1. My worst symptom is 24/7 pain around/behind my eyes, and forehead - is that common with TMJ disorder?
2. Let's say you don't have a muscle issue due to your bite, but rather your joint or condyles are posteriorly displaced or anteriorly, or medially etc. Does splint therapy even work in those cases? And, how do you determine if your disks are displaced in the first place, an MRI? Or will the tomogram x-rays be able to determine that? Seems like MRI is best for soft tissue type problems.
Eye pain is very common in TMJ disorders. For me it was the WORST part, it was like an ice pick stabbing behind my left eyeball and made concentration totally impossible. It was as though 1000 fire alarms were sounding simultaneously. As I go through phase 2 I still get flare ups from time to time but am thankful the 24/7 phase has passed. I still have a sore temporalis on the left which means my bite still hasn't balanced out.
Splint therapy works best for anteriorly displaced discs, medial (towards the inside of the body) are harder to reposition and posteriorly displaced discs are rare. Success also depends on how far out of position the discs are.
There are a few ways to determine if the discs are displaced, the most obvious one is reduced opening. You should be able to fit three knuckles into your open mouth, if you can't there is some degree of displacement.
Second sign is clicking - definate disc displacement.
Then you can have an MRI but in my experience this is an inexact science as the interpretation is open to error. The radiologists will write up his/her 'impression' so you have to kind of deconstruct that word and its slightly ambiguous meaning
The Following User Says Thank You to pipdog For This Useful Post: judye (06-15-2012)
My eye pressure is my worst symptom- I wonder how long it takes for it to ease-general consesus seems to suggest 6months. My dentist was hoping 8wks for me but no difference yet in symptoms.
I hope I am able to work on a laptop, use my fone to text and watch tv again one day soon.
The eye pressure puts me off going out.
Has anyones eyepressure gone with splint therapy,its driving me around the bend.
I get eye pressure and pain too! I have horrible TMJ and wear a splint at night while sleeping. I was going back and forth to the eye dr for my pain and they diagnosed me as having Iritis. But now after hearing these posts, I'm thinking its due to my TMJ. I get pain, pressure and achiness in my eye browns towards the middle of my forehead and it feels as though my eyes are straining even if my eyes are closed. I have to go to sleep with heat packs on my eyes and brows. No fun!!
