Have anyone had to wear a splint 24/7 before braces?

Message

#1 Post by **mjbusch** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:09 pm

I just wanted to know if anyone had experience wearing a lower splint for tmj before getting braces. I was told that I would have to wear it all day long and eat with it in?

#2 Post by **iBorg** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:41 pm

I had splints on both arches to sleep in prior to braces. It seems strange they would want you to eat in it. Is this for TMJ or some other jaw malfunction?

They may be wanting to re educate your muscles to change the way your jaw functions.

Mike

#3 Post by **Ready2go43** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:07 pm

Hi mjbusch,I had to wear a lower tmj splint for 11 months,24/7 and I had to eat with it too,which is near impossible.I had to wear it to relax my jaw muscles,to establish where my natural bite was,as my teeth were so far out of line,plus I grated my teeth in my sleep(my wife will back me up on that one lol)which to my suprise was the cause of 20 years of violent headaches and migraines,thats how my ortho journey began.Once they established where my natural bite was supposed to be,I was told that I could wear a splint for the rest of my life,or wear braces,I went for the braces as it would be a perminent result.
The splint 24/7 is not easy,but it helped me,I am not sure what your problem is exactly,but they must of suggested it for a reason,let me know how you get on.Good luck

#4 Post by **LithpingLitha** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:07 pm

I wear a gelb splint 24/7 including eating. The good thing is that I'm making progress on the top arch that is braced. I asked my orthodontist at my last appt. if he chose this type of splint for tmj issues and he said yes.
I have next to no grip on my gelb, so learning to eat with it was a real issue.
I hope to lose the splint after my canine clears from cross bite. It looks like I may end up wearing it a total of 5 months.

#5 Post by **Delag** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:26 pm

Former and future splinter here as well. I wore a upper splint before being braced for....(I can't believe I don't remember exactly ) just over or just under one month. The bottom of the splint was smooth - as others have said, it was to help see where my bite falls naturaly and retrain those muscles. I will get some kind of braces friendly version of this again before my jaw surgery so that everything lines up as it should.

Eating was a bit difficult to get used to - it is best to make sure the splint fits very snugly or it might come loose and give you a bit of a pinch. You will need to go in for frequent adjustments in the beginning because you bite will change from day to day. When I say frequent, I went in every day for three days, then every other day for a week, then twice a week.... It is funny because you leave the office feeling fine, and within a matter of hours there is contact with only one tooth.

Sleeping took a couple of days to get used to as well. You might have jaw pain as you bite is adjusting and find yoursef clenching quite a bit. My advice - keep that sucker in all the time. My ortho told me that it would take at least 6 months for my bite to adjust, but I finished really quickly. I think some of that had to do with the fact that I only took it out to brush.

#6 Post by **mjbusch** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:34 pm

Thanks everyone,

I have been only suffering from tmj for the last 4 years. I have been to multiple dentists in the past few years. I have had two upper splints and one nightguard. The top ones were upper flat plane splints but I only wore them at night. They haven't helped so far, but I went to another orthodontist and he told me my jaw is set to far back and that my right joint is causing problems with my left.

I am just really worried about talking and eating with this in all day. I hope it will be more comfortable then the upper ones I have had.

The thing is my teeth are pretty straight, even to the point where sometimes I get compliments. I had braces in the past which is why I am thinking my tmj pain might be dental related and it all started after my wisdom teeth came in and then removed.

#7 Post by **iBorg** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:18 pm

I think you'd be surprised by the number of adults who are braced with one goal being help with TMJ pain. I'm one of them. I suffered TMJ and grinded my teeth for years without a clue as to what I was doing or the source of my pain. Splints were a great help. Splints are also not a cure but are more of a diagnostic tool to determine the cause of the pain. My ortho did not promise me the end of my TMJ pain but she did say an improved bite should reduce pain from and eight to a three. I jumped at the chance.

As for learning to talk.....practice, practice, practice. The rainbow passage (do a search, it will show up numerous times) is a great tool. My favorite is a CD of songs I love to sing loud and a road trip without any company.

Good luck....YOP CAN DO IT (I just can't spell it)!!

Mike

#8 Post by **HeadgearJoe** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:19 pm

hi , yep lower an upper splints an my upper had cervical headgear attached to it , guess there are a lot of us here that did an are doing splints with an without headgear attached, best of luck HEADGEARJOE

#9 Post by **mjbusch** » Tue May 01, 2007 4:21 pm

Well I just got back from my records appointment at the orthodontist and they told me they would need more diagnostic test done before giving me a treatment plan. She said that I would be better off getting invisalign that way the aligners could act as a splint while my teeth were moving. Has anyone had a similiar treatment?

#10 Post by **iBorg** » Tue May 01, 2007 5:10 pm

My ortho told me the opposite. The way I grind (often associated with TMJ issues) she felt I'd grind through Invisalign before I needed to change the appliance.

Mike

#11 Post by **mjbusch** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:24 pm

I am going to go ahead and get the lower splint and see if that works. If I do have get my teeth straightened I am going to choose normal braces because I like the results more then the invisalign. I was just suprised that this would be an option.