Metal Mouth Message Board

Hi there... I don't know where to start. I've never needed braces as a kid, needed in the sense of straight teeth. My arch and my bite are "normal". As long as I can remember I used to have a migrane a week or so, and had vertigo a couple times. In my last vertigo consult, my doctor asked to open my mouth wide so he can take a look into my ear and he noticed a distinctive crack or pop in my jaw, which, I also have as long as I can remember and got so used to it that I simply ignored the pop in my teenagehood. It has never hurt (so far), but the doctor insisted both my migranes and the vertigo could be caused by my popping jaw, so he referenced me to a dentist. I went to see a lot of them, but everybody said that the popping was normal, most people have it in some degree and I shouldn't worry about it. That was about a year and a half from now. I spent a lot of time on the Internet looking for information about jaw clicking and popping and discovered the "famous" TMJ Disorder. And after reviewing a couple cases, I decided to look for an orthodontist, instead of a dentist.
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At my first consult with a very carefully chosen othodontist, quite an eminence in my city, we ordered some X-Rays a tomography and a full 3D impression of my mouth. By the time I was still getting migranes about once a week. The orthodontist said that my teeth are fine, not great, but definitely I did not need braces at that time, instead he prescribed an upper splint that was trimmed to help decompress my jaw, which was very stressed, some medicine to help me relax. Amazingly, using the splint helped me a lot, I was migrane-free for about 2 months by using it almost 24/7 (initially used it only at nights, but from the 5th or 6th week, about an hour with out it meant a immediate migrane, sometimes accompanied by ear ringing, so I decided to stick with it 24/7

I got very alarmed, and went for another consult, and told the ortho i used the splint 24/7, he said that TMJ issues should be treated from less invasive to more invasive, worst case scenario: Orthognatic Surgery. I was referenced to maxilofacial surgeon to analyze my case. I did not needed the surgery "right away", He said I should try a bite adjustment by trimming down some teeth (specially molars) in order to help eliminate the interference that was causing stress to my jaw, kind of mimic of what the splint did. That adjusted broke the hell loose. After having the adjustment, about 5-6 days, I started getting migranes again, but from the other side and quite more frequently. Later I found that they were not actually migranes, but joint pain that irradiated all the way through the ear and eye, and know I have pressure on both my jaws.

Again, I consulted the ortho, we was very reluctant to initiate any treatment and prescribed me medicine to relax my jaw muscles. That helped a little bit, but not as good as the splint (which now was useless due to the bite adjustment). I can't be on a splint 24/7 for the rest of my life, so I went for a second opinion, and in the consult with the second ortho, I mentioned it was a second opinion from the first ortho, which is very well known, and ironically they were close friends. Both had a conversation over the phone looking at my Xrays and tomography (the original one), and had to do a second one due to the bite adjustment. After reviewing both studies, they concluded that I need to correct the interferences of the bite with specialized braces called Insignia, personalized exactly for me.

From the first time in the first ortho's office I opened my mind to the idea of having braces at late 30s (I am 38 right now), may be a little curiosity about them. I don't know if I unconsciously kind of wish for them, but now they are due in a couple weeks, I am a little scared about them. How will they affect my life overall, specially at work. On the other side, I am confident that the correct treatment of my TMJ issue would help me mitigate my pain.

Think it's going to be an interesting journey. I wanted to share this. Been looking at the forums for quite a while now (found a lot of answers for my TMJ at the time), never tought I would post anything, but now that I would be offically "archwired" for a while (at least a year, maybe more), I definitely needed to share this.

It took a while to have my braces arrive at the ortho's office, and due to the quake in Mexico City, my appointment was rescheduled. I finally got them two days ago, a full month behind. Will make a new post with the detailed experience and my own questions shortly, but so far the experience has been more than I expected: the feeling, the pain and the discomfort of having a strange mass in my mouth constantly adding pressure, and molar build ups that prevent me from chewing practically anything.

Hola TMJD, I had very similar tmjd problems apparently stemming from a bad molar cross bite. The pain was insane, and unrelenting as you described in you account. What gave it away was the crazy ringing in my ears. I was initially worried I had a tumor, but my doc ordered a CAT scan and it showed degeneration of my right tmj and I was referred to an orthodontist/tmj specialist. Like you, the initial bite splint helped, but it clearly was not a cure and I needed braces (Damons too) to fix the cross bite. After 2.5+ years the pain is much, much better, but I have maybe another 1 to 1.5 years to go until the braces come off. For me its been a long road but fixing my bite has really alleviated the pain and most of the ringing. Good luck! -P

Hi, thanks for the kind wishes. It's been 3 weeks since I got braced, and I can tell you I practically haven't suffered a migraine (except for one particular case) in those 3 weeks. I have been more conscious about my stress levels and the clenching of my whole bite is quite a trigger. I have a very small open bite, so a lot of stress come from my back molars, and clenching positions the joint incorrectly. Since I had molar buildups installed on my upper second molars, I think they prevent me from clenching so hard, stressing the joint. So, it's like living with the splint again (the original splint had a very acute thickness, which resembles the thickness of my molar build-ups).

Even though the migraines have practically disappeared, my jaw still clicks at a certain opening height, and still get some ringing in the ears. Hopefully it will be a lot better as I progress my treatment.