SARPE Surgery

[Collie]

Just wanted to show some progress pics. First two pictures are my smile before SARPE, and second two are current smile. Almost 4 months post-op. Obviously I'm still dealing with a gap and a lot of asymmetry but its so cool to not see the dark space on either side of my mouth anymore!

http://imgur.com/a/2KEAk

vs

http://imgur.com/a/7zOKK
http://imgur.com/a/q2DAX

[Bellemaree]

Hello everyone!
Firstly I just wanted to say how much I love reading through everyone's posts. It's so lovely to know that there's so many people out there that understand what you're going through!

I thought I would post a question in this thread opposed to starting a new one.

My question is this:
Does anyone have any experience with the results of SARPE/SARME and underbites?
The reason I ask, is before surgery(just over 2 weeks ago) I had a mild underbite. When I say mild, I mean when I bit down my front teeth would typically meet edge to edge, and my top teeth would slip behind my bottom in order for my molars to touch. Now I am (I believe) almost done expanding - my top teeth are sitting over my bottom teeth. I don't know if I'm crazy, or if my top jaw has actually expanded forwards slightly.

My treatment plan was to involve another surgery later down the track to move my top jaw forward - but now I have this wondering feeling that I might be able to have my bite corrected without the need for a second surgery!

I did a bit of googling and found that some orthodontists use tooth extraction to correct mild underbites - and considering I am missing two top teeth, (congenially missing lateral inscisors that my canines take the place of) I feel that removing two bottom teeth would work for me.

I'm going to obviously ask my ortho next visit, but I was hoping someone might have some information for me.
We have been putting off starting a family due to me needing surgeries, and if I can get away without having a second, it might just be the best news I've heard in my life!

[Marriedonmaui]

Hi- so I decided to go through with the bsso surgery which has been an experience all it's own and I will be posting on that site for my experience with that. I had my bsso with my rpe still in. Being banded shut in a weird position has put somee stress on the rpe and it's rocking. Hoping I can ge that out soon. I still have some numbness and weird tooth sensations around too10/11/12 and tingly left lip. I'm used to the face change and now boom I have a balloon head from bsso, haha. At this pint I would say yes I'm glad I had it done but it it not to be taken lightly as my plates bent right after surgery and I had to have the screws replaced. My surgeon has been so amazing. He personally called me or my husband daily for a week. Redid the 2nd surgery no charge. Really amazing. I see him today and see where I go from here. Also I'm beyond exhausted.

[Marriedonmaui]

Hi- so I decided to go through with the bsso surgery which has been an experience all it's own and I will be posting on that site for my experience with that. I had my bsso with my rpe still in. Being banded shut in a weird position has put somee stress on the rpe and it's rocking. Hoping I can ge that out soon. I still have some numbness and weird tooth sensations around tooth 10/11/12 and tingly left lip. I'm used to the face change and now boom I have a balloon head from bsso, haha. At this pint I would say yes I'm glad I had it done but it it not to be taken lightly as my plates bent right after surgery and I had to have the screws replaced. My surgeon has been so amazing. He personally called me or my husband daily for a week. Redid the 2nd surgery no charge. Really amazing. I see him today and see where I go from here. Also I'm beyond exhausted.

[Metalmouth33]

Hello everyone!
Firstly I just wanted to say how much I love reading through everyone's posts. It's so lovely to know that there's so many people out there that understand what you're going through!

I thought I would post a question in this thread opposed to starting a new one.

My question is this:
Does anyone have any experience with the results of SARPE/SARME and underbites?
The reason I ask, is before surgery(just over 2 weeks ago) I had a mild underbite. When I say mild, I mean when I bit down my front teeth would typically meet edge to edge, and my top teeth would slip behind my bottom in order for my molars to touch. Now I am (I believe) almost done expanding - my top teeth are sitting over my bottom teeth. I don't know if I'm crazy, or if my top jaw has actually expanded forwards slightly.

My treatment plan was to involve another surgery later down the track to move my top jaw forward - but now I have this wondering feeling that I might be able to have my bite corrected without the need for a second surgery!

I did a bit of googling and found that some orthodontists use tooth extraction to correct mild underbites - and considering I am missing two top teeth, (congenially missing lateral inscisors that my canines take the place of) I feel that removing two bottom teeth would work for me.

I'm going to obviously ask my ortho next visit, but I was hoping someone might have some information for me.
We have been putting off starting a family due to me needing surgeries, and if I can get away without having a second, it might just be the best news I've heard in my life!

I had an underbite that was mostly corrected with sarpe. My teeth are tipped a bit, so it's not like I really expanded enough to not notice a difference in my profile between a normal set of jaws, but I avoided a second surgery which was originally in the plan. Proceed with a bit of caution though, I don't think what they tried on me was really that normal. The ortho pulled my bite into position using elastics, and post braces there is a bit of relapse to where things were. My bite doesn't rest as good as it did while I still had braces on. The same can be said about my profile. It was a bit better while I still had braces on.

[Metalmouth1987]

Hi Everyone,

It has been really interesting reading these posts and I just wanted to join in because at the moment I'm feeling a little down about my surgery. I gather that this is normal 'post-surgery blues' - everything seems to be going okay at this point, I just have a few worries. So I got my surgery on Tuesday just gone (4th of July). I'm still swollen in the face area and around my nose but the swelling has certainly gone down. I'm worried (perhaps prematurely) that my face shape will be a little different after all this - already my nose looks wider and my cupid's bow (that bit between upper lip and nose)...longer? That could just be swelling. Has anyone else had some issues with changes in facial look after surgery and healing? I haven't turned the device yet, my first time will be tonight and I'm NOT looking forward to it. However, from having overlapping front teeth, hence the surgery, I already have a gap between them! Is it normal to have a gap directly after surgery?
Happy to answer any questions anyone else might have about the surgery and recovery up to this point, by the way!

[Metalmouth33]

Hi metalmouth1987, nice name btw ;P


To answer your question about facial changes:

Yes, my nose got wider, at the base. And my cupid's bow changed as well ( I didn't know this was what it was called until now), I guess I would say it got..wider? Or longer, as you say. I also lost some definition of the dimple. Overall, it's even more noticeable if i'm smiling, the bow stretches out further and it does look a little weird to me. The same thing goes with my nose, the nostrils widen a bit more when I smile. I don't mind the nose so much, but the other changes I'm not too keen on.

I think I read around here somewhere that some people's surgeons would place a stitch or something of the like to keep the nostrils in place.

[Metalmouth33]

Okay so it's been quite sometime since I contributed to a message board (96? 97?), and I'm not sure I am doing it correctly.

I really appreciate this forum so far, great info and guidance.
I am trying to decide if SARPE is right for me. I've been a mouth-breather, especially when sleeping, from way back due to allergies as a kid... left me with a very high and narrow palate. Ortho and surgeon both say I am a good candidate and will like my results much better if I "have it done right", meaning SARPE first. Ortho seems very committed towards surgery first but understands my hesitation. He claims he can do it without, but it's like putting new tires on an axle that needs alignment.
I am very torn. In moments I think, go for it! and then I read some of the more negative reviews here.
I know no one can make the decision but me. I would like to hear from those of you who had a malocclusion/bad bite due to mouth-breathing. What were your results long-term? Do you still breath with your mouth open at night? Is there a risk it will narrow again if this is the case?

TIA
RFX

I was a mouth-breather both before and after Sarpe. So, yea, I still breathe through my mouth. I find it difficult to breathe through my nose unless I am very relaxed and don't require a very high rate of respiration. Despite this, I still breathe through my mouth when sleeping. I can't find it at the moment, but recently I had found a study online which suggested a sarpe surgery doesn't do much to help this. Maybe it has helped some, but it's no guarantee.

I had a sarpe surgery to help fix my bite and crowding. In that regards it has achieved some results, but I don't think it will change your mouth breathing. I read on another study that you can probably expect some minor degree of relapse from a sarpe. This has happened for me, so whether or not it has to do specifically with the mouth breathing I don't know, but I don't think so. I think it's just normal. Say you expand 10mm, you'll probably lose 2-4mm of that within a couple years and then stabilize (at least that's what I gathered from that study).

[Metalmouth33]

Hi rfxob.

Sorry to keep writing so much, but I thought I should add a bit more.
Have read over this abstract. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22516838

That's a study I saw referenced in some orthognathic surgery book.
I didn't have any problems with the surgery, no infections or anything like that. But the dental problems listed describe exactly some of the minor complications that I've experienced from this surgery. Asymmetrical expansion, minor gum loss, and also tooth discoloration. The asymmetrical is pretty annoying actually. It's rather minor, but my mouth just feels off. My teeth look much less white than they used to, and in comparison to someone else with white teeth they don't look white at all.

These complications are secondary compared to other ones I am currently experiencing. Because of my negative experience with this surgery you could definitely say I'm playing the devil's advocate.
I think it is right that you question whether or not this surgery is right for you. The odds for for experiencing at least one complication (41/120) seem pretty high to me. I wouldn't recommend this surgery to anyone unless it was a definite fix for some major health problems.

[Metalmouth1987]

Thanks Metalmouth33! Haha I was not up for being imaginative when choosing my username
Okay so it looks like I might experience some change in shape. I suppose I'll have to get used to it. Waiting for the swelling to go down to see the definite results but I'm already experiencing a little dysmorphia about my face. I just hope it's worth it down the line and I get a beautiful straight-toothed smile out of this.

[Metalmouth33]

@Metalmouth1987: I hope too you find positive results at the end.

Just curious for anyone who has had this surgery:

How long did your orthodontist wait after surgery until putting the braces on? My orthodontist only waited a few weeks. He put on a power chain at the same time and the gap was closed within a couple hours. It hurt soo much.

[Collie]

@Metalmouth1987: I hope too you find positive results at the end.

Just curious for anyone who has had this surgery:

How long did your orthodontist wait after surgery until putting the braces on? My orthodontist only waited a few weeks. He put on a power chain at the same time and the gap was closed within a couple hours. It hurt soo much.

Got my braces on about a month after surgery. I can't believe your gap closed in hours, how big was it? Geez. I can imagine that would hurt like crazy. Mine still hasn't closed and its been 5 months! Still have about 5mm to go I've had powerchains most of the time too.

[Metalmouth33]

Honestly i'm not exactly sure how big it was, I didn't measure it and there was no mention from the surgeon or ortho about how big the gap was supposed to be. But i'd guess it to be around 5-7mm at it's widest.

[Vega]

Mine was closed 4 months after the surgery, it was a 6mm gap.
I had my braces on before, so they cut the wire during surgery.
I had to turn for about 10 days.
Because my front teeth 'collapsed' 3 weeks after sugery I had to get a wire to keep it in place, but no pressure was added then and it didn't do anything on closing the gap.
In between my distractor became loose, they had to re-attach a screw and also tighten the appliance again.
Overall it took 2 months to close the gap, and I had 3 appointements to change the powerchain.

...And today is the day they will be removing the smile distractor.
5 months after surgery.

[Konbawa076]

Hi guys!

I had SARPE 6 days ago, i'm feeling a bit low and tired. I wonder when i can try to exercise to gain some energy.