Hey Cymy
Ive been reading through some of your posts and thought you would be the right person to ask for some advice.
Two years ago I had a flat plane upper splint, which I wore for two months,as my jaw was not opening very wide to eat, and there was pain but it was bearable, so I saw a surgeon, who said it was easy fixed, and said I was to wear the splint for 3 months, and if that didnt work, it would do
anthrocentesis.
Within 2 months I had developed an open bite, my bite was fine before, and then the pain and spasms became chronic, with my bite changing day to day, but the open bite has never closed.
I have been in pain clinics etc for the problem, and nothing has really helped except for osteopath, and I am now on antidepressants for it.
I have been to a dentist who says the only way out of this mess, if by using the repositioning splint, I am reluctant to do so, considering the first splint was meant to be irreversible and harmless.
Can you give some advice on the splint, i read somewhere that you
are wearing a stablilisation splint on the lower teeth, i was wanting to ask this dentist if he could perhaps make me one similar.
The job I am doing, i cannot afford to wear a splint like a repositioning splint, that is NOT meant to be removed even for eating, I need to take it out for an hour or so at a time, and i thought it might be good just to get a stablilistion splint, even though i realise that I have had one already for the upper teeth.I stopped wearing that one, as soon as the bite changed.
I did read somewhere that some dentist disagree with the stablilisation, as it it not treating the actual bite problem, and I am sure that my dentist is going to give me this same lecture, but its my mouth.
So what i am asking is? By the time you had the stablilisation splint, was your bite in a good place? Do you have to wear the stablisation splint fulltime, to keep alleviating the symptoms?
Im not sure this all works, after i wore the first splint, i could again open my mouth a bit wider, but the teeth had moved, and in a letter my oral surgeon had said that i did have internal derangment, but now i can open my mouth quite wide,so do i have internal derangment still? the clicking from before has now gone to a grating sound, like bone on bone,and the dentist wanting to put me in the repositioning splint said that if i leave my jaw in this condition it will turn into arthritis.
My oral surgeon said i am a mystery case, a rarity haha, from developing an open bite from a splint, and yet, i have come to find that others have had the exact same problem.
Also, if i was to do the reposition splint, isnt it bad to go ahead with that treatment, when there are still major muscle spasms??
ahh im so confused,. sorry if this post was a little unclear
thanks kindly
Last edited by socilbliss2002; 07-04-2004 at 04:25 AM.
I'm so sorry to be so long in getting back to you. I had a major computer crash and lost everything. Had to start from scratch and rebuild.
I'm not sure I know the answer to your question. I will tell you what I know and what I've been told.
You're right on the open bite condition. It does happen to many people from what I read and from information my Dentist has given me. It's his belief that many times this is caused by the splint being too thick between the back teeth.
Also, it seems an upper splint or plate can cause this problem more often than a lower. I'm not sure if the stats prove this to be true.
I believe if a repositional is designed correctly and conservatively and the progress of what it is doing is observed frequently, the tendency to develop or worsen an open bite could be stopped.
There is a possibility that a bottom (very thin) flat plane would help you. (Mine is basically a flatplane but has very small cusp wings to keep me from moving around on it) The type that was designed for me was to let the muscles passively reposition of their own accord. No forceful moving or pulling. A splint that will keep your teeth barely apart and let the muscles relax back to normal. As this is happening, a certain amount of healing of certain damage will occur. It has in my case.
I wore my splint 24/7 for about 2-3 weeks and then only at night. I may possibly need one forever. The reason would be that I have no functional joints left and the muscles do the work of the joints. Without the splint to keep them from over-compensating, they might try to tighten and reposition into a very painful, abnormal position again.
The muscles will normally do whatever is neccessary to maintain some degree of function.
My bite was surgically set 16 years ago and has not changed very much since. When my disc were removed, it did become unstable at times due to muscles on one side or the other pulling or spasming.
To answer your question, my bite was good under good circumstances.
As far as internal derangement, some providers can tell if your disc are in the proper position with a physical exam. They can see if you are deviating or if the jaw movement is abnormal. To know for sure, an MRI would need to be done.
It's possible for the disc to slip back into place if the splint you wore was designed for this to happen.
My personal opinion is, the muscle problems need to be addressed before anything else is done. This comes from experience before and after surgeries.
There are as many opinions on that as there are Doctors.
I'm afraid a lot of providers don't see the muscular aspect as being a major contributer to TMJ problems. Sometimes, once the muscles are relaxed and functioning normally, the problem is resolved.
I got really bad advice from my OS for many years due to his opinions and beliefs about splint therapy.
I got well when I went back to my general dentist who believes the simplest splint possible, to relieve pain and relax the muscles, is the first line of treatment.
This would not be what everyone needs as a complete treatment.
However, this theory has worked for me and many others and I don't know of anyone that this type splint has caused further harm or damage.
I hope I haven't made this more confusing and have answered some of your questions.
Thankyou so much for replying,
Yes i agree, i have had the most intense uncontrollable muscle spasms, and even my osteo said, that we need to calm the area down, before trying to hold it fixed with a repositioning splint.
In my situation, it has become a question of.....has the open bite made the problems worse??and this is some specialists opinions, who want to go about correcting the open bite, since the tmj problem was not as bad before...or
my questions is...and i can never seem to get an answer from the big wigs...and it is, can your mouth adjust, to something that has happened to your teeth all of a sudden, ie my open bite... can the body, in time adjust to this new change, or does things need to be fixed??
I have people from a pain clinic going..dont do anything more as far as dentists go....and then i have dentists and oral surgeons saying, that my problem is bad, and nothing will help it, except for intervening with another splint, and braces or surgery or whatever
...and its just confusing, and i like you and like others, i dont have the money,
i dont even have insurance,
the problem has been going on for 3 years.
Im taking antidepressant because of it, but im worried that when i stop them, it will flair up big time,
I did contact my dentist after reading your post, and asked if there were any alternative to the repositioning splint, and he sounded like i was a right pain in the arse, unbelievable the crap we all go through , from just trying to understand and educate ourselves.
Anyway cymy thanks for your post, sorry if i seemed impatient, lol
i didnt mean to
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Cymysue and others your advice please 
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