I've been wearing an orthotic for my TMJ for 4 months and I'm so sick of it. What's the long term solution??

Question

Anyone else have TMJ out there? What are you going to do about it long-term.

I'm 22 and have been wearing this orthotic for 4 months. It's helped. I can actually open my mouth now, and my jaw quit clicking and locking. But I know I can't wear this thing for life. I'm already so sick of it. I have to wear it all the time (eating, sleeping, during the day), and it's starting to feel like a torture chamber!

Answer 1

I agree with Nebula. Thank goodness you have found some relief with your appliance.

A bite appliance - when properly made - will eliminate the influence of the teeth over the position the bones take in the TMJ. It will allow your jaw to rest in the balanced (and comfortable) position where it belongs. After wearing an appliance for a while, your dentist might suggest some adjustments to your bite, slightly altering (grinding) the surfaces so that they no longer have any interferences to closing with your jaw in the proper position.

You have reached that stage. If your dentist did a good job with the appliance, he/she probably understands "this TMJ stuff" and will be qualified to do a CO=CR bite adjustment. Once this is done, you may find that you can really cut back on your wear time for the orthotic. You should still wear it at night for a while, even if you eliminate daytime wear.

You may know someone who has a back brace who only gets the thing out on "bad days" and wears it for a week or so until they feel better. TMJ orthotics are sometimes used the same way. Just put it away (where no DOGS can get at it!) and use it if you are entering a bad spell. I have a couple of school teachers who wear theirs in September and maybe October.

Some people will need to have their bite rebuilt. In techical terms, we would say, "That ain't cheap, either." You do NOT generally need to be restored to the same open dimension proved by the orthotic, but you might need to have some increase in dimension. At age 22, I would seriously doubt this is needed.

In fact, at age 22, I am seriously suspecting that you had braces and were left with some interferences to complete closure in what we call "centric occlusion." Anything that alters the position of the teeth and the way that the teeth come together, including both Invisalign and conventional braces, can affect your TMJ. If treatment is done without regard to proper occlusion (which sounds moronic, but it happens when esthetics is the major concern), it can lead to TMJ problems. If you have a bite problem that is causing TMJ problems and the dentist takes this into consideration, you may be able to get some improvement of the situation. In my experience, virtually ALL patients need some amount of "bite adjustment" by the dentist (me) to be sure that their final result does not cause TMJ problems. Orthodontia generally is concerned with relatively gross degrees of movement and there is little control over the amazingly infinitesimal changes in cusp angulation that can lead to TMJ problems. "Care, skill and judgement" are required to really fine tune the final result.

Answer 2

I'm a dentist.

"TMJ" stands for "temporomandibular joint". It is an anatomical structure, not a disease. What you have is "TMD" or "temporomandibular dysfunction. Furthermore, the "orthotic" you refer to is properly known as an occlusal guard.

I don't remember the exact percentages, but the majority of people will have some signs of TMD at some point in their lives. And the general rule (that we learned in dental school) is that the majority of these people are 1. asymptomatic and don't require any treatment, and 2. will find that these signs, whether symptomatic or not, subside on their own.

You may be one of those true cases of TMD, however. If the occlusal guard has helped, then great! Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth. If you were my patient, I'd recommend that you wear it until you find your signs and symptoms have become minimal, then try to slowly reduce the number of hours you wear it each day. It sounds to me like you will get better. Four months is not a long time to have been wearing the appliance. Be patient.

Of course, I am not your doctor, and you must discuss your treatment with your own doctor.

Answer 3

7 years ago I've been involved in a car wreck and even since suffered with severe on and off facial and jaw pain. I've tried almost everything western medicine had to offer and had visited countless of specialist, had done ct scans, and therapies but to no avail. The doctors I have been to had persisted that there wasn't anything wrong with me and that almost drove me crazy as I was going through hell from this condition. According to all my symptoms I was diagnosed by a holistic doctor as having TMJ and he had recommended this book to me. After following the recommendation in the book for several weeks, it had changed my life. I got immediate relief after following the unique set of exercises in the book and after 2 weeks the jaw and face pain had completely gone. I only wish I would have ordered this program years ago. It would have saved me a lot of pain and anguish.

Answer 4

children fall ill and there is no longer a lot you would possibly want to do. My daughter is 8 months old and is on her third chilly/cough. And takes a lengthy time period for them to get extra constructive. yet, medical doctors do no longer position self assurance in drugs for children. So the in difficulty-free words belongings you would possibly want to do are: a million) use a dehumidified in the child's room/sleep section, 2) use saline answer, and three) use a nasal bulb alongside with the saline answer to sparkling the nasal passage. God bless and desire your infant receives extra constructive quickly.