heather47
07-30-2003, 02:43 PM
Does any one else have tmj from a car accident or other trauma? I was rear-ended in 2000 and have been through a whole lot of treatment and have been wearing a splint on my lower teeth for almost two years. I want to hear that it gets better and stops hurting eventually, but it certainly doesn't sound like it from some of the posts I have read.
Sponsor
lecach
07-30-2003, 03:17 PM
I was in a car accident when I was 16 - no seatbelt so my face smashed into the window. At the time they didnt realize anything was wrong with my jaw. Apparently when you are 16 your jaw isnt thru forming. Over time I developed clicking, then migraines, then decreased openings, etc. After my first surgery the migraines stopped but everything else got worse. I've now had 3 surgical procedures on my left jaw, 2 on my right. Still in a lot of pain and now trying a repositional splint.
Trauma - such as that from a car accident - is one of the top causes of TMJ.
I would like to tell you that it stops or gets better. For me its only gotten worse. Im hopeful that the splint works - its been the only success for many tmj sufferers. The most important thing seems to be to find a TMJ specialist that will listen to you and treat you without rushing into surgery.
Good luck and welcome - you are in the right place. The people on here have been through almost every type of treatment and have experienced almost every symptom.
Trauma - such as that from a car accident - is one of the top causes of TMJ.
I would like to tell you that it stops or gets better. For me its only gotten worse. Im hopeful that the splint works - its been the only success for many tmj sufferers. The most important thing seems to be to find a TMJ specialist that will listen to you and treat you without rushing into surgery.
Good luck and welcome - you are in the right place. The people on here have been through almost every type of treatment and have experienced almost every symptom.
heather47
08-01-2003, 12:13 AM
A follow-up question to my first. Has anyone had a sucessful lawsuit involving tmj or for that matter an unsucessful one? My lawyer hasn't even got a court date yet and I am out of personal injury protection through my car insurance, so I have to pay for all of my care until it is all resolved.
Elaine
08-01-2003, 02:03 AM
Heather,
I was in a wreck, broadsided by someone going 70mph. It took over two years but I won my lawsuit. I didn't get a whole lot but at the time no one knew things were so bad. One doctor had told the insurance company to wait to settle till after surgery. The insurance company wouldn't agree to that. I was going through a divorce at the time and I just wanted everything over with so I settled for $25,000 without really fighting it. That was a big mistake on my part because I have had nothing but problems every since, with both TMJD and herniated discs in my back that seem to keep blowing out on me. I remarried after my second surgery and my husbands insurance only covered a $3000 lifetime max for TMJ. I have had to pay for surgery, etc. out of pocket. If you do end up in a court battle, fight for open medical. If the other guy was at fault, you should have no problem. I am not suggesting surgery by any means, I am just telling you to cover yourself just in case it should come to that. This is an expensive ailment to be blessed with, uggh.
Take care,
Elaine
I was in a wreck, broadsided by someone going 70mph. It took over two years but I won my lawsuit. I didn't get a whole lot but at the time no one knew things were so bad. One doctor had told the insurance company to wait to settle till after surgery. The insurance company wouldn't agree to that. I was going through a divorce at the time and I just wanted everything over with so I settled for $25,000 without really fighting it. That was a big mistake on my part because I have had nothing but problems every since, with both TMJD and herniated discs in my back that seem to keep blowing out on me. I remarried after my second surgery and my husbands insurance only covered a $3000 lifetime max for TMJ. I have had to pay for surgery, etc. out of pocket. If you do end up in a court battle, fight for open medical. If the other guy was at fault, you should have no problem. I am not suggesting surgery by any means, I am just telling you to cover yourself just in case it should come to that. This is an expensive ailment to be blessed with, uggh.
Take care,
Elaine
lecach
08-01-2003, 09:42 AM
The wreck I was in was caused by the driver (we were going too fast around a curve). The driver was my best friend. At the time we didnt realize that anything major was wrong. Her parents paid the doctor and hospital bills at the time. But I (and my insurance) have paid all the TMJ bills. I could never sue her.
heather47
08-01-2003, 05:25 PM
I don't want to go through a lawsuit, but I have no choice. We have 5 kids and my husband's job doesn't have health insurance right now and we only have the most basic insurance through the state. They don't cover chiropractic care or anything related to tmj.
The other driver was 100% at fault in my accident. A pheasant crossed the on-coming lane of traffic, which came to a stop, I had slowed several times when he came flying around a corner and slammed his pick-up into the back of my mini-van. I had my 4 boys in the car.(My daughter wasn't born yet.) One of my sons had a scrape on his chest. I felt my teeth slam together, the baby's rear facing car seat hit me in the lower back and my head seperated the foam from the metal in the headrest. I didn't know how much my jaw hurt until my ribs and back hurt a little less.
The headaches and pain are terrible, but I think the worst thing ever was when my 7 year old son told me "Mommy, you've been mean and grouchy ever since the accident." I just want to be like I was before. I am only 29.
The other driver was 100% at fault in my accident. A pheasant crossed the on-coming lane of traffic, which came to a stop, I had slowed several times when he came flying around a corner and slammed his pick-up into the back of my mini-van. I had my 4 boys in the car.(My daughter wasn't born yet.) One of my sons had a scrape on his chest. I felt my teeth slam together, the baby's rear facing car seat hit me in the lower back and my head seperated the foam from the metal in the headrest. I didn't know how much my jaw hurt until my ribs and back hurt a little less.
The headaches and pain are terrible, but I think the worst thing ever was when my 7 year old son told me "Mommy, you've been mean and grouchy ever since the accident." I just want to be like I was before. I am only 29.
thisgirl
08-03-2003, 01:01 AM
my TMJ originated from a car accident. i was 17, and at the time i was told i would probably have TMJ problems in the future. (back then i had no idea what TMJ was) i got a settlement for all my injuries, but like Elaine, I was not up to fighting for any more, and $25,000 seemed like so much for a girl my age. It sounded so much better than court. Now I am 23 and this TMJ is killing me. I can't afford treatment, and I wish I still had that money to do something about this pain.
heather47
08-04-2003, 05:06 PM
My lawyer asked for $175,000. The other driver's insurance offered $1000 intially and then $12,000. My bills already exceed that amount.
picas
08-05-2003, 05:37 PM
Hi Heather47,
My daughter tells me the same thing...and my fiance. They find me so cranky and even my daughters friends say i'm always in a bad mood.
I was in a MVA 3 years ago(when i was 26). An idiot cut me off and hit me head-on at an angle. I didnt have my seatbelt and as a result hit my head on the frame seperating windows. At first i had numbness in my jaw sometimes, then it started to click, after it was really sore...still is...and now i have electric shock type pain in my face. I'm seeing a TMJ and orafacial pain specialist.
What kind of symptoms do you have?? what treatments have you tried???
Sophie
My daughter tells me the same thing...and my fiance. They find me so cranky and even my daughters friends say i'm always in a bad mood.
I was in a MVA 3 years ago(when i was 26). An idiot cut me off and hit me head-on at an angle. I didnt have my seatbelt and as a result hit my head on the frame seperating windows. At first i had numbness in my jaw sometimes, then it started to click, after it was really sore...still is...and now i have electric shock type pain in my face. I'm seeing a TMJ and orafacial pain specialist.
What kind of symptoms do you have?? what treatments have you tried???
Sophie
heather47
08-06-2003, 03:39 PM
My accident happened in 2000. During the accident, I felt my teeth slam together and I remember complaining to the EMTs that they hurt. At first, I had a headache and back,shoulder and neck pain, but shortly after the accident, my jaw started to ache. It felt like I had chewed a hundred pieces of gum. This pain progressed to severe daily headaches, sometimes so bad I can't stand upright or even open my eyes. I had an x-ray at the time to "rule out a sinus infection" and was told to see a dentist when it was normal. The dentist started me on TENS and sent me to physical therapy. In addition to the TMJ, I also have whiplash symptoms. The physical therapy was AWFUL!!! I went 3 times a week for over a month and they stopped seeing me because they were hurting me more than helping. I also becasue pregnant during that time, which made my symtoms worse and kept me from taking any muscle relaxants. My dentist made me a splint, which I have been wearing 24/7 for almost two years and I see a chiropractor to adjust my back and neck. I still have pain in both sides of my jaw, which radiates all around my head, clicking and popping and I have a severe headache at least once a month. Some days, I feel like I am in a fog. It is hard to concentrate or pay attention. I also have trouble with cold. When the weather gets cold out or I am in an air conditioned area, the muscles in my face tighten up and my speech sounds garbled. I have the same trouble with cold liquids. I also occasionally stutter. I thought it was because of the splint, but it happens if I take it out too. I worry that I am teaching my children to speak with a lisp.
Heather
Heather
Elaine
08-10-2003, 02:21 AM
Heather,
Maybe this info will help you some. Like I said, I didn't know the extent of my injuries till I had already settled with the insurance company. Main thing is open medical, not the money.
Elaine
Cervical spine injury, caused by so-called whiplash, is an important problem in automotive safety.
The most common scenario in whiplash is a rear-end collision of one motor vehicle by another. The stationary vehicle is struck at low to moderate speed and the forward-facing driver often has no warning of the impending collision and has no time to brace himself. The trunk undergoes a sequence of acceleration and deceleration, while the head and cervical spine undergo hyperextension followed by hyperflexion.
Clinically documented injuries to the cervical spine include anterior, posterior, and interspinous ligament tears; spinous process fractures; disc rupture; end-plate avulsion; dens fracture; strains of the cervico-occipital joint complex; ligament flavum rupture; fracture and disruption of facet joints; and overstretching of the anterior muscles.
It has been postulated that there is stretching of the vertebral artery and superficial branches of the cervical plexus. If the head is turned to one side, whiplash may result in rotatory injuries in addition to the bending of the cervical spine. However, there are times, all too often, when no injury can be confirmed.
Whiplash injury is one of the most poorly understood disorders of the spine. The severity of the whiplash trauma often does not correlate with the seriousness of the clinical problems, which can include neck and shoulder pain, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain, headache, dizziness, and blurring of vision. This often leads to an undefined and sometimes pejorative diagnosis, such as neurosis, psychogenesis, compensation neurosis, and so forth.
The assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of a patient after whiplash injury has many difficulties. The clinical complaints are sometimes reported months or years after the accident. In a survey of 10,000 cases of cervical spine injuries, it has been reported that symptoms of pain and headache were present in 25% of the cases 5 years after the accident. Approximately 86% of the injuries were of the soft tissue, and only 14% involved the bony fractures. The soft-tissue injury is usually a subfailure injury of the particular anatomic structure, e.g., ligament. The structure has not been stretched beyond its yield point. Clinically, such an injury would be expected to result in decreased function and pain. With time, such symptoms may become chronic.
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) symptoms are a common finding in motor vehicle accident patients with hyperextension/hyperflexion injuries of the cervical spine (cervical whiplash). The relationship between cervical whiplash and TMJ injuries has been documented in a recent study. The study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 87 consecutive MVA cervical whiplash patients who presented with TMJ symptoms and had sustained no direct trauma to the face, head or mandible and had no TMJ complaints prior to the MVA.
As part of the same study one hundred sixty-four TMJ patients were evaluated for internal derangement, effusion and inflammation, utilizing T1 and T2 weighted images. A high percentage of the TMJ patients demonstrated abnormal findings: disk displacement with reduction (DDR), 118/164 (72%); disk displacement without reduction (DDNR), 25/164 (15%); effusion, 113/164 (69%); inflammation or edema, 84/164 (51%); total TMJ abnormalities, 156/164 (95%). The high percentage of TMJ abnormalities in this study significantly illustrates the proximate relationship between cervical whiplash and TMJ injuries.
Maybe this info will help you some. Like I said, I didn't know the extent of my injuries till I had already settled with the insurance company. Main thing is open medical, not the money.
Elaine
Cervical spine injury, caused by so-called whiplash, is an important problem in automotive safety.
The most common scenario in whiplash is a rear-end collision of one motor vehicle by another. The stationary vehicle is struck at low to moderate speed and the forward-facing driver often has no warning of the impending collision and has no time to brace himself. The trunk undergoes a sequence of acceleration and deceleration, while the head and cervical spine undergo hyperextension followed by hyperflexion.
Clinically documented injuries to the cervical spine include anterior, posterior, and interspinous ligament tears; spinous process fractures; disc rupture; end-plate avulsion; dens fracture; strains of the cervico-occipital joint complex; ligament flavum rupture; fracture and disruption of facet joints; and overstretching of the anterior muscles.
It has been postulated that there is stretching of the vertebral artery and superficial branches of the cervical plexus. If the head is turned to one side, whiplash may result in rotatory injuries in addition to the bending of the cervical spine. However, there are times, all too often, when no injury can be confirmed.
Whiplash injury is one of the most poorly understood disorders of the spine. The severity of the whiplash trauma often does not correlate with the seriousness of the clinical problems, which can include neck and shoulder pain, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain, headache, dizziness, and blurring of vision. This often leads to an undefined and sometimes pejorative diagnosis, such as neurosis, psychogenesis, compensation neurosis, and so forth.
The assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of a patient after whiplash injury has many difficulties. The clinical complaints are sometimes reported months or years after the accident. In a survey of 10,000 cases of cervical spine injuries, it has been reported that symptoms of pain and headache were present in 25% of the cases 5 years after the accident. Approximately 86% of the injuries were of the soft tissue, and only 14% involved the bony fractures. The soft-tissue injury is usually a subfailure injury of the particular anatomic structure, e.g., ligament. The structure has not been stretched beyond its yield point. Clinically, such an injury would be expected to result in decreased function and pain. With time, such symptoms may become chronic.
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) symptoms are a common finding in motor vehicle accident patients with hyperextension/hyperflexion injuries of the cervical spine (cervical whiplash). The relationship between cervical whiplash and TMJ injuries has been documented in a recent study. The study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 87 consecutive MVA cervical whiplash patients who presented with TMJ symptoms and had sustained no direct trauma to the face, head or mandible and had no TMJ complaints prior to the MVA.
As part of the same study one hundred sixty-four TMJ patients were evaluated for internal derangement, effusion and inflammation, utilizing T1 and T2 weighted images. A high percentage of the TMJ patients demonstrated abnormal findings: disk displacement with reduction (DDR), 118/164 (72%); disk displacement without reduction (DDNR), 25/164 (15%); effusion, 113/164 (69%); inflammation or edema, 84/164 (51%); total TMJ abnormalities, 156/164 (95%). The high percentage of TMJ abnormalities in this study significantly illustrates the proximate relationship between cervical whiplash and TMJ injuries.
heather47
08-11-2003, 05:33 PM
Thenk you for the information. I don't think I can get open medical. I will ask my lawyer. The guy that hit me was still covered under his parents insurance and I don't know the extent of their coverage. What happens if they don't have enough insurance to cover me?
I have had several MRIs and a full bone scan and there were no abnormal findings, except they said I have spurring in one of the vertabre in my neck that they believe is developmental. I had an imaging study done through a chiropractor that showed my jaw movements are really off. And of course, the tests done by my dentist. They keep telling me there isn't a whole lot they can do for soft tissue damage, except for the tmj care and the chiropractor. With 5 kids, I don't go as often as I need to either. I also had braces for 3 or 4 years as a teen and I have been told that makes me more prone to TMJ.
Heather
I have had several MRIs and a full bone scan and there were no abnormal findings, except they said I have spurring in one of the vertabre in my neck that they believe is developmental. I had an imaging study done through a chiropractor that showed my jaw movements are really off. And of course, the tests done by my dentist. They keep telling me there isn't a whole lot they can do for soft tissue damage, except for the tmj care and the chiropractor. With 5 kids, I don't go as often as I need to either. I also had braces for 3 or 4 years as a teen and I have been told that makes me more prone to TMJ.
Heather
tessjs
08-12-2003, 08:10 AM
I was in a car accident in 1999 and was diagnosed with tmj a year later. Most of you have said you were hit by someone but what if the accident was your fault i hit someone up the rear and left with bruising to my chest by my seatbelt nobody checked my neck which appparently has problems and here i am still struggling yrs on.I was on my way to work and left mid way through the next yr and then it was 2000 oct when wanting to get dental work done that the symptoms appeared out of the blue .It just seems strange that IT was after the accident i got it. Yet my physio I see says she can look at a photo of me when iwas between nine and 14 and tell me by looking at the jaw if tmj was developing or had developed then.I don't know what to make of that if she says she sees something in a photo does that mean the car accident isn't to blame or did the stress of it bring it on.I mean i clench too i have had numerous things happen but really what is the one true cause. I don't think i'll ever know. But the car accident plays on my mind and because i was at fault i couldn't so anything about it. But no doctors said to me get your neck and jaw checked.The ambulance didn't either. What is going on with people who attend traffic accidents shouldn't they be trained in what to look for.Nobody even mentioned whiplash all they cared about was if i was insured and who was towing the car away. My life has been crap ever since.