Beginning and End of Expansion

After a SARPE surgery, 4 wisdom teeth removed, 2 bottom 4's removed, 67 activations totalling 16.75mm (almost 0.75 inches!), and 3 weeks of post-expansion migration of teeth, this is what my upper jaw looks like compared with the night before the operation. I'm showing pictures of the roof of my mouth, and of my teeth straight on. The beginning pictures were taken on April 22nd while the others were taken July 25th - just over 3 months later.

You'll notice that the expansion has caused "more teeth" to be visible in the straight-on shot. This is because my teeth basically went straight back. Now they take a much more rounded arch shape as is apparent in the second set of photos. It still amazes me to look at these pictures and think that it's ONLY BEEN THREE MONTHS!!! I guess that's why the R in SARPE stands for Rapid. Keep in mind too that the majority of SARPE patients would not require nearly the same amount of expansion, so the average patient would be done much sooner than three months!

If you were wondering, and I have mentioned this before, the upper jaw is 50% bigger than it was when we started (the upper 4's were initially separated by 29mm, they are now at 43mm).

Migration of the teeth will continue now until September when the braces go on.

Picture Post #13 - 25 Days Post-Expansion

These were taken on July 25th - 25 days after expansion stopped.

Picture Post #12 - 15 Days Post-Expansion

These pictures were taken on July 15 - 15 days after expansion stopped. Notice how the gap is already starting to close!

Picture Post #11 - 4 Days Post-Expansion

These pictures were taken on July 4th - 4 days after activations ended.

Picture Post #10 - 65 Activations

These were taken on June 28th after 65 activations (16.25mm). These are the last photos taken before activations ceased on June 30!

Picture Post #9 - 59 Activations

These were taken on June 22nd after 59 activations (14.75mm):

Picture Post #8 - 48 Activations

These were taken on June 11 after 48 activations (12.0mm), which I had thought would be my last activation - until I saw the orthodontist the next day and they told me I had 20 activations left. Ugh.