sickiemcgee
11-03-2005, 03:32 PM
Hi I have had TMJ problems for about 3 years now. I went to doctor after doctor who told me nothing was wrong with me, until I made an appointment with a chiropractor. She has been working on me for about 8 months now and the pain has decreased by about 60% (which is great!) but I still have at least 1 or 2 headaches/jaw aches a week. I went to see an orthodontist who suggested I get a mouth orthotic to move my bottom jaw forward (since it sits back too far) to wear 24 hours a day for 8 months, then after that comes out, have braces put on for 2 years to re-align my bite. It will take 3 years to complete the process and I have no guarantees that it will work for sure, my ortho says he has an 85% success rate but I am not sure if I can sink 3 years of my life and $12,000 into something that might not work. Does anyone have any experience with this type of procedure? did it work for you? was it painful? should I go for it or should I stick with my chiropractor to see if she can make me feel 100% better. Also does anyone have any tips to ease the head/jaw/eye/face pain when it gets bad other then taking advil or tylenol? any help would be greatly appreciated! :)
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shellis
11-03-2005, 03:46 PM
I by no means am a expert on this, in fact i am trying to learn all of this myself, but i felt compelled to tell you my story.
I too was told that something was wrong of my bite and that if i got braces that it would most likely take my pain away. so i did it. a couple of weeks after the braces were put on the pain and the swelling was so bad that i had to have the wire taken off for a while. after the swelling went down and the pain somewhat subsided they put the wire back on. and with time and meds i got to a functioning point were i could eat some.
then they started the elastics, rubberbands, this is the part of the braces form what i understand is neccassary for the tmj treatment. I started this about 2 months ago. now my mouth and joint are so swollen that i am back to jsut licking pudding and yougurt off of spoons. no chewing at all very limited opening.
I am going to the ortho tomorrow and hopefully there is something that we can do to help with the pain.
I also want to tell you that when i started this it was this will probably help me
then it should,
then maybe
then 50/50
then it wa we'll see
then doubtfull
and now it is well at least i will get straight teeth out of it.
they really do no think that this is going to help my jaw at all.
so please please please think this through completely. get many opinions and just when you think that you have made yoru mind up go get one more opinion. this is a big desicion and i hope that yu make the right one form you.
and just because it did not work for me does not mean that it will not work for you, it might, it could, that is why i am saying go get many many opinions from drs and dentist that are specializing in tmj.
hope that this helped you and did not scare you that was not my intention.
sharon
I too was told that something was wrong of my bite and that if i got braces that it would most likely take my pain away. so i did it. a couple of weeks after the braces were put on the pain and the swelling was so bad that i had to have the wire taken off for a while. after the swelling went down and the pain somewhat subsided they put the wire back on. and with time and meds i got to a functioning point were i could eat some.
then they started the elastics, rubberbands, this is the part of the braces form what i understand is neccassary for the tmj treatment. I started this about 2 months ago. now my mouth and joint are so swollen that i am back to jsut licking pudding and yougurt off of spoons. no chewing at all very limited opening.
I am going to the ortho tomorrow and hopefully there is something that we can do to help with the pain.
I also want to tell you that when i started this it was this will probably help me
then it should,
then maybe
then 50/50
then it wa we'll see
then doubtfull
and now it is well at least i will get straight teeth out of it.
they really do no think that this is going to help my jaw at all.
so please please please think this through completely. get many opinions and just when you think that you have made yoru mind up go get one more opinion. this is a big desicion and i hope that yu make the right one form you.
and just because it did not work for me does not mean that it will not work for you, it might, it could, that is why i am saying go get many many opinions from drs and dentist that are specializing in tmj.
hope that this helped you and did not scare you that was not my intention.
sharon