Neuromuscular Orthotic

Thelma-Louise

I know that jammed feeling - mine moves from side to side, not sure why though - its making me think my own jaw no longer fits in my mouth. When one side feels OK the other side feels jammed and vice versa - I never feel OK on both sides at the same time. Frustrating. It also affects my neck so they may be related. What comments did the dr make?

alorcoy

He said it looked liked it was 'slammed' back toward my skull, but made me feel as though the major problem was my occlusion and the muscle spasms the off-bite were causing. I also understood that the orthotic was supposed to pull my jaw back into place. It definitely feels like it's going in the right direction, but still feels pushed up there.

Thelma-Louise

That's what happened to me - one side slid backwards and caused the atlas or C1 vertebrae to move off center. The teeth on the side that initially moved were flattened indicating I also had an occlusal problem either from clenching or the crowns that had been done previously. My lower splint has these wing-like indentations at the ends of it that are supposed to prevent the jaw from going backward but sometimes I feel like although they may be doing that this forces one side to swing sidewards instead of just going up and down when I open my mouth. Numerous drs have told me my tmj is muscular only since all my MRIs, tomograms and CT scans look good - except that I have some arthritis or degenerative changes on the side that slid backwards - but I kind of feel like you do since it is hard to believe that that alone could cause so much pain and dysfunction - one would think there must be some structural abnormality or problem.

If your seeing any improvement with symptoms then its probably just going to take a bit more time.