TMJ
 

My wife was diagnosed with TMJ about a year ago. Treatment thus far has consisted of muscle relaxers (SOMA) and a $400 mouth gard, neither of which seem to be causing much relief. Any one have any experience with this disorder or successfull treatments?

The girlfriend is on a permanent prescription of demerol 100mg every 4 hours and she has to get a shot of something on each side of her jaw every once in a while too. She also gets chronic migraines as a side effect of her jaw hurting. She is supposed to have surgery in January. She also has a mouth gaurd though. I'll see if I can get her to post something later about it.

From what friends who have it have told me, surgery is the only thing that does much of anything for treatment and even then, it isn't a cure. The only thing that can be done is to watch what she chews and stay away from anything that causes pain. Usually its either tougher things or gum.

DONT get surgery until she has seen a professional massage therapist! I repeat DONT! Quite often TMJD symptoms are caused by imablance in your musculature and posture. It sounds far fetched but its true. You definately want to make sure the massage therapist is licensed and has education in structural bodywork (Neuromuscular Massage). There are therapists who even specialize in nothing but TMJ and related disorders.

Im still amazed at the disconnect between the dental practitioners and the body work community in regards to this disorder. Amazing results can be acheived with NMT and yet I hear of cases like yours everyday where the only options that are ever presented are painkillers or surgery.

A massage therapist isnt going to be able to help the condition much if its due to a joint malformation or something similar (IE the bone is physically mis-shaped). I dont have stats handy, but I beleive it is a small minority of TMJD cases where that is the cause.