the food between my back teeth if I keep my lips closed.

Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:23 am

Congrats! How was the removal? Mine was little painful, and after the expander was out my mouth felt HUGE! Took a day to get used to that!

Can't really say about the eating thing; my mouth is messed up despite SARPE, so I eat oddly anyway. Maybe you just need to get used to being expander-free?

#1108 Post by **lueyfufu** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:47 pm

Oh yes, the removal was definitely a little painful. I knew I was in trouble when the ortho picked up his pliers, asked me to open wide, and said, "Welp...there's no nice way to do this."

At least it didn't take him very long to get the thing out though, thank goodness.

My mouth didn't necessarily feel huge, as much as it felt surprisingly smooth.

That lousy expander had all kinds of pointy edges and such. I'd gotten used to them, but I must say it's soooooo nice to have it outta there.

When I first got the thing put in back in July, I'd reverted to my childhood lisp because there was no room in my mouth to say the S sound properly. Now I have to relearn how to say S again. Nothing feels/sounds right. I should've put speech therapy sessions on my Christmas list, eh? "Dear Thanta..."

I wonder if my jaw/facial muscles atrophied during the last few months. I should practice chewing tiny bites with my mouth closed. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to practice a lot with some tasty Christmas cookies, eh?

#1109 Post by **lueyfufu** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:48 pm

Oh yes, the removal was definitely a little painful. I knew I was in trouble when the ortho picked up his pliers, asked me to open wide, and said, "Welp...there's no nice way to do this."

At least it didn't take him very long to get the thing out though, thank goodness.

My mouth didn't necessarily feel huge, as much as it felt surprisingly smooth.

That lousy expander had all kinds of pointy edges and such. I'd gotten used to them, but I must say it's soooooo nice to have it outta there.

When I first got the thing put in back in July, I'd reverted to my childhood lisp because there was no room in my mouth to say the S sound properly. Now I have to relearn how to say S again. Nothing feels/sounds right. I should've put speech therapy sessions on my Christmas list, eh? "Dear Thanta..."

I wonder if my jaw/facial muscles atrophied during the last few months. I should practice chewing tiny bites with my mouth closed. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to practice a lot with some tasty Christmas cookies, eh?

#1110 Post by **shari** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:20 am

I had my first adjutment this morning. They changed the wire and put a power chain on my front teeth to try and get rid of a small black triangle. My next adjustment is on March 18th and they will be taking the expander out and putting in the bottom braces.

It's been 4 months since the surgery, I still have some swelling around my nose and my gums and palate still feel kind of numb. The outcome so far has been really positive and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Hope everyone is doing well.