removing bone from oneside

LZ on March 20, 2004 10:00pm

I suffered with TMJ as a result of arthritis in my joint for years, having had the equilibration (grinding down of tooth surfaces) several times and finally wearing an orthodontic splint 24/7 for about 8 years. I was symptom-controlled, but could not go more than 1/2 hour without the splint without experiencing pain. It affected my singing a lot. The arthritis finally stabilized to the point where surgery was recommended. By this time, my face had become quite crooked. I was very uncertain about the surgery, and wondered if it would do any good. Thank God I had two wonderful doctors who were specially trained in this field. They cut completely through my upper jaw, took out about 3/8" of bone on one side and tapered it off to straighten it out. It was a tough recovery time, but boy was it worth it! Since that time I was able to go to college and major in music, spending sometimes as much as 2-3 hours/day singing. I never could have done that before! I now teach elementary music, sing all the time, and have no discomfort. I still wear a splint at night to keep things stable, NO CHEWING GUM, and I always cut up apples. Long story short--make sure you see a doctor who specializes in this. Too many family dentists like to play around with it and that only makes things worse.

 

NS on February 11, 2007 10:00pm

I am in a very similar situation as LZ above. Wear a splint that is higher on one side to compensate for the imbalance in my jaw. I go through severe severe pain if I remove the splint. Even with the splint I have some pain. LZ if you read this post could you please post the name of your doctors or email me at nour.saran@gmail.com. I am so amazed to hear that you are now pain free and how much the surgery has helped you.

This condition has completely debilitated my life. I agree with rachel (above) the there is a strong relationship between the head, neck and jaw. My problems started when I had jaw surgery and they removed bone from one side of the upper jaw which created an imbalance and 'premolars' were also extracted pre-surgery. These two things combined, completely de-stablized the cranio-cervical balance. I started experiencing extreme exhaustion from doing the simplest of activities. The muscles (esp. the core stabilizing ones) ached and were tired all the time with lactic acid buildup. My head, neck and jaw were in severe pain. The splint has helped somewhat but I believe that I need a surgeon who understands this relationship and can re-balance my jaw and head like LZ above.