2netta, if you still check this board....

Hi 2netta,

I have been reviewing tmj boards for a long time and have noticed that you reply often to people with tmj trouble telling them to try neuromuscular dentisty. I was wondering if you could give me some insight into how I should tackle my tmj problem.

The majority of my pain is in my neck, mainly my left side although it does seem to venture into my right side occassionally. I found out many years ago that my right disc is displaced. It never caused me much pain until the last year or so.

I am working with a doctor in Indianapolis where i live. He plans to give me a splint for both nighttime and the daytime. The nighttime one only allows my front(botton and top teeth) to touch during the night so I can't clench on the back teeth. I believe the daytime one is more of a flat plane splint that is supposed to take pressure off the joint. I am not even sure I clench at night. I try to catch myself doing so and so does my partner but neither of us can. He mentioned that he can tell Im clenching from my cone beam scan because it showed my jaw bone at the curve of the jaw bows outward. He claims this bowing outward is from the muscles pulling so tight on my jaw. I almost laughed because I have virtually no pain in my jaw area. Have you ever heard of this bowing out issue before? It sounds insane to me.

I am terrified to try his splints as the last ones I wore from a different doctor made me worse instead of better. I had bite splints 5 years ago that brought my jaw forward to relieve pressure off the joint and I had incredible headache pain for 5 days before tons of advil could relieve it.

I am so lost. I study the boards for different pain reduction methods but am scared to try any form of treatment. It may sound silly but when I do nothing at all atleast I don't get too much worse. THe last treatment I tried was massage at a chiropractor and I ended up with occipital nerve pain in the back of my head, shooting horrible pain that has ceased for the time being. Any thoughts on how I can improve my condition? I hope to hear back from you.


Misty