Author Topic: I had surgery for SARPE 2 weeks ago, and my expander broke  (Read 953 times)

Ember22

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I had surgery for SARPE 2 weeks ago, and my expander broke
« on: December 03, 2019, 05:10:38 PM »
Surgery went fine.  Surgeon was able to activate my expander with a resulting diastema. I started turning the expander last week, and it was going okay, the diastema was getting bigger.  Yesterday, the expander completely jammed.  Despite exerting pressure enough to literally bend the metal expander key piece, the hole will not budge.  Orthodontist seems to think that the (inner screw?) is faulty.  How tf do they not test this kind of thing at the lab??  Today I had to have my expander taken out, and a mold taken for a new expander before putting the old broken one back in to act as a retainer in the meantime. 

I'm freaking out as today I am 15 days post-op. Ortho said the new expander should get here Tuesday.  But the first couple weeks after surgery are the most crucial when it comes to expansion, I thought.   In the time it took to fit new bands and take molds of my mouth, it seems that my diastema has already shrunk.  It's still there, but the gap was noticeable larger.

Has anyone had this happen to them?   Any thoughts?  I'm so worried about the outcome now, and about the thought of relapse in the future.