SARPE vs. Something Else Part 1

My orthodontist has recommended SARPE to finish my expansion, which uses teeth as the anchor for the expander. My upper left first molar has already twice been forced out of its original spot by orthodontic work and the Myobrace breathing trainer thing I used a while ago. I am uncomfortable with the idea of pushing it around for a third time, there has to be a limit of how much abuse a tooth can take before it gives up. So I have an appointment with a periodontist on May 27, 2021. I have no date set for the SARPE, the hospital coordinator has confirmed that they are not booking any surgeries.

So I am doing two things. First, I am putting together an excessively large document of all the information I have on MSE with surgery compared to SARPE so I plunk it down in front of my orthodontist and ask her why she wants SARPE over some form of MSE with surgery. Maybe it’s a legal issue. Maybe she doesn’t want to do something she has never done before. Maybe she looked into it and found out that it won’t work. But I’m going to lay out everything I have in writing. Covid bunged up my brain and I feel like I still can’t have fully rational conversations, its like when I try to talk to people in person parts of my brain just abandon me. I’m not going to do a risky surgery just because I struggled to talk to my orthodontist and failed to voice all the concerns I have.

Secondly, with the rate that vaccinations are happening I am getting closer to a time that I could realistically get surgery in the US. That is not an ideal option, but it is worth looking into. I would still need to get my orthodontist to agree to cooperate with an American surgeon. Finding a surgeon is just the first step.