Can TMJ Ever Be Cured?

by Victoria Hayes
(Elkhart IN)

Hi, I Have TMJ! I Have Had It For A Year. My Dentist Fitted Me With A Night Guard. I Have Tried To Wear It At Night, I Gag On It & So Bunglesome. I Can't Sleep. My Dentist Got A Little Upset With Me For Not Wearing It. He Said It Will Be The Only Thing That Will Help Me. He Said It's Up To You If You Do Or Don't Wear It, But It Would Be Best If You Did.

It's Been A Year I Haven't Worn It. I Had Gotten A Little Better With My Lock Jaw, But Now Of Recent It Seems Worse. The Clicking/Popping Is Constant, I Can't Eat My Favorite Crunchys For Very Long As My Jaw Locks, It Unlocks Too But Real Hard.

I Do Not Have Any Pain, It's A Nervous Panicky Feeling Knowing I Can't Eat Like I Used To. It Makes Me Sick To Know I Will Have This The Rest Of My Life, There Is No More Important Thing Than To Be Able To Eat & Enjoy Your Food.

I am 65 Years Old, My Front Teeth Are Fairly Straight, My Bottom Teeth Are Very Crooked, I Have Hard Teeth, I Have Impacted Wisdom Tooth On Left Side,But My TMJ Is On My Right Side.

I Guess It's Because My Teeth Are So Crooked? I Have Had My Crooked Teeth All My Life & Never Had TMJ Until A Year Ago. I Want To Forever Be Cured Of This.
Victoria Hayes

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PAIN IN FACE AND EAR
by: Anonymous

HI, I HAVE BEEN GRITING MY TEETH AT NIGHT. SOMETHING THAT, I HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE.PEOPLE TELL ME THAT I MAY HAVE TJM BUT SOME OF SIGNS FOR THE DISORDER I DON'T HAVE. SUCH AS MY JAWS DON'T LOCK. I CAN OPEN AND CLOSE MY MOUTH. BUT I AM HAVING FACE PAIN AND PAIN OVER MY LEFT EAR TODAY WHICH WENT AWAY WHEN RUBBED IT HARD AROUND AND AROUND, HAVE CHEEK PAIN AND MOUTH PAIN. I DO ALSO HAVE A HEADACHE WITH THE FACE PAIN. WHEN I PUT HEAT TO IT GETS ALOT BETTER I DO HAVE A MILD LITTE PAIN IN THE BOTTON OF MY JAW OR CHIN. IT ISN'T BAD AND IT DOESN'T VERY LONG. SO I AM HOPPING YOU WILL TO TELL IF I REALLY DO HAVE TJM DISORDER OR NOT MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS xxxxxxxxxx

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Wearing dentures at night
by: Dr. Spainhower

Hello Merrilee,

It is healthy for your gums to Not wear them at night. However, if you have TMJ, you can wear them at night for a month or so while wearing the night guard over the denture.

So, mold the SmartGuard Original over the upper denture. Try that and see if you have improvement. it should take only a couple of days to notice the results.

If that works for you. See if you can take the dentures out for a little while during the day for your gums to breath.

Sincerely,

Dr. Spainhower

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Denture & Night Guard
by: Anonymous

Aloha Again Dr. Spainhauer,
My last question; Since I take my upper denture out at night, can I wear the guard?(I have most of my bottom teeth/have 2 bridges on each side, which are UNEVEN! Which I am almost certain caued me to start Bruxing. Missing back rt molar.) It dawned on me that my uppers come out at night!Mahalo Nui Loa, Merrilee

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Thank You Dr. Spainhauer!
by: Anonymous

I will get the night guard as soon as I can afford it! Have you ever addressed Autophony due to TMJ? I have read many blogs, and it seems possible the autophony/roaring tinnitus is from TMJ?? Thank you for your kind response(s), in advance! Take Care & Be Well, MerrileeW

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Denture and TMJ
by: Dr. Spainhower

Hello Merrilee,

Yes, you can treat TMJ when you wear a denture.

After 2 years of thinking the SmartGuard wouldn't work with dentures...I finally tried it on a patient at my dental office.

Purchase the SmartGuard Original AT http://www.simple-tmj-treatment.com/MouthguardsforTMJ.html. That should work pretty well. Just follow the "How to Mold" videos to make sure you mold the guard well.

Let me know how it works for you...it should work well. The SmartGuard Elite doesn't work as well for dentures.

Sincerely,

Dr. Spainhower

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TMJ causing Pain & AUTOPHONY!!!
by: Merrilee Barnes

Aloha- I have had Severe TMJ since January. It happened suddenly after a poorly executed exercise; Almost broke my neck! Crunched/jammed my neck to my chest, and heard a crunch! My life has changed since then. Besides the TMJ, I now have SEVERE AUTOPHONY, facial pain that radiates to my lips & jaw. Also acquired Erosive Esophagus from this self-inflicted injury! Yuck! I too, like Victoria Hayes, have a terrible time eating; Popping, clicking, & jammed jaw, careful not to let the disc in left jawbone slip repeatedly.It even now seems like I lose my sense of taste & smell while chewing..and with the Autophony..I HEAR EVERTHING LOUDLY WITHIN MY BODY!! A REAL NIGHTMARE! My PCP is referring me to a Neurotologist/Otologist for diagnosis & treatment..Oh yes, I also now have Eustacian Tubes theat do not close. Oh yes, I also wear a full upper denture, which is poorly made and causes my mouth to be 'crooked'..I plan on getting anoth plate soon..since I am on SSI, funds are limited. Fortunate that I can see Specialists. Can I be treated for the TMJ with a denture? Can I be treated for the slipping disc in my left 'cheekbone' area? Can it be repaired? THANK YOU Dr. Spainhauer! Take Care & Be Well, Merrilee Barnes

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Possible cures for TMJ
by: Dr. Spainhower

Hello Victoria,

I want you to know that you are not alone. Your question of can TMJ be cured...is a tough one to answer. Many or most TMJ cases can be cured, but some can only be "controled"...not really cured. Some cases can be cured if the correct diagnosis is something that you can fix, alter, or correct.

First of all, your locking of your jaw is a big annoyance right now. What needs to happen is to relax your jaw muscles. You will Not however be able to "cure" this situation most likely. Sorry to tell you that, but you can reduce the symptoms and control them to a minimum. There are two main ways to do that...#1 Wear an effective night guard. There are multiple designs of night guards (TMJ splints) that Dentists adopt in their TMJ treatment protocol. Many can help, but also, many can make things worse. Even the correct design for you may not be adjusted correctly. Bottom line is that even when you may have the appropriate design TMJ splint, you still may not tolerate something about it to make the splint ineffective or worse, cause more problems.

There only two-three OTC (over the counter) night guards that I know of that I recommend for jaw locking problems. The first is the RCM double arch night guard. You have to buy that through a Dentist, or through my website. I believe it sells for 60 dollars plus 15 dollars shipping and handling. The shipping cost goes directly to RCM, but the 60 dollars is a steal for this guard through me. There are a few difficult things about this guard...#1 It's a bit difficult to mold to your mouth, but if you are able to mold it well to your mouth, it will decrease your popping/locking most likely. Although you may encounter some difficulty inherent of having dislocating discs which you probably have.

It does promote clenching, and I don't like that about this guard, but it is the best guard to reduce popping and clicking.

For you, I am going to change my recommendation to try the SmartGuard night Gaurd.

#2 The second recommendation is to try TMJ exercises. You can find a physical therapist locally that knows how to teach you those, or you can purchase info products on the Internet found on my review page www.TMJReview.com. Those exercises really do help a lot of people.

Good luck and please keep me informed of how you are doing.

Sincerely, Dr. Spainhower

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