Re: splint/tmj

[Guest guest]

I had a splint for my TMJ years ago before braces, but it didn't do much good.

Hmmm...come to think of it, it didn't help at all. Sorry, it was so long ago, I

don't remember the cost.

Smooches

splint/tmj

has someone ever got a splint for tmj before getting braces. if so

how much does it cost? i am in the bay area, ca. any suggestions for

good orthodontists in this area.

Thanks.

[Guest guest]

hello!

i wore a retainer/splint thing before my surgery, i think to

help relieve the pressure from my joints among other things, i'm not

really sure. I did have bad TMJ along with my other jaw problems. I

really can't remember how much it cost, i'm only 20 and my dad was

in charge of the finances. I'm from San Mateo, I go to Dr.

s in Palo Alto. I had my surgery done at Stanford Hospital

with Dr. Schendel. I think they work together quite a bit.

Dr. Schendel referred me to her when i needed to find an

orthodontist and i know that she does the orthodontic work on a lot

of his patients.

I have been really impressed with her, and their whole

office is so great and really personal. I had so many problems with

my original orthodontist when i was in middle school/highschool. I

would try to talk to him and he was always too busy to answer my

questions and him and all of the people in his office would treat me

like just another " faceless patient, " and only cared about when they

would get my money. Dr. Sameuls' office is so incredibly great. If

you are around that area i would highly suggest considering her.

Good luck!

[Guest guest]

i live in fremont and have kaiser for medical so my surgery is going

to be there although i am not worried about that.

my only concern is finding a good orthodontist. the one i have seen

a couple of times, who suggested that i get splint(for $800) for 4

months and then braces and surgery, sees mostly younger kids. i had

one meeting with her to discuss my treatment and she barely talked

to me for 5 minutes to explain everything and charged my insurance

$300 for it. at other times i only got to talk to her treatment

assistant. thats why i was wondering if its common to have an

inaccesible orthodontist. i didnt like her at all. and she wouldnt

even quote me on how much the braces would cost.

> hello!

> i wore a retainer/splint thing before my surgery, i think to

> help relieve the pressure from my joints among other things, i'm

not

> really sure. I did have bad TMJ along with my other jaw problems.

I

> really can't remember how much it cost, i'm only 20 and my dad was

> in charge of the finances. I'm from San Mateo, I go to Dr.

> s in Palo Alto. I had my surgery done at Stanford Hospital

> with Dr. Schendel. I think they work together quite a bit.

> Dr. Schendel referred me to her when i needed to find an

> orthodontist and i know that she does the orthodontic work on a

lot

> of his patients.

>

> I have been really impressed with her, and their

whole

> office is so great and really personal. I had so many problems

with

> my original orthodontist when i was in middle school/highschool. I

> would try to talk to him and he was always too busy to answer my

> questions and him and all of the people in his office would treat

me

> like just another " faceless patient, " and only cared about when

they

> would get my money. Dr. Sameuls' office is so incredibly great.

If

> you are around that area i would highly suggest considering her.

> Good luck!

[Guest guest]

Orcapeach,

Your ortho's office sounds like mine. I go to Dr. Burris in Beaufort, SC. He

has about 4 office assistants out front and 7-8 techs that work in the back with

him. Every person in that office knows every patient by name. He also has

another office in a nearby town and they are the same way. They treat you like

you've been best friends with them for years. I love that place as far as

orthos go. :-)

Smooches

Re: splint/tmj

hello!

i wore a retainer/splint thing before my surgery, i think to

help relieve the pressure from my joints among other things, i'm not

really sure. I did have bad TMJ along with my other jaw problems. I

really can't remember how much it cost, i'm only 20 and my dad was

in charge of the finances. I'm from San Mateo, I go to Dr.

s in Palo Alto. I had my surgery done at Stanford Hospital

with Dr. Schendel. I think they work together quite a bit.

Dr. Schendel referred me to her when i needed to find an

orthodontist and i know that she does the orthodontic work on a lot

of his patients.

I have been really impressed with her, and their whole

office is so great and really personal. I had so many problems with

my original orthodontist when i was in middle school/highschool. I

would try to talk to him and he was always too busy to answer my

questions and him and all of the people in his office would treat me

like just another " faceless patient, " and only cared about when they

would get my money. Dr. Sameuls' office is so incredibly great. If

you are around that area i would highly suggest considering her.

Good luck!

[Guest guest]

imermaidsi,

Red Flag!! Red Flag!!!

Your ortho will be making a life changing adjustment on you. You MUST find one

that you trust. Just from my experience, my ortho explained everything -

including costs and payment plans - to me up front on my very first visit. They

took xrays, panos, molds, etc., and then did an assessment with me sitting right

there. As a matter of fact, my first visit with him was about the longest I've

had. Also, before I came in, they explained the process to me of the first

visit and told me the cost ($200). However, this cost was later taken off the

cost of my braces.

I've also had several times that I just dropped in unannounced and they still

took time with me as if I had an appt...and they're a very busy office, but they

schedule their appt so you don't have any wait time. Even on my unannounced

visits, my wait time has always been less than a minute...this is no lie.

Another thing, I was living in Pennsylvania for 6 months because of my job and

one of my wires broke. I called my ortho's office (in SC), and they told me

that since I had an appt the next week, not to worry about it. But if I was

really that concerned about it, rather than flying back out there that I should

go to someone in PA to see if they would take care of it first. They didn't

want me to have to pay the extra expense to fly out.

Well, I got the phonebook and called a nearby ortho in PA and they told me the

same thing...not to worry about it since I had an appt with my regular ortho the

next week. However, they also said if I was really concerned about it (and I

was), to come on in. I went in, they replaced the entire wire for me free of

charge and told me to come back anytime I needed to.

Sounds to me your ortho's in the wrong line of work. This can be a scary thing;

you need to be with someone who will set your mind at ease.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Smooches

Re: splint/tmj

i live in fremont and have kaiser for medical so my surgery is going

to be there although i am not worried about that.

my only concern is finding a good orthodontist. the one i have seen

a couple of times, who suggested that i get splint(for $800) for 4

months and then braces and surgery, sees mostly younger kids. i had

one meeting with her to discuss my treatment and she barely talked

to me for 5 minutes to explain everything and charged my insurance

$300 for it. at other times i only got to talk to her treatment

assistant. thats why i was wondering if its common to have an

inaccesible orthodontist. i didnt like her at all. and she wouldnt

even quote me on how much the braces would cost.

> hello!

> i wore a retainer/splint thing before my surgery, i think to

> help relieve the pressure from my joints among other things, i'm

not

> really sure. I did have bad TMJ along with my other jaw problems.

I

> really can't remember how much it cost, i'm only 20 and my dad was

> in charge of the finances. I'm from San Mateo, I go to Dr.

> s in Palo Alto. I had my surgery done at Stanford Hospital

> with Dr. Schendel. I think they work together quite a bit.

> Dr. Schendel referred me to her when i needed to find an

> orthodontist and i know that she does the orthodontic work on a

lot

> of his patients.

>

> I have been really impressed with her, and their

whole

> office is so great and really personal. I had so many problems

with

> my original orthodontist when i was in middle school/highschool. I

> would try to talk to him and he was always too busy to answer my

> questions and him and all of the people in his office would treat

me

> like just another " faceless patient, " and only cared about when

they

> would get my money. Dr. Sameuls' office is so incredibly great.

If

> you are around that area i would highly suggest considering her.

> Good luck!

[Guest guest]

I have a splint for TMJ and have worn it since the end of June. I

have noticed a BIG difference with it. I can tell you about my

experience with it and you can go from there

First and foremost is the pain - I originally sought treatment

because of the pain I was in (not know at all that it would lead down

the road to ortho surg,etc) Anyway, it's getting to the point now

that it's virtually non-existent.

Second is I can tell how it's changed my bite. Prior to the splint,

I was only able to chew with the very back molar (top and bottom) on

the right side. Now, because of the work that the splint has done,

I'm chewing on both sides, with ALL my teeth - amazing to me. I used

to think only chewing on one side with two teeth was 'normal'

I'm getting braces on my upper teeth this Wednesday. I was told I'll

still be wearing the splint for a couple more months, then I'll be

weaned off of it, and have lower braces put on.

As for cost, my insurance covers office visits, but does not cover

appliances for TMJ - so I had to pay for the splint on my own. It

was appr $1000.00. Thank god for interest free credit cards!!

Honestly though, for the amount of relief I've gotten so far, it was

worth it.

Also, my orth also had a long, long consultation with me when he

explained his diagnosis, went over x-rays, molds and everything he

recommended (the surgery, braces, splint, etc). He also explained

how the splint worked.

I hope this helps

Dena

[Guest guest]

I wonder if someone would explain to me what TMJ pain feels like. I did not

have TMJD prior to orthognathic surgery, but I did have a " popping jaw " when I

opened wide only every so often. Post-op, however, I have some pain near my

right ear...I think it's from too much talking and might just be part of the

healing process, but I'm curious what TMJ pain feels like and where you feel it.

Thanks,

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Sharon,

This is a hard question to answer. I think TMJ, like most things, vary from

person to person. But I can give you my experience with TMJ since mine was a

severe case...I must have had everything that comes with it. :-(

I, too, had the " popping " and " cracking " , but it was VERY painful and located in

the joints right below the ears where the jaws meet. My jaws would lock in the

open position as well as the closed position and had to be " pried " open (or shut

whichever the case). That was even more painful. Along with this came severe

migraine headaches. They were pretty bad from the start, but quickly progressed

into headaches that were so bad I had to be completely in the dark, lying very

still in hopes that I would fall asleep. No medication would help the

pain...and believe me, I'd tried plenty (presciption as well as otc). My

migraines usually lasted from 3-4 days straight - no break in between. The

worst one I had lasted 7 days straight! Then I started passing out from time to

time.

Other pain that was associated with my TMJ were joints in other parts of my

body...hands, shoulders, knees, etc. My hands would swell and hurt so bad that

I couldn't move them. I was unable to make a fist with my left hand for years.

Aside from that, I had what they called a " trigger finger " . My middle finger

(and sometimes my forefinger) would involuntarily bend and get stuck into a

position like it's on the trigger of a gun. I literally had to have someone

else pull on it very hard to get it back into position. Since this was a very

painful procedure, it was hard for me to get anyone to do it and it would take

me at least 5 minutes to do it myself. I couldn't leave it in that position

because the pain was even worse and would not subside unless the finger was

straightened back out. Once I was outside horsing around with my son (who was

22 at the time) and accidently hit my finger and it went into that position. I

started yelling, telling him to " pull it, pull it! " He was laughing because he

thought I was just joking around with him. Finally, he played along and just

pulled it. It " popped " back into place and he felt the pop himself. It grossed

him out so badly and then he got real upset because he thought he'd hurt me.

Moving on...the pain in my lower back was so bad that if I laid on my stomach at

all, my husband would have to physically turn me over because I couldn't do it

myself. Then I'd have to lay in that position for a few minutes while something

settled in my back (at least that's how it felt) before I could get up on my

own. I could neither sit nor lay on the floor and exercising was completly out

of the question.

Then three years ago, a doctor diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. He told me that

TMJ is one of the symptoms. (I researched it and came to the conclusion that

Fibromyalgia is just a category that they put us in when they can't figure out

what's wrong). He told me that it couldn't be cured, but could be controlled

with aerobic exercise. I tried it and the pain from exercising was

excruciating. When I told him about it, he said that it was just like any other

medication...once you take it, the pain gets worse first, then goes away. He

told me that once I got past that point of excruciating pain, I'd feel better

than I've ever felt before in my life. Unfortunately, I could not take the pain

enough to get past it, so I don't know whether or not that would work.

Some days, my knees would hurt so bad, I couldn't walk at all. I lived every

day in constant pain, so much so that it became a normal part of my life. I

actually got used to hurting. I had bad days and worse days. Once, I actually

had a good day and I couldn't figure out what was so strange...then it dawned on

me - I wasn't in pain! Oh what a glorious day that was...but it was short

lived...but I enjoyed every second of it. I was very good at camoflaging the

pain. Only my family and my closest friend knew there was a problem and how bad

it was. My own children didn't even know. I didn't want people treating me

" different " so I kept very quiet about it.

Anyway, sorry so long, but that's my take on TMJ. By the way, since my surgery,

the only pain I've had was in my face. I can open and close my fist, I can bend

over, my knees, elbows and shoulders don't hurt and so far, no back pain. The

only headache I've had was the other night when I had a bad dream, I woke up

with a headache. I took two motrin and a few minutes later, it was gone.

Hallelujah!!

I know it's too early to tell whether or not this surgery (and many, many

prayers) has actually cured my TMJ, but praise God anyway - I've had 11 GOOD

days compared to what I had before!! And I am thankful for every last one of

them!

As you can probably tell, today is a good day. I've been singing and dancing

all morning. My face doesn't even hurt this morning.

Okay, I'm through. :-)

Smooches

Re: Re: splint/tmj

I wonder if someone would explain to me what TMJ pain feels like. I did not

have TMJD prior to orthognathic surgery, but I did have a " popping jaw " when I

opened wide only every so often. Post-op, however, I have some pain near my

right ear...I think it's from too much talking and might just be part of the

healing process, but I'm curious what TMJ pain feels like and where you feel it.

Thanks,

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Pain is all relative, but I'll try to explain it LOL

For me the pain was literally in the jaw joints (in front of both

ears). It was kind of a dull aching type of pain that gradually got

worse and worse.

Hmmm.. lets see. Have you ever had a toothache or like a bad

headache? It's that kind of throbbing. At first you know it's there

and it hurts, but with aspirin and such you can kind of ignore it -

pretty soon however (over the hours or days) it gets more and more

noticable - to the point that you can't ignore it (or have a very

hard time).

With my TMJ, the pain didn't increase over the course of a few hours

or days, but rather months. It just finally got to the point that it

was interfering with my job, homelife, etc.

> I wonder if someone would explain to me what TMJ pain feels like.

I did not have TMJD prior to orthognathic surgery, but I did have

a " popping jaw " when I opened wide only every so often. Post-op,

however, I have some pain near my right ear...I think it's from too

much talking and might just be part of the healing process, but I'm

curious what TMJ pain feels like and where you feel it.

> Thanks,

> Sharon

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Wow, Smooches, I would never have thought that TMJD could extend to varying

parts of the body. Just the orthognathic surgery helped in all other areas?

That is astounding, truly.

Thanks for your reply and I was sorry to hear that you had so much pain before.

May your good days continue!!!!! I had a handyman at my office once who had

what you described with his fingers closing like over a trigger. He had to have

surgery to correct it numerous times as it just kept coming back...his hands

were terribly scarred. He said it was tendonitis from years of working with his

hands and that it was both painful and frustrating.

Your response made my little ache next to my right ear seem miniscule in

comparison. Ever since my SARPE surgery in March 2002, I've had a kind of

crackling popping sound in my ears. The best way I can describe it is that it

sounds like a little bit of bubbling peroxide is in my ears whenever I slightly

move the area by swallowing, etc. It doesn't hurt, and if I'm busy I don't

notice it, but laying in bed at night trying to fall asleep it can get quite

annoying. Now, at 5 1/2 weeks post op I have no more of this crackle sound on

the left side. Still have crackling on the right and now also have this sort of

dull ache just in front of my ear but it comes and goes. I'm nervous to see

what happens when I get unwired on Thursday and I'm finally able to open my

mouth even a little bit.

For right now, though, I am not overly worried and will just chalk it up to the

healing process and I'll wait and see if it gets any worse...but hopefully it

will get better and has more to do with the fact that I am wired shut for now.

Thanks again,

Sharon

[Guest guest]

Sharon,

My ears used to ring and often times I felt as if my ears were constantly

clogged...you know, like I hadn't washed my ears in years. Of course, I'd clean

them sometimes 2-3 a day, but to no avail. Don't have that problem anymore

either :-)

It may have something to do with you being wired. I'm neither wired nor banded

(I don't count these two little bands I have as being banded). I would think

it's kind of like when you open your mouth to yawn and your ears pop or clear.

Being that you can't open, maybe that's what's going on with your ears. Just a

thought.

Remember, if this board stresses nothing else, PATIENCE is the key here.

Hope it gets better soon.

Smooches

Re: Re: splint/tmj

Wow, Smooches, I would never have thought that TMJD could extend to varying

parts of the body. Just the orthognathic surgery helped in all other areas?

That is astounding, truly.

Thanks for your reply and I was sorry to hear that you had so much pain

before. May your good days continue!!!!! I had a handyman at my office once

who had what you described with his fingers closing like over a trigger. He had

to have surgery to correct it numerous times as it just kept coming back...his

hands were terribly scarred. He said it was tendonitis from years of working

with his hands and that it was both painful and frustrating.

Your response made my little ache next to my right ear seem miniscule in

comparison. Ever since my SARPE surgery in March 2002, I've had a kind of

crackling popping sound in my ears. The best way I can describe it is that it

sounds like a little bit of bubbling peroxide is in my ears whenever I slightly

move the area by swallowing, etc. It doesn't hurt, and if I'm busy I don't

notice it, but laying in bed at night trying to fall asleep it can get quite

annoying. Now, at 5 1/2 weeks post op I have no more of this crackle sound on

the left side. Still have crackling on the right and now also have this sort of

dull ache just in front of my ear but it comes and goes. I'm nervous to see

what happens when I get unwired on Thursday and I'm finally able to open my

mouth even a little bit.

For right now, though, I am not overly worried and will just chalk it up to

the healing process and I'll wait and see if it gets any worse...but hopefully

it will get better and has more to do with the fact that I am wired shut for

now.

Thanks again,

Sharon