well--what kind of doctor is he--yes tmj specialist but where did he have his training? a lot of the people that call themselves tmj specialists arent. I had a lower orthotic and i did well with it. It may be that you need to give your jaw time to adjust to it. or you may need to go and have it adjusted. id give him a call and ask him if hed adjust it. give it time to get used to it though--your muscles arent used to it. use some heat and ice on it and take a anti-inflammitory. and massage it a little.

Hi, I work for a TMD specialist, and I myself am wearing a lower splint. The purpose of the splint is to open your bite, thus alleviating the compression on the nerves that run to your ears, temples, neck, back, ect. So if it is hurting you more now than before is a little strange to me. The splint may have your bite open too much, and may need to be adjusted. You may want to call your specialist and let him know whats going on. It wouldnt hurt a bit to call, but it may hurt if you dont. Hope this was helpful!

Hi, I had a lower jaw splint, I found it fine while wearing it, but as soon as I removed it my jaw would be in agony. From what I've been told, splints shouldn't cause you pain that way. I would suggest taking it back to your specialist and just checking to make sure it doesn't need adjusting. From the pain I was suffering, my Oral Surgeon told me to stop wearing it.
Hope this helps.

My upper jaw applience was a mess - it hurt so bad to wear it for the first 24 hours, but then I got used to it and now it appears that it is the only thing that help the most. On the contrary, lower appliance didn't help me.