u/Alarming-Bed-320

Hi everyone! I have an update from my first post which expressed experience and concerns after I stopped turning my MARPE.

I turned for around 3 months for a total around 6 mm expansion. Doctor says my case took a bit longer than usual patients, probably because I was doing half turns versus full turns.

I had a very narrow palate and a nasty cross bite on the last bottom molar to address.

At first, my understanding was that the awkward phase was just gaps in between the teeth. I did not mind this.

However, 2 weeks after the final turn my face went completely weird. My teeth flared out, my mouth looked and felt huge, my nostrils flared out, my cheeks were swollen, my jaw looked recessed and I had a suture split bump on my nose.

I don't know if these were slowly creeping up on me or if my mouth just went wild after finishing while it settled in but it was extremely alarming.

After 2 months - around April - I started to express serious concerns to my doctor. Doctor said all of these symptoms were temporary, that this next phase is the worst phase and I will get better. Being that I am an adult patient, it can take more time to adjust.

My conscience said to trust the process because this doctor is highly rated...but I was really freaking out...especially reading things like MARPE ruins faces! MARPE causes drop down effect... ugh hence why I wrote the first reddit post.

It has been 2 months since that first post and I will say....the results are starting to look amazing!!!!

First of all, my scan confirmed I did NOT have the drop down effect. The jaw tends to swing back first after immediate expansion.

Pros: My teeth are starting to tilt in and move forward and my mouth looks proportional again.
My jaw used to be slightly crooked, protruded and elongated, now my face is oval and structured.
My eyes widened apart as well. I think my upper jaw was so narrow it almost caved my face in.
My nose is a bit wider, but I had a narrow nose to start with so I really don't care.
The nostrils have narrowed down from the initial flare after expansion which is good.
Before I started this process I had a gummy smile, I still see gums but it is much better than before.
My face looks very symmetrical already. My right profile matches my left profile.

Cons: I still have a small bump on my nose which apparently is a settling suture. Doctor says it will go away. My upper lip still unsupported because of the gaps, but Doctor says this will be corrected to be more proportional.

I have another 2 months until the device is removed and that's when we will do heavy orthodontic work to close the gaps, align the jaw symmetrically and move everything forward and up to cover my gummy smile. It will be at least a year process.

I'm extremely happy I did this and I will share photos from the process soon! I promise for those of you who had an unfortunate crappy phase like me, it gets worse before it gets amazing. And we're just getting started.

Hello Marpe Reddit -

I am currently undergoing MARPE treatment and I find this therapeutic to share my experience so I appreciate any feedback from fellow patients :).

I had a palate expander as a kid that was not successful. As an adult my upper jaw was narrow, the left jaw basically looked collapsed and my lower jaw was asymmetrical because it wasn't fitting correctly. My face looked elongated, flat, had an underbite on one side, and my lower jaw would poke straight down in my front view and profile. When I opened and closed my mouth it looked like a pit bull lol.

Beauty vs. Health: My features are big eyes, small nose, fairly delicate looking. But my chin and lower face would throw this off sometimes as more masculine. I was always overcompensating to like "over bite" on one side because it was so uncomfortable feeling and I had a slight speech impediment getting tongue tied.

I was told by several orthos I needed jaw surgery which sounded too invasive. Then MARPE appeared and I was thrilled to have a chance to finally widen my upper jaw so everything could fit in place.

The office informed me that it wasn't really a big deal except that treatment would be 2 years and I would have temporary gaps in my teeth that would look kind of awkward. Being that I always wanted to fix this I didn't mind the length of treatment.

I turned for 3 months and I'm currently in the third month of some sort of Invisalign - you place them under hot water and they mold to your teeth nicely. However...the gaps are not the only thing that are awkward. My mouth feels and looks too big for my face, and it has created almost like hallow/gaunt look. I understand the gaps and some teeth flaring can cause this and I was told this will subside and we close and tilt everything. I also have developed a bump on my nose which I was told is temporary as the sutures have been opened and new bone needs to replace it.

The teeth on the left side finally line up, but now my right upper jaw is far more over the lower side and the one side of my face is larger. I was told this expansion had to be done this way in order to correct and put everything in proper placement because what was the point of doing this at all. According to the doctor it will all come together and look perfect.

The positive I have felt and seen so far: my bite and tongue feel more comfortable despite the awkward large feeling. My cheekbones are more prominent and higher. My mid face has widened along with my eyes - which is kind of cool. My profile "snout" has pushed forward almost like a fox. My face looks fuller and more more oval versus narrow and elongated. These are things I wanted to achieve.

My doctor along with some reddit and tiktok journeys, especially with women my age, have now informed me this is probably the worst time during treatment. Everything has opened up, tissues are settling, it's like a construction site. I trust my doctor but sometimes I get panicked because the process is quite freaky at times. Especially since sometimes I can't recognize myself.

Thanks for letting my share my experience and/or vent. I would greatly appreciate anyone's feedback on their journey - and hopefully it is relatable like mine but with future amazing outcomes! :)