I have tried everything for TMJ. Four different TMJ specialists, splints, arthocentisis, alternative therapies, botox, physical therapy ... you name it. I have spent a fortune and still live in pain daily. I have been taking many muscle relaxers and narcotics for about 1.5 years. I get bilateral temporal headaches, joint pain, jawline pain and it all extends to the neck and shoulders. I've had other tests (labs, CT scan of brain, etc.) to rule out any other disorders and like my primary care doctors says... on paper I look perfectly healthy.
An MRI of my TMJ's show a left disc displacement without reduction, erosion of the condolye and bone spurring. No splint or PT has been able to move the disc back and I've been told that due to the erosion of the bone and the probable holes in the disc, it will never move back into the proper position. My pain management doctor says don't do the surgery, we'll keep you on pain meds the rest of your life. Yeah, that sounds great, doesn't it? Plus, the pain med's and muscle relaxers don't completely do the job. I am 32 and would like to have kids one day. I'm really restling with what to do next.
I had arthrocentisis one month ago and had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon yesterday. Next, he wants to do an arthroscopic surgery where he will go into the joint with a scope and a small instrument. He will try to break up scar tissue and adhesions, which he feels are restricting the movement of the disc. He said that the disc will not move into the correct place, but if we can get it moving it should ease the pain. He quoted a 70-80% success rate. This is an outpatient hospital procedure. Anyone know about arthroscopic? He is very conservative.... I've had other surgeons want to go straight to open joint.
i had a bilateral arthroscopic tmj surgery in oct. 2004. on the L i had a partial discectomy (the disc is still perforated) & on the R the disc was repositioned and sutured in place. it has been 5 months since the surgery and i have not been able to chew solid food. my once perfect bite was thrown off due to the surgery because my jaw deviated so far left. the surgeon damaged a facial nerve and my lower lip droops. the pain i had before the surgery was nothing and i mean NOTHING compared to the pain and dysfunction i feel now. i was on splint therapy before surgery and rushed it because i thought i knew it all. i was very, very wrong. my dentist begged me not to have the surgery and told me all the possible bad outcomes. lo and behold - they all have come to fruition. i basically robbed peter to pay paul. i thought if the surgery was not successful i would be back to where i was before the surgery. i did not know i would have opened pandora's box to a whole new set of disfunction and pain. this pain, post surgery is at 100. the pain i had pre surgery was a 10. my pain did not increase to a measurable level - it is off the charts. this "minimally invasive" surgery has left me with even less function and mobility and more pain. what the splint and nature were trying to do in increments to get my discs and pain back to a manageable level, surgery took away as my body does not know what was done to it. guess what? i still have to wear a splint 24/7 and go to physical therapy 3 times per week for relief. i still have to take pain meds - only they are much stronger now. if you do not think you can get worse from a surgery that you think will offer relief - think again. juulie, i would give ANYTHING to get back to the condition i was in the day before the surgery - i wouldn't even ask for the day before i was injured - i'd glady take my condition the day before the surgery - if i could get there. juulie, i too was quoted an 80% success rate and so was everyone else whom i've since met in my surgeon's office for all our follow ups. the consensus among us is that we all wish we never had this surgery. i have seen specialists since the surgery and one told me something that has stuck with me. he said, the best orthopedic surgeon in the world will operate on your knee, your elbow, your hip, your shoulder ...but will NOT operate on your jaw joint. why? think about this. juulie, i encourage you to stick with a conservative course of therapy and try as many splints as you feel necessary until you find one that will get you to a manageable level of pain and an improved level of function. i wish i had. i'd also encourage you to visit your surgeon's office on the days he sees his post-op patients and ask them questions about their before and after experiences. the very best of luck to you.
PWC, thanks for the input. I am so sorry you are enduring more pain. I wonder if our surgeons are talking about different procedures because he told me that he would NOT be suturing the disc into place and that the risk of nerve damage was low (not nearly as high as with an open joint procedure). Again, he said would not be performing any suturing of the disc or performing an discectomy or partial. He was simply going in with a scope and an instrument to try and locate the disc, break up scar tissue and adhesions.
Wow, your post really scares me. On the other hand, it seems like these may be different procedures. Was yours considered open joint? This is not considered open joint. I was told there would only be one small incision and one suture on the outside. No suturing on the inside.
my procedure was NOT considered open joint - it was, in fact, an arthroscopy. i've spoken to specialists since my surgery to try to get some answers on what exactly is the extent of the damage that was done and i have had these specialists all tell me 1 - they cannot believe how much damage this minimally invasive surgery caused and 2 - my surgeon did way too much. i can see now, after you wrote back, that your surgeon would not be suturing the disc or doing a partial discectomy. i thought my surgeon would have just repositioned the disc - he did not tell me he was going to suture it in place. he also did not tell me he was going to perform a partial discectomy. it was my understanding he was just going to do an arthroscopic procedure on both sides which involved repositioning the discs and flushing out the joints. he also broke up adhesions. i had very small incisions on both sides - 3 stitches per side on the outside. my surgeon practices in new york and i hope he is not your surgeon. another thing about my surgery is that he used a laser to break up the adhesions and i learned later on that the heat from the laser can cause a regrowth of scar tissue at a faster and more pronounced rate. ask your surgeon if he plans to use a laser or a trocar to break up your adhesions. also, ask him if he will cut any of the ligaments that are attached to your disc. mine did and that is one of the main reasons i think i have so much pain and LESS mobility in my joint. another poster named rubato DID NOT have the ligaments attatched to her disc cut and she has not had the trouble that i have had on the side where the ligaments have been cut. juulie, you seem to have clarified with your surgeon the details of your operation. if you are set on surgery, i do sincerely hope that your surgeon is as conservative as you say in your post. i thought i interviwed my surgeon thouroughly about what he was going to do but once he "got in there" he really went to town. your post makes me wish i had found your surgeon before i was unlucky enough to choose mine. i hope you are as lucky as rubato and not as unlucky as myself. i hope my experience serves as a comparison for what not to have done and maybe, it will serve to bring up issues with your surgeon that you did not before your surgery. i really hope this works out well for you.
Linear Mode
