NeuroMuscular Dentistry and LVI - TMJ Disorder -TemporoMandibular Joint Message Board

rmporter · 05-09-2009, 01:23 PM

Has anyone had any experience with this? I'm thinking of seeing a guy in Atlanta that is high up on the LVI totem pole but he's expensive. They would do a "neuromuscular workup," which is hooking me up to machines for around 3 or 4 hours to determine the most relaxed jaw position for me. Then tomograms. Then fit an orthodic to my lower jaw for around 4 months. After that the "phase 2" treatment is braces.

I'm scared because I've heard that if the 24/7 orthodic doesn't work, then it can mess up your bite even worse. Also, it's a lot of money. Solutions to tmj problems seem to always come down to picking the doctor who seems the niciest don't they. I've never seen a problem so common but with so few answers. Everyone I go to has different kinds of treatment options.

For 3 years I've been in pain and it, to put it bluntly, sucks. I've tried the NTI, chiropractic work, massage, two mouthguards, but nothing has fixed it. The nighttime guards helped some, but after chewing through the first one the second one leaves me feeling uncomfortable in the morning. I want to find a cure to return to the pre-tmj me.

I've heard good and bad things about NM doctors and about LVI. Any experience or advice is appreciated. Or any advice about where to go to find out these types of questions is appreciated as well.

Peace, - R

StillHope · 05-09-2009, 09:18 PM

What happened to bring you from pre-tmj you to the current you?
Was it dental work? What did they do then? What are your symptoms and where is the pain? Did you have any TMJ tests done?

LVI dentists are very much into marketing. I am not saying all of them are bad but I'd suggest to be very careful with them.

The ones whom I saw were astronomically expensive, wanted to start with filing all of the teeth (which I don't need b/c these teeth are healthy) and make an orthodic to which I "will have to get used" to for 3-6 months and then on top of that they won't guarantee that I will be comfy after all. On the other hand, when I can bite in "my normal bite" I have no pains, no tmj symptoms and I do not need to get used to this for 3-6 months!! I don't really believe that one has to "get used" for so long to smth which is comfy and physiological.

The changes the NM orthodics make in the bite could be quite bad. It all depends on where your proper bite is. From what I understand if the position where you bite on food is the same as when you just relax your jaw to hang in neutral then it might (or might not?) work well. However, if your relaxed neutral position is more forward than the position in which you can load the jaw to bite with force on smth then you might get in trouble. They will make you bite in that more forward neutral position and this may cause jaw/disk damage and cause the symptoms you probably don't have yet.

They also advertise their "NM treatment" which might cost several thousands while all that is is TENSing you (I saw TENS units on the web as low as $50!). A NM splint is often from 4-8K while a "normal dentist" might just charge few hundreds $ for the same thing (it might not be much different except for the position where you'd bite on it).

It's just some warning to keep in mind.

StillHope · 05-09-2009, 09:24 PM

The only important thing of what they want to do with you is tomogram.
It is essential to check your jaw before any dental work.
Braces... I'd suggest reading the posts so you'll get the sense of how many tmj patients started having problems after braces.

I'd like to hear more about your symptoms. It's pretty likely that your bite is off and that you need to have it found and recreated, or just corrected.

rmporter · 05-09-2009, 11:54 PM

Thanks for the reply!

Pre-tmj me was when I wasn't searching for my bite and jostling my jaw around all day long. It's when I didn't have the neck and shoulder fatigue that I have today. There wasn't any specific injury I can point to. It just sort of happened over time. My ex-gf did say I ground my teeth so loud it used to wake her up at night, so maybe that was a contributing factor.

I did have minor occlusions done with the first dentist I saw. And I am wary of LVI dentists already b/c I saw one guy, on a one time visit b/c I saw his website and liked it, who proceeded to occlude my teeth for like 20 minutes! I then proceeded to grind my incisors to nubs that night. The consequence being my teeth are kind of U shaped if you know what I mean, which makes it a smaller surface area for splints to connect to.

The only other thing I'll mention right now is that I did have 4 teeth (non-wisdom) taken out when I had braces as a kid. The NM dentist seems to think that the jaw position that comes along with that "4 on the floor" type ortho often leads to jaw issues later. I've had panoramic x-rays done but never any tomograms. The jaw joints seemed ok although it was just my university dentist that looked at them.

So, in conclusion I think my bite is definitely "off." The night-guard type splints I've had over my upper teeth have helped some (I got up to like 50% health at one point) and that may be the best route for me to go right now since I'm in school for another year. I just kind of want to get the process started towards a return to normalcy, especially if that means braces.

What other corrections are there besides occlusions and crowns, etc. My teeth are pretty good, which is why I was REALLY upset when the "specialist," who said occlusion might help, proceeded to file my all my teeth away. I should have been smarter. But there is still more than enough to keep them... I hope. :-)

Thanks so much for your reply!!! Any advice on how to proceed is greatly appreciated.