5 days post SARPE surgery

Today was the day I had to go back to see the orthodontist. He gave me the wrench which was the tool to use to turn the expander.

On the expander there are 3 colours (red, blue and yellow) dotted around it and I had to turn the expander until I saw the next colour showing outwards and I had to do this once a day.

Here is a picture of the wrench and a picture of what a palatial expander looks like.

My recovering days after SARPE

e were the most painful days I've ever experienced. It was mainly the swelling and the fact I couldn't open my mouth which bothered me. I could only manage yoghurt for the first 3 days and then I managed to eat mashed potato and pasta after that.

Day of operation (29th January 2014)

I was very nervous this day but it all turned out OK. Woke up feeling awful with a ice pack strapped around my face and half of my face was numb.

I had to stay in the hospital for one night and by lunch time the next day I was allowed to go home.

Definitely not looking by best in the photo but I thought I'd share with you what I looked like straight after the op.

Night before surgery and overview of before the surgery (28th January 2014)

Hello! I have started writing this blog late as I have been so busy and also been recovering after the SARPE surgery but I am going to try to remember the last few weeks and show you my progress.

When I was 15 back in 2005 I went to the orthodontist and back then they informed me that I only needed surgery on my lower jaw and have braces for 18 months, but as I was having no problems I didn't want to go through all that hassle and decided to leave my teeth as they were.

When I reached the age of 21 I started suffering with Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) in my jaw. I went to the dentist and he informed me that over time what had happened was my lower jaw had carried on growing and my upper jaw had stopped leaving me with a narrow upper jaw. The pain was caused by my jaw growing in this way.  He then referred me to the Royal Surrey County Hospital to have surgery and braces. So I now needed SARPE (Surgically Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion), braces and lower jaw surgery.

I had many appointments of them prodding me about, X-Rays, photographs and molds. They told me the first thing that needs to be done is the SARPE surgery. This is where they brake my upper jaw and drill a Transpalatal Distractor into my upper jaw and I would have a metal bar in the roof of my mouth and I would put a key into this and turn it once a day to expand my jaw. They would also take out my wisdom teeth at the same time. After that braces would be put on for 18 months and then surgery on the lower jaw.

But in the UK, the law changed on the 1st April 2012 that if you aged over 20 you do not have funding for this type of surgery. I therefore had to request for NHS funding and was so worried because I couldn't afford this on my own as it is worth about £20,000 altogether. 

After many letters and phone calls etc I eventually received the letter saying they had funded it and it could go ahead!................but this took 2 years. 

After the long wait they finally gave me my SARPE date which was the 29th January 2014. 

Here is a picture of my teeth before everything.