SARPE Surgery

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#1261 Post by **avy** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:08 pm

I wouldnt take the gap as an accurate measurement for how much you've expanded. I have expanded a total of 9.5mm and my gap is about 6.25mm so there's a big difference there. If your teeth were crooked to start with then you will possibly have an even smaller gap because the teeth have to move alot more. Hope this helps

#1262 Post by **colorpurple** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:36 pm

hey avy!!! thank GOODNESS. i thought i was making NO progress.

question -- what is the TRUE measure of expansion then? how do you know that you truly expanded 9+mm?

#1263 Post by **chicago29** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:59 pm

avy is right...The gap is not used to determine the amount of expansion so you have nothing to worry about there.

The amount of expansion is "built in" to the expander. Each expander is custom made, and in most situations you will "max out" the expander...which just means you won't be able to turn it any more once you've achieved your expansion target.

Your orthodontist determines how much expansion you will need and then they fabricate the appliance to "expand" by the amount. If you are really curious how much you are expanding, your Ortho should know.

Also in the end, your true expansion is always a bit less than the planned amount. There is going to be some level of relapse...with the goal of course being an amount that is not statistically significant.

Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:48 am

Ditto avy and chicago.

By the way I've just found my cables for my phone so I can post pictures again. The comparisons from before SARME to now are on my blog (bottom of my post) if you want to check them out. Apologies for the quality of the photos, but all I have is my phone and I'm not professional photographer! It took me bloody ages to get my arch in the frame

Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:47 pm

crazybeautiful wrote:Ditto avy and chicago.

By the way I've just found my cables for my phone so I can post pictures again. The comparisons from before SARME to now are on my blog (bottom of my post) if you want to check them out. Apologies for the quality of the photos, but all I have is my phone and I'm not professional photographer! It took me bloody ages to get my arch in the frame

I have time to post them on here now, so will do (but you can also check out my blog...it's a lot of moaning

):

At very start of expansion:

Now:

#1266 Post by **chicago29** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:27 pm

crazybeautiful...WOW!!!! A simply unbelievable difference. You must be very happy with these results.

Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:48 pm

Thanks. Very happy, but also a bit perplexed at the difference because I didn't realise my palate was so narrow. My ortho showed me my old moulds recently and it seriously looked like a child's mouth (well in essence it was because it didn't grow enough)

I'd imagine your results will be doubly amazing

Roll on my gap closing and surgery round 2

#1268 Post by **avy** » Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:02 pm

Awesome progress CB! Your teeth look perfect now

My gap has closed up 1mm in a week! I'm so excited... I have just posted some comparison pics in my blog

Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:16 am

Thanks

Your gap will probbly close quite quickly too. Some people's don't, but yours has closed up a lot already so it should continue. My gap wasn't huge, but it closed on its own relatively quickly. If only I could say the same about the little gap I have now (it's about 1mm at max, but you know...

)

#1270 Post by **badbite** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 9:17 am

crazyb, Hi its me badbit! Are you having surgery soon? My Ortho has told me tha past two visits that we are "fine tuning." I hope to have surgery by October.

Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:55 am

Nah, looks like December at best for me (or at worst. If my sugery isn't this year I'm suing

)

#1272 Post by **zeira** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 3:04 pm

I'm finally having my surgery this Friday after six months of waiting to start the treatment. I'm getting a bit nervous, just had my preop appointment today, but I didn't get a change to meet with my OS since May, so I have all these questions about the surgery, and the recovery and all that :-/ Plus I'm traveling on August 21st since they said it's ok, but I won't start expanding until August 7th, so I'm worried I won't have enough time to expand the the ortho won't be able to fine tune things at the end.

Sorry. Just needed to vent

. On a brighter note I didn't get my expander in last Wednesday and will get it tomorrow right before the surgery so I had a nice and relaxing birthday.

How long were you guys on a liquid diet after the surgery? how long were you away from work? how many days after the surgery did you start expanding?

Thanks for listening!!

#1273 Post by **avy** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 2:57 pm

zeira wrote: How long were you guys on a liquid diet after the surgery? how long were you away from work? how many days after the surgery did you start expanding?
Thanks for listening!!

Hi zeira! Good luck with your surgery - you should find lots of helpful info on here...

As for the liquid diet - I started eating rice 3 days after surgery so I wasnt on it for long. My diet for the first 2 weeks consisted mostly of home made egg nog (I love it), ice cream, protein shakes, rice, spag bog, mashed potatoes and stuff like that. SARME is no where near as bad as some of the other jaw surgeries where your jaw is wired shut! I was told no chewing for 48 hours then after that I was allowed soft stuff like rice and mashed potatoes which requires little to no chewing.

I had 2 weeks off work which felt like a good amount of time. I was still a bit swollen and my bruising didnt go until 2 days before I started work so 2 weeks seemed perfect.

I had to start expanding within 5 days after surgery so I started 4 days after when I was able to open my mouth wide enough to turn it. I turned for a total of 34 times once a day. Do you know how much expansion you will need?

Anyway I hope this info helps... I only had surgery 7 weeks ago today so everything is still fresh in my mind

#1274 Post by **zeira** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:59 pm

Hi avy,
Thanks for the details. It's very helpful since I didn't get a chance to see my surgeon before the surgery to ask all the questions. I'm a bit annoyed by that.

Initially they just said I'll be turning twice a day for 8 days, but I imagine that might change. Since I'm already missing a premolar and I'll get some other extractions to match I might not need that much space.

I just got my expander in today and I've been wrestling food around it, but I think I'm getting slightly used to it. I can't imagine what it's going to feel like after the surgery though.

Just checked your blog. Good job with that gap. Looks like it's closing pretty quickly (although it might not feel that way!). Good luck with everything.

zeira

#1275 Post by **zeira** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:08 pm

Just got back home from the surgery. Everything went ok, although I felt a lot more uncomfortable waking up than after the wisdom teeth surgery. I was also a bit surprised that I have sutures on the roof of my mouth going all the way down past the expander. I thought most people get an incision under their front lip, but I guess my doctor prefers it this way.

Just resting now and trying to get back to life. I can't move much or I get lightheaded and nauseous, so I'll take it easy for now. I hope everyone's doing well!