TMJ Problems Can Be Treated Without Surgery

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Dr Jim Kennedy DDS's picture
Dr Jim Kennedy DDS
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Frequently
Joined: Sep 14 2011
Posts: 22
User offline. Last seen 11 years 22 weeks ago.

Many people suffer for years with headaches, facial pain, jaw joint (TMJ) pain, neck and shoulder pain, chronic ear congestion and pain, sinus pain and tooth problems. No reason has been found for their symptoms, and pain medication must often be taken to get through the day. There can be an undiagnosed reason for all of these symptoms – TMJ DYSFUNCTION.

TMJ is short for the “TemporoMandibular Joints”. These are your "jaw joints" and they are located in front of the ears. You can feel your jaw joints move by placing 2 fingers over the area in front of the ears and open and close your jaw. If you place your index fingers in the ear canals you may be able to feel popping or clicking in one or both jaw joints. You may hear grating or grinding noises from your jaw joints. These are all signs that the jaw joints are not functioning properly.

All the symptoms that can result from jaw joint problems are collectively called TMJ DYSFUNCTION. Sometimes the symptoms and pain occur somewhere else in the head, face and neck area and then are not initially associated with TMJ problems. This is because when the jaw joints are not functioning properly the muscles that move the jaw are overworked and become tired, tight and go into spasm. These muscle spasms cause a lot of the pain that people experience and depending on where they attach to the head or neck the pain can be felt in areas that are far away from where the problem originates.

When TMJ DYSFUNCTION occurs the lower jaw (mandible) moves off center from its normal relationship with the upper jaw (maxilla) and this alters the bite of the teeth. The teeth will feel like they do not bite together properly and may contact only on one side. The reverse situation can also occur. The bite of the teeth can change or shift because of extractions, wearing down of the teeth from grinding, worn out dentures or by improperly fitting dental work including crowns and bridges. These changes in the bite can cause compensations in jaw joint mechanics resulting in TMJ DYSFUNCTION.

Trauma from blows to the head, neck or jaw, whiplash from car accidents, falls or sports injuries can cause TMJ problems to develop. Even traumas that occurred years ago may have caused compensations or adaptations in posture that result in increased symptoms as time goes on.

The good news is, there are effective treatments to help relieve the pain and symptoms of TMJ DYSFUNCTION. In our practice we combine dental appliances (splints) with cranial manipulation, infrared therapy and orthodontics to realign the jaw with the head and neck allowing the TMJs to return to normal function, relaxing the muscle spasms and reducing pain and headaches. Other modalities are often used to support our treatment and these include: physical therapy, massage, chiropractic and osteopathic manipulations.

The majority of patients we treat, regardless of how long they have had the symptoms, get resolution to their problems without surgery. If surgery is needed, then applying conservative treatment before surgery and afterwards while the joints heal results in much better outcomes than in the past.

Even if you have tried dental splint treatment in the past we can help you. We utilize splints and other dental appliances that are smaller and less invasive and therefore easier to wear. A wide range of different adjustments and changes to the splint are utilized to achieve our treatment goals.

If you can come to our office in Grand Junction, Colorado please call our office for a consultation and exam to properly diagnose your condition and see if we can help you with your pain and problems. Then we'll go forward with an individualized plan of care if you're appropriate for treatment and wish to pursue it.  For more information visit our website or call us for a brochure that further explains TMJ problems and treatment (website and phone number, below).

__________________

Dr Kennedy moved to Grand Junction in 2003 with his wife, Liz, a registered nurse.  Previously, he had practices in Detroit and Denver.  He has limited his dental practice to the treatment of TMJ dysfunction, dental orthopedics and orthodontics, and the fabrication of dental appliances for snoring and sleep apnea.  Office phone: 970/242-1900; Website: www.dentocranial.net

His pieces on Lumigrate can be found in the forum related to things of the head in the section related to chronic pain, fatigue and fibromyalgia at http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/head/.... Please also refer to The Cranial Academy for providers in your area who have similar treatment approaches at: http://www.cranialacademy.com/

Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 45 weeks 6 days ago.
I Didn't Know What I Didn't Know!

Jim/Dr. Kennedy, thank you so much for this piece about TMJ dysfunction.

I had a question for Dr Kennedy about off the shelf oral appliances.  I see one advertised late at night that is obviously aimed at those who are not sleeping because of their bed partner's snoring, perhaps, or their own.... Who knows. So this was a question about both appliances to the position the jaw to reduce snoring but as you will see, he addresses TMJ in his response:   

Mardy,

 

The (brand removed) appliance for snoring is not very good. Like OTC appliances for TMJ, they may help some cases and make a lot of others worse. I do not like any one size fits all appliances. The worst thing about them is that people try them and they don’t work for them so they give up on appliance treatment for their Sleep Apnea or TMJ altogether.  

 

Also these OTC appliances do not last very long. We have some temporary appliances at the office that can be boiled and fit to a person in the office, but these do not allow for much adjustment. There is no replacement for a proper diagnosis and a custom made appliance.

 

Thanks for the question!

 

Jim

 

I'm the first to admit that I was unaware of all of the symptoms of TMJ dysfunction in the past; the  went off for me the day Dr Kennedy and a local PT co-presented at a CME/Continuing Medical Education at our regional medical center.  In all fairness, the second chiropractor I went to in my life, at age 30, had found something needing to be adjusted from time to time with my TMJ, but the timing of that was just after I'd been deluged with the chronic fatigue syndrome and all the 'wild' stuff' this D.C. tested for anddid in treatment. For instance, it was where I first experienced AK, applied kinesiology for 'muscle testing'.  

As time went on, pretty much everything he had said from the very start was proven out in conventional ways.  So I must admit that there was something related to my body that I'd gotten one provider's input on which didn't 'stick' to my overall list of concerns because for some of us, sometimes and maybe all the times, you have to hear things a few times before it 'sticks'.  Sometimes for people who were skeptical about a type of provider, they need to displace their old thinking and get an open mind and then allow things to deepen related to their trust in the approach. Think about how many times we've gone to the allopathic providers and been helped in our lives; a lot, typically. We know that it can save lives, and maybe have experienced it ourselves. So we don't have to 'give that ALL up', just open our minds to integrating different things. 

When I had a hysterectomy/surgery with intubation at the end of 2006, I had problems start up the next week related to hearing and it affected my balance/stability, and went to a PT coworker when I was in the office to push some paperwork around for the doctors to give orders or clarification on orders.  They worked on me and things got better and perhaps they also said 'yeah, you seem like you might have some TMJ problems', but I don't recall thinking 'wow, I have TMJDysfunction! But from my perspective, with chronic illness you end up in a swarm of providers and appointments at some points in time, and when that dust settles, and in my case, I was feeling SO much BETTER finally, you just 'get back to normal', and 'normal' to me means NOT having a lot of appointments about your wellness/illness! And I just didn't pursue at that time, treatment about TMJ.

So the  had basically half gone off about my having TMJ dyfunction, but I didn't seek a consult with Dr Kennedy at that time, which makes me, on one hand, want to , looking back on it.  Another factor I want to really highlight is that while I had my opinion forming about there being some issues you might be the ideal provider for me to consult with, without the providers working with me thinking to bring you up, I didn't give enough credence to WHAT I KNEW or WHAT I FELT. And I also didn't bring it up and say 'what do you think about me having an evaluation by Jim Kennedy?"

I can explain how that can happen, because I'm as guilty of it in the past, at least!  An example: When I was the OT in the PT clinic in the Primary Care Parterners building here in Grand Junction (CO, USA) my office was across the lobby from where Dr. April Schulte-Barclay, DAOM subleased space from EMPI, back before she grew and moved to the location she is at currently just up 12th from your office.  (Dr. Schulte-Barclay also provides educational content to Lumigrate).  Many upper extremity conditions can be very much alleviated by acupuncture, but I had few people who were interested in hearing about that optional, private-pay treatment as many of them were coming on workers' compensation insurance or on their insurance, and it was not very often the patient we had were interested in pursuing such things. As time went on I 'learned' to not make the suggestions because 'I was just wasting my breath'. So, again, I really suggest people realize that part of being a proactive patient is to take the initiative to ask your providers for their opinions about other providers or types of providers, and then keep in mind it is their 'opinion' (key word).  

That's why I currently work with Lumigrate's providers to keep us remembering each other, whether that be in posts on Facebook for people locally or nationally and beyond to see (or other social media they might use), or for those living locally doing a FUN gathering to get people together.  BUT I MAINTAIN THAT THE BEST WAY FOR MEDICAL CONSUMERS TO GET TO THE PROVIDERS AND GET THE INTERVENTIONS THAT WILL HELP THEM IS TO EDUCATE THEMSELVES, BECOME EMPOWERED TO FIGURE OUT THE SYSTEM THEY'RE OPERATING IN AND LOOK TO OTHER SYSTEMS TO ALSO GET HEALTH CARE IN AND PERSIST UNTIL THEY GET THE RESULTS THEY BELIEVE/'FEEL' THEY CAN HAVE.  

MUCH THAT YOU WILL WANT AND NEED IS NOT PAID FOR BY PROGRAMS YOU NORMALLY TURN TO, SO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, FIND SOLUTIONS ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.  In the case, above, perhaps try something you can afford and get an idea of it, and then SET A GOAL OF SOMETHING MORE IDEAL, AND THEN WORK TO FIND SHORT TERM STEPS TO ACHIEVING IT. IDEALLY, you will have more things work than not, your health will slowly or rapidly change in the direction of your goals/desires/intentions.  

 

Eventually I heard Dr Kennedy speak AGAIN at a CME (on pediatric sleep apnea - I've written about it in the sleep/apnea forum) and this time you showed a photograph of a young girl's neck/positioning and the  went off again! This time  -- it just resonated this THIS is my next step. I've had a head forward posture and I've always had a pronounced windpipe, and the girl in the photo had those features. I'd just never thought about the head and mouth position related to 'compensating' and getting more air for people who have sinus problems or irregularites of the structures of the head and neck that have to do with breathing.  Then THAT made sense related to fibromyalgia! I just was a very quiet, light sleeper with apnea and not the typical one.

The oral appliances you recommended and created have been really helpful to me related to protecting my teeth at night if I clench, as well, something I was aware I was doing but UNaware was potentially harmful to my teeth as I didn't know they could fracture. It was one of those things that, in the end, I thought 'I didn't know what I didn't know!' 

To give an idea of costs: $95 initial evaluation charge (at the time of this writing and per my understanding), and you are VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE about various aspects of holistic health care, which has only enriched my overall 'team approach' to my health care. It seems like the appliances and treatments vary in cost a great deal, so I will simply encourage everyone to make an appointment with you or a dentist in their area who specialists in holistic dentistry.

Going to your website is also a very helpful step for people to get an idea of what to look for in someone near to them geographically.  Like most of our providers, you provide links to national organizations, as well as The Cranial Academy's website, which is in your signature area, below, as a resource for people to follow out to for further information or finding a provider "like you" in their area possibly. 

Thank you for going the "different route" with your career, and I'm very grateful you moved from the Front Range of Colorado to Grand Junction, as I did.  I'm glad that eventually I found out about you, OVER AND OVER, until the moment: the voice in my head said just go have a consult and see if I have issues he can address.  

As I say, "Live and Learn! Learn and Live Better!!" ~~ Mardy

Note: It turned out that my reporting of symptoms at my monthly visits to Dr Kennedy lead to his becoming a very integrated part of my "YOU" team of providers, making very good suggestions about future treatments and testings, and I ended the year 2012 in a much better place with my health than I went into the year with.  It's a lot of layers of 'onion peeling', so to speak, and a process that after 20 years now has me rather anxious to be done with someday. It's kind of like having braces, but for 20 years -- GRINS.  

Toward the end of the year he made a jaw positioner for sleep apnea after having done CT scan of my head. This was the 'next step' with an ENT in town when I had recurrent sinus infections after moving here, but my thought process was that if I didn't have them before and I had the same sinuses, surgery was a band-aid for symptom remediation and NOT getting to the underlying CAUSE.  So I went the direction of working on my gut health with a local naturopath and a local chiropractor along with many other things. Had amalgam fillings replaced, for instance.  

I noticed immediately with the initial TMJ appliance, drainage from my sinus' as I was driving home and my sleep changed immediately, for the better one night then not the next. So in January of 2012 I awoke one morning with a stiff neck and vaguely recalled having been struggling to breathe and in a neck extended position sometime in the middle of the night. I'd gone back onto muscle relaxants which helped me fall asleep -- well, Dr Kennedy said matter of factly 'well that's your problem right there, it's shutting down your throat more".  

And you know, when he saw the results of the head/neck CT scan, there's a narrowing in my throat. So I worked AGAIN on my positioning in bed and even found some interesting information about the didgeredoo being used to treat sleep apnea.  I haven't gotten one yet, as it is not the custom for women to play them, and I don't want to disrepect their sacred customs, but I'm working on my unique 'surrogate' breathing exercise technique, and find the TMJ positioner surprisingly 'enjoyable' to wear because it just makes me FEEL BETTER breathing.  

I thought back to learning to SCUBA dive and how AWESOME it was to have that air pushing into your lungs! And I wonder if I might be one who does well with a CPAP or similar. I'll be working on that in this NEW year of 2013, and updating my journey here for those who wish to follow it. I hope it assists you in finding someone like Dr Kennedy if you're not so fortunate to live in or near Western Colorado. Thank you again to Dr Kennedy for his time in adding education at Lumigrate.com.  We got off to a good start with our collaborations in 2012 and I look forward to MORE in 2013 ~~ Mardy


 

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 45 weeks 6 days ago.
Great learning and products resource related to TMJ/headache/jaw

I wanted to add this great resource here, they have nice videos about the TMJ and explain well how their products can be an aid or tool in reducing the side-effects of the underlying problems. www.pressurepositive.com/TMJ-Pain-Solutions-Myofree-TMJ-Cervicogenic-Headache-.aspx

I want to remind people that everything is mind, body, and spirit and there are many contributing causes to most problems. Continue to study about diets that can cause or solve muscle issues, supplementation of nutrition or other herbs and homeopathic remedies, modalities, exercise and hydration. Meditation and the mind/body/spirit connection, prayer, and many other things are steps in the right direction that can become journey bringing a better or even ideal quality of life! ~~ Mardy

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

This forum is provided to allow members of Lumigrate to share information and ideas. Any recommendations made by forum members regarding medical treatments, medications, or procedures are not endorsed by Lumigrate or practitioners who serve as Lumigrate's medical experts.

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