So I had my last ortho appointment to check up on my expanding before I get my braces on. It appears as though one side is under expanded where the other side is perfect, so the ortho wants to expand another 6 turns, so that means I will have expanded to 12mm when I'm complete. He mentioned to me that it's no big deal (in fact, no deal! haha) so that's good to know.
I met someone there too who had double jaw surgery, after my check up the ortho brought me to another patient who was there for braces adjustment, he talked to me about his double jaw surgery (LeForte I and BSSO). He had the surgery in October and the only thing he has now is a tiny little nerve sensation in corner of the top lip! That's pretty good considering if you were to get full nerve feeling back it could take a year!
I got the date for my braces too, May 4th! Wow. the process is moving quite along I must say!
Nathaniel, your upper jaw widened quickly. Was it painful when the ortho turned the key? I'm curious why some people get SARPE while others have leforte, and here you are doing both. Even though I thought I might be getting SARPE, it turns out I'm getting midface Lefort. Congrats on the May 4th ortho appointment. I'm going to follow your blog. Mine is (doublejawbreaker.blogspot.com) if you want to compare notes.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristi! My apologies for the delay in response here. It wasn't painful really, the first week or so when you turn the key you feel the tension of the expansion for a few hours, but then it goes away. After the first week or so you don't feel anything when you expand, it's as if you didn't do anything.
ReplyDeleteThe last week or so though the gums around my two front upper teeth were very sensitive/easily bleed. I asked my OS and Ortho about it and it was completely natural due to the amount I expanded (I actually finished at 12.5mm). They're almost back to normal "toughness" now though!
In regards to the SARPE/LeForte I thing, SARPE and LeForte I are almost the same thing. SARPE is a LeForte I without a down-fracture. SARPE stands for Surgically Assisted Rapid Palette Expansion. I needed my expansion to be surgically assisted because my top jaw bones fused together, when you're a child or a early teenager the top jaw bones are still two pieces, thus why some kids can get an expansion without a surgery.
I needed both an expansion and a full LeForte I (and BSSO) because I have a few problems.
My first problem is my narrow upper arch; basically meaning my top jaw is too narrow to be able to overlap my bottom jaw to close properly. That's why I needed the SARPE.
The LeForte I and BSSO is because I have an open bite, an under bite, and a cross bite. The LeForte I will allow my top jaw to be impacted (moved up) and then moved forward a little bit. The BSSO will allow my bottom jaw to be moved in a little bit, and finally I will most likely be having a genioplasty to move my chin outward a bit to balance my profile out.
Once all this is done, my bite will function properly!
If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask! I'll be following your blog as well.
All the best!
Nathaniel
Just curious...did your ortho or surgeon mention anything about grafting for tooth stability? I noticed Dr. Gunson left a note regarding a visit contacting a periodontist for gum grafting ASAP.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristi,
ReplyDeleteNo I wasn't told about this, though I have read about it. I think it would be on a case-by-case basis depending on how the teeth have moved in relation to the wrapping of the gums around the teeth. I've yet to get the braces though.