TMJ/TMD Pain Update, Happy New Year!

It has been a few months since my last update, and the reason is mainly good news! After my last adjustment to my "new" splint, I've been relatively pain-free. I had a visit right before an 11-day, much needed vacation, and by then I think my splint was almost perfect.

After a few minor adjustments, I definitely felt a world of difference! As I mentioned, this wasn't without many uncomfortable weeks, but I was glad that I could finally go about my day without being in constant pain!

The trip went great! I had many days relaxing on the beach and eating a ton of good food. I didn't once have any issues with my splint, and this "new" splint (I say "new" because it's my newer splint, but I've had it now for three or four months) doesn't have to be taken in and out for eating. Which is embarrassing when you're dining in a nice restaurant! Plus when you're on vacation you worry about dropping, breaking, or losing it every time you take it in and out.

So, ultimately this new splint has afforded me less stress and less pain. Which I'm so grateful for! I know it's working well when I forget it's in my mouth.

A few downsides to this splint, are still kind of embarrassing...

You may remember that (when wearing a splint or orthotic) my upper and lower front teeth have a gap between them. This means my teeth never close and I have what is called an "open bite." This new splint doesn't cover my front teeth, so it appears as though my teeth are permanently open.

This hasn't been an issue, I'm pretty good at hiding my lower teeth when talking, chewing, smiling, etc. Yet there is another problem with this. Whenever I salivate or are chewing something, it sometimes falls right out of my mouth! How embarrassing! It's especially bad because I don't think I salivate more than average, but sometimes it just flat out drops from my mouth. So awful! Also, there's just a tendency to eat messier and get food bits stuck in it.

Moving Forward...

My next appointment has been postponed to March 1, 2016, since I have been doing fine with my current splint. The only thing I've noticed of concern is that there is a crack on the side that always tends to break for me. It's where my teeth close the tightest and there's the most stress on my joint. So I'm hoping to get that fixed or reinforced.

You may remember that I've been desperately trying to find a permanent solution to my TMJ disorder, but have yet to take the leap. My hope is to one day have braces to better form my bite, but even with braces there's no guarantee the bite would hold and be less painful. 

I'm planning to ask when I can start considering braces at my next visit. At the very least it would be nice to close the gap in the front of my mouth, to make chewing, tearing, etc. easier for me. But I'm not sure if they're going to tell me to wait, or even suggest that I just wear the splint instead of any permanent solution. It can be very traumatizing to have braces on my teeth as well as for my jaw, and being that I already have scar tissue built up in my TMJ joint as well as soreness and instability, braces might cause more damage than good.

One thing that I am happy about, as I've mentioned before, is that my current doctor's office makes repairs to splints in-house. Meaning I don't have to pay extra to have it fixed or to send it away and have to wait a few weeks without anything. This is literally my life support and I rely on this splint so much! I'm certain of this, more than ever, after my last one was broken for months on end. 

I guess I'll have to find out what this new doctor recommends and go from there. Either way, I'm hopeful and at least comfortable in my current state, so if I have to wait, that's okay too! 

Hope everyone is enjoying 2016 so far!