SARPE Surgery

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#1321 Post by **jake95** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:41 pm

Hey people, my insurance just gave me the ok to get my sarpe surgery. Any advice would be great. Braceventura can u tell me hoe to find grahms blog

#1322 Post by **jake95** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:45 pm

I also have to have lower sarpe done. Has anyone had this done before

Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:43 am

Hey jake- chicago had lower SARME as well as upper, so when he returns he can advise about that. If you have a look back on here for chicago's posts and just this thread generally, you'll find a lot of info.

I know Brandy has a really detailed blog that I use as my reference, and I stumbled upon Graham's on her buddy list too (I assume this is the blog Braceventura meant)

Here is Graham's:
http://smilemakeover.blogspot.com/2006_ ... chive.html

Here is Brandy's:
http://brandysjawjourney.blogspot.com/2 ... chive.html

I also have a blog, however my posts about SARME do not detail day-to-day because I wrote it retrospectively this year. I do have before and after photos though, as well as some 'tips' for SARME patients. Check it out if you like

#1324 Post by **jake95** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:47 am

Thank you so much for the info

#1325 Post by **glenncoyle** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:52 pm

hey,

i was 7 days post op yest so have updated my blog with some photos

http://sarpe-and-braces.blogspot.com/20 ... tions.html

I had a hit of cricket on tuesday night and felt great!

Can i just say anyone stressing about the surgery... DONT!!! I had 5 teeth ripped out and SARPE. I must admit the first few days were frustrating but as the swelling go's down, you feel a lot better.

hope everyone is well.

gc

#1326 Post by **chicago29** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:14 am

jake95,

I'm back from Holiday and am just going through lots of posts on here. If you can't find my old posts to get more details on upper and lower expansion (search for MSDO and they should come up) send me a private message with your questions and I'll be happy to answer them.

Take Care
Chicago29

#1327 Post by **jake95** » Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:48 pm

I'm so glad, finally someone who knows what i'm talking about. I cant tell you how many time's people would tell my i'm wrong there is no lower sarpe surgery. Anyway I would like to thank u in advance for all the questions i will be asking you. As soon as i Have my surgery scheduled I would like to ask u about everything if thats alright. I'm thinking around january due to my work and getting time off. so please stay o this sight so i can find you. Tnaks again.... Jake

#1328 Post by **glenncoyle** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 2:26 pm

Morning All

ok, had a 3 week check up yesterday and i have stopped expanding for now. the orthodontisit said something about letting my teeth settle, not sure what he meant by that.

ive updated my blog, there is a pic of the gap there.

i maybe getting braces on my top 6 teeth to help start closing the gap as early as next tuesday

cheers

Glenn

http://sarpe-and-braces.blogspot.com/20 ... n-for.html

Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:28 am

Hey glenn, how's the recovery and expansion going?

Well, I just got some news from my ortho at yesterday's appointment after she looked at my recent molds to see the result post-surgery- I need more expansion!
She said it's quite odd that after I expaded so much anyway (around 10mm) I still need some more; but relapse in inevitable, and I could have just done without the relapse. So this means during my bimax, the surgeon is just going to do a little bit more expansion. I assume I won't be expanding myself afterwards again, but I suppose I will have to wear a TPA or expander again?....but then an expander would get in the way of a splint (if I need one, which I imagine I will) surely? Oh well, will just have to see what the surgeon says

I don't really mind the extra expansion so long as it won't interfere with the other surgery ie, so long as they do do it at the same time!

* other news from my app is on my blog, if you want to look

#1330 Post by **sauerkraut** » Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:27 am

That sounds intriguing, CB! I've often wondered what happens if they find out you need more expansion after they've (supposedly) long-since finished. Do they have to split open the "seam" again -- and how do they keep everything stable if you don't have the expander etc? Do let us know what the surgeon says coz I'm really interested. Sorry for you, though, as it's one more thing to deal with on top of everything else.

I'm convinced I must have relapsed a bit but my ortho told me at my appt today that everything seems to be lining up quite well, so that the top and bottom teeth should fit together like they're meant to once the lower jaw is brought forward. That was quite encouraging. He did also say I definitely won't get my second surgery this year, though. He'll do impressions etc "some time in the New Year" and then see about sending me back to the surgeon to find out what fine-tuning he might want, before we can fix a date for the actual op. All sounds a bit far in the future to me, but I spose we'll get there eventually

Thu Oct 15, 2009 6:41 am

Hey sauerkraut

I've just this minute been trying to google and search on here about having to have extra expansion again after SARME. So far haven't found any information! I might start a new thread and see. I can't recall if anyone on here has needed additional expansion.

I think during SARME the surgeons start the expansion themselves anyway, so I assume my extra expansion will just be this, rather than an active expansion procedure after the surgery like before. My ortho said I don't need much more, just a little. So it will be a matter of like 1mm or so, I would imagine. Is a TPA strong enough to maintain the palate straight away? That's what I'm wondering, because surely I can't have an expander in my mouth along with a splint or what not. And I really don't want an expander in my mouth again! I didn't even notice the TPA last time though
I think relapse always happens, and it generally doesn't matter because you over-expand. But for me what I expanded to start with is what I needed

Shame you won't get your surgery this year, however given my ortho says most first surgery dates here are cancelled 80% of the time, and since I won't get my surgery date until 12th November when I see the surgeon, I'm resigned to the fact that I won't either! My ortho said that she can't do anything more brace-wise now, though, and I've had all my molds and measurements taken, so really it's just a matter of when can we get on with the surgery. I'm ready when they are

#1332 Post by **GiverSSJ** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:03 pm

Are you guys glad you had the surgery? Did your ortho try a conversative approach like doing non-palatial expansion before having surgery? Or did your ortho recommand the surgery "right off the bat"?

#1333 Post by **glenncoyle** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:31 pm

Hey CB

everything went well and the recovery was a breeze, frist few days turning was a bit hard, i had to really will myself to do it, then you realise it aint to bad.

should pretty crappy having to go through it again, im hating having this device in my mouth, but know it will be worth it.

good luck with your second surgery!!! how are things otherwise?

GC

Sat Oct 17, 2009 4:50 am

GiverSSJ wrote:Are you guys glad you had the surgery? Did your ortho try a conversative approach like doing non-palatial expansion before having surgery? Or did your ortho recommand the surgery "right off the bat"?

Hey. In most cases when you have SARPE, it's because you definitely need x amount of expansion that is just not possible to achieve non-surgically. In cases where you don't need much expansion, then I would think orthos may try non-surgical expansion. But in terms of expanding a lot, I would say the surgery is more a conservative route because the expansion you will get is guaranteed and definitive, as opposed to non-surgical where your teeth may just 'tip' outwards, rather than your palate expanding.
For my part, I knew I would be getting these surgeries (SARPE + bimax afterwards) from a rather young age. My dentist told us, and from there I was just referred to an orthodontist, and treatment was started once I'd stopped growing. So for me it was a case of 'your jaws are messed up- you need surgery. Take it of leave it'

The surgery is so worth it too. Even in my case where I still need a bit more expansion during my bimax, I expanded 10mm anyway, which makes a huge difference! In cases where you go on to have additional surgery like myself, and others on this board like sauerkraut and badbite, SARPE is really just a precursor because without the expansion, you can't correct the other problems you have. I need more expansion because now my teeth are near-to-perfectly aligned, my ortho can see that my new jaw relationship which I will get after the next surgery will still be off because my upper jaw doesn't quite fit with my lower, size-wise.
SARPE is a relatively minor procedure too, so the whole thing isn't really too bad. I think the worst thing about the whole thing is just wearing the expander, as glenncoyle says!

GC- glad your recovery was good. Apart from swelling, mine was pretty easy too. It's such a great feeling when the expander is removed- your mouth will feel huge!

I think my extra expansion will just be a matter of mms, so the surgeon will just expand during the next surgery (which surgeons do during SARPE too, to start off your expansion straight away), and I won't actually have to do it myself again, so I think that means I won't wear an expander again; I'll just have a splint to keep my jaws in place. I will be seeing my surgeon in November to get a surgery date, and the procedure will be (simply speaking):
extra expansion, then upper jaw moved forward, lower jaw moved back and tilted. Then that should mean bye-bye underbite/crossbite/openbite!

#1335 Post by **Braceventura** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:59 pm

As I said in a prior post, I had my SARPE on July 22nd, 2009. The RPE comes out this Tuesday, October 27th - a little more than 3 months after the surgery.

The OD will place a TPA in and then put on upper braces at that point.

From reading all the other posts, it looks like this is actually a fairly minimal time to have had this 'torture' device bonded in my mouth. However, I am anxious to be able to speak and eat normally again and it couldn't come out soon enough!

I feel comfortable eating almost anything but really dense foods at this point. There is some residual sensitivity in my teeth but it's not bad at all. I still have numbness in my upper gums and a little numbness in my lip but it seems to be getting better and better every week. This had been a very big concern of mine for quite some time since I felt very numb until recently.

From my discussions with others, I think you need to give the healing process at least 6 months before things will be "normal". However, if I don't actually recover all the sensitivity I had before it's not bad enough that I would have opted out of the surgery.

The recovery has, however, been a lot more involved than either my OD or OS led me to believe. At this point, however, it's mostly just annoying, not painful.

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