J-man

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share an experience I had yesterday that might possibly come in handy for some of you, when it comes time to have your splint adjusted.

I have been using a thin, full coverage splint for over a year now. During last year, I found that I was experiencing some real benefits from the splint. This translated into better sleep at night, and more productivity during my work day. I have been so blessed to have the dentist I have. Not only has he not charged me for many splint adjustments, but he has been incredibly patient with me, as I've continued to need fairly frequent splint adjustments !! :-)

At one point last year, he changed my splint. He was wanting to help me, because I had mentioned how eating often leads to painful episodes in my jaw or facial muscles. So he changed the splint to make it easier for me to chew food with the splint in my mouth. However, after that point, my splint hasn't been working as effectively, and it's been a bit of a road to get me back to where I was before.

Most of the time actually, it isn't my dentist who adjusts my splint, but rather his dental assistant. She does a fabulous job. Again she is very patient, and I think overall is more knowledgeable at the techniques required for proper splint adjustment, than most dentists are.

During my past few splint adjustment visits, I had reported feeling as if I was biting too much on the back of my splint. I couldn't tell just where I was biting harder, only that it was more in the back than in the front. I had mentioned this to the dental assistant. What she said, was that she wanted me biting on my back of the splint, and not on the front. So yesterday when I came in again, she brought the dentist to have a look at the splint. He did, and within a short time of looking at how my teeth were contacting it, he decided to build it up in the front, so that my front teeth were contacting it as well. I understand that some splints are actually designed so that the teeth aren't touching the front of the splint, but apparently this is not the case with my splint.

The good news is that last night I enjoyed a very relaxing sleep (something I don't often experience). It seems to me that the moral of the story is to persevere if you have a feel like there is something not quite right about your splint. Also, it's important to explain as best you can, what trends or patterns there seem to be, with the way your teeth are contacting the splint. The dental assistant often tells me, the better the information I give her about how the splint is working, the better the job she can do at adjusting it. As a number of dentists have said to me before, our brains are more accurate in detecting problems or discrepancies with our bites, than even the most accurate ribbon paper is, when it’s used to adjust a splint. I also want to thank God, because as I was waiting for the dentist to come, I prayed that he would be able to see in my mouth the same things that I seemed to be feeling.

Have a great day !
John