SCARPE- Does this have to be done in a hospital?

[manderin]

I would like to get palate expansion mostly for facial cosmetic reasons. There's a tiny bit of crowding in my mouth but not much. I doubt insurance will pay for it so it'll be out of pocket. That's why I would prefer to avoid hospital costs. I hear it's pretty quick and routine surgery so can you just go to an ortho's office to get it done? What kind of anesthesia do they use? I live in New York so any recommendations for docs would be appreciated.

[Teeth of Cthulhu]

You can't have SARPE expansion simply to correct crowded teeth. It is used for correcting narrow palates. Do you have a narrow palate?

[manderin]

Oh I'm not doing it to correct crowded teeth because my teeth are BARELY crowded at all. Just a little bit. I want to do it for cosmetic purposes only, not because I medically need it. That's why I know insurance won't pay for it and I have to pay for it on my own because it is strictly cosmetic. Yes my palates are narrow and a couple of dentists growing up have said so while working on me, but because my bite wasn't affected they said it was fine. I'm 31 years old now and I hate my smile because my narrow palate makes it so that only the first few teeth show and the corners of my mouth are a black shadow abyss. I went to a plastic surgeon to see if he could fix it but he told me that in my case only a palate expansion would help that. I've researched it and it seems that at my age surgical expansion is really my only option.

[Van'braces]

My maxillofacial surgeon would also carry the procedure out in his office/surgery, rather than hospital. I'm in Canada, had sarpe and 4 wisdom tooth extractions in hospital under GA, I have seen online blogs where people have had sarpe under sedation and local anaesthetic only. I would recommend consulting with a max' fax' in your area...

[bracesandcurapp]

Most surgeons don't perform SARPE unless there is a functional reason for it.. and no it is an outpatient procedure usually.

Good luck