Wellness

[sarahpanda]

Greetings - I was in the Wellness thread and noticed that you'd had surgery way years ago for TMJ...How did that work for you over the years? TIA

[SloopJohnB]

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@sarahpanda wrote:

Greetings - I was in the Wellness thread and noticed that you'd had surgery way years ago for TMJ...How did that work for you over the years? TIA

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@ccassaday 

[patbz]

@sarahpanda : I had TMJ that really  bothered me from my late 20s until I was 45. Various doctors and dentists recommended various solutions ( grind my teeth down, wear a night guard etc). What finally worked was my local dentist offered to manipulate my jaw and reset my bite. In office procedure, took maybe 15 mins, no pain and its worked now for 35 years.

[sarahpanda]

@patbz   Thank you for your input.  I've already been to the dentist about it and had light therapy, tens unit, etc...all total 3 hours of procedures , costing $1700+...eased it off, never went away.  That was a month or so ago.  Yesterday , I made the mistake of eating a Subway sammie - lots of chewing there, paying for that now !! My dentist had told me if what he did previously didn't work, then he do some sort of scan to ''see what's going on in there'' and possibily a Botox injection.  I think he's got his work cut out for him,calling him today to schedule ''Plan B''. 

[Big Joanie]

I developed TMJ in the late 1970's ... A severe headache

every afternoon .. not fun with 2 small children ... 
Specialist had me get gold crowns on my bottom teeth

to adjust my bite ... yes that fixed the problem .. but to

this day .. if I have dental work done .. if the bite is not

right it comes roaring back ...

[DottieBlue]

@sarahpanda 

I also have TMJ dysfunction.  I went to a dentist back in the 80's who said it was caused by a slipped disc in the jaw joint.  He made me a custom splint that went over my bottom teeth that I wore 24/7 except when I ate.  I wore this for a few years.  It realigned my jaw. 

I still must be careful to not eat chewy or crunchy foods.  I also cannot do any type of impact excercises like jogging, etc., because it "jars" my jaws.

I hope you find a solution soon.

[sarahpanda]

@DottieBlue   Thank you for your well wishes....I go tomorrow for x-rays, a ct scan, all lasting about 1 hour . ...not to crazy about all of that but it seems that is what is needed to diagnosis the problem.  My dentist is ''the best'' in the area and I have great confidence in him, been going for 20 years or so to his office.

[ccassaday]

Mine wasn’t specifically for TMJ. I have psoriatic arthritis and it caused my joints in my jaw to fuse together where I couldn’t open my mouth. Give me a second and I will go back to see what questions you had

[ccassaday]

It’s been 8 years already and everything has went well. They basically go in and remove the fused joints and put spacers in for around 8 weeks while the replacement joints are being made. I probably don’t have as big of a mouth opening as normal but it’s good where I can eat normally get dental work ect. No pain.

Each surgery was around 8 hours. First surgery was pretty rough but recovery from the second one when they put then in was pretty fast