My Jaw

So what is going on with my jaw you ask? TMJ is the answer. It seems that the motor vehicle collision that I was in last April knocked my jaw out of alignment. I have dislocated the disks on both sides of my jaw. I had some minor TMJ before the collision but nothing that was causing me any pain, just the odd popping of the jaw.

Well, once the dust settled after the collision it became apparent that the increased pain in my face was constant and not abating. I went to go and see Dr Wexler who said yep, TMJ and suggested infra red treatments, physiotherapy and a mouth guard. He submitted this treatment plan to the car insurance company who turned around and sent me to get a second opinion.

I saw Dr Leroy Shaw who suggested that orthodontics, rather than the Dr Wexler way of doing things would work in his opinion.

I went to go see Dr John Kershman, Orthodontist, to see what he thought. Before I even got in to see him I asked the other people in the waiting room what they thought and they gave rather poor reports of his bed side manor. One mother even went so far as to call a friend to get me the name and number of another orthodontist.

He suggested a mouth guard built in the opposite way of Dr Wexler's followed by braces and then orthognathic surgery (breaking my jaw) and more braces. He explained that the mouth guard would be needed to calm my jaw joint down enough to allow for braces and the the mouth guard was not really a long term solution. I was lucky to get even that out of him. He was up and down no less than 10 times during our consultation to go see other patients (he has a buzzer system and he jumps the second it goes off) and I didn't get to ask all of my questions before I was ushered out of this area and in to see his office manager to make payment arrangements.

Next I paid for my own evaluation with Dr Milne, Orthodontist. I did this because so much information was being thrown at me that I wanted to see what someone else said. Plus, I wanted to get a lot of my questions answered. I thought that Dr Milne was awesome! He took the time to sit down with me for no less than 20 minutes, uninterrupted with the door closed to distractions and answered all of my questions.

He suggested no mouth guard, straight to braces for about 18 months, very likely orthognathic surgery, and then a continuation of braces with no need for a mouth guard long term. He explained that the mouth guard would not be needed since once he got the braces on and started moving things around, I would see almost immediate relief. He warned that the relief would likely last only while the braces were on if I didn't go the whole way of doing the surgery if it was required. His view is that the collision moved things to such an extent that without trying to re-align the jaw, I would always have problems.

It seems that the orthognathic surgery is an unfortunate recurring theme but at least now that I have heard it more than once, I believe that it might actually be true.

So what is a girl to do? I have no idea. I have all of these dental professionals chiming in but it is so hard to say who is right. We have to submit the treatment plans to the insurance company and see what, if any of this they will approve.

I really just wish this whole thing was behind me.