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Rachel ~ Nope, no orthotic for me for this past month and it has been hell! The ortho told me to bring the orthotic with me this afternoon to my appt, so I have a feeling he will be shaving it down and putting it in. I think he wanted to try treatment without it to see how it went because he says wearing the orthotic can slow down the treatment time. Anyway, I'm like you where I was completely dependent on it. I'm hoping this fixes the pain.
He already has me wearing some elastics...only one on each side, way in the back.
Thanks to everyone else for their input. I'll give you an update after my appt today.
P.S. My TMJ issues started shortly after taking the braces off the first time around, so I was a bit hesitant about getting braces again because of it.
Hey Meryaten - Dr. Rick on this board told me what I said about the herbst appliance. He said he doesn't use them for that exact (TMJ) reason.
Also there are long term studies done on people that had herbst appliances and all most all of them had some degree of TMJ problems anywhere from 2-10 years later. I didn't just pull that comment out of the air - I've talked to several orthos about about it and done my research. It's accurate.
Upper ceramic and lower metal braces
Round #2 - Had braces as a teen for 4 years!
Treatment time: 14 months
Braces on: July 19th, 2006
Bottom braces off: August 29th, 2007
Top braces off: September 19th, 2007
BLWR on bottom and Essix on top!
I am sure that no one would rely solely upon my evaluation / conclusion. However, it was not MY evaluation ... it was the evaluation of several orthodontists and research. If you would like to look at the research it is quite simple to type in "TMJ + herbst appliance" into a search engine like google or go to the library yourself.
Enough said!
Upper ceramic and lower metal braces
Round #2 - Had braces as a teen for 4 years!
Treatment time: 14 months
Braces on: July 19th, 2006
Bottom braces off: August 29th, 2007
Top braces off: September 19th, 2007
BLWR on bottom and Essix on top!
Oh good lord "Meryaten" - you need to get a life, or perhaps a new hobby other than this board. I'm pretty sure you aren't an orthodontist or god, so you might want to quit talking like you are above everyone else on here. Find something else to do ... really!
Upper ceramic and lower metal braces
Round #2 - Had braces as a teen for 4 years!
Treatment time: 14 months
Braces on: July 19th, 2006
Bottom braces off: August 29th, 2007
Top braces off: September 19th, 2007
BLWR on bottom and Essix on top!
I feel bad for you Stacy! I've never had any TMJ issues or TMD. I can't imagine it getting worse or not going away after spending all the time and $$ on braces.
I know I'm not alone here when I say that I seriously appreciate all that Meryaten has contributed to this board. All the time she spends researching means that I don't have to or that 100 of us don't have to.
She's such an asset that I don't think that the comment above is fair.
I agree with jennielee81. I find Meryaten a great asset to the board. She may at times be a bit edgy, but she tends to have a pretty good logic base to work from.
One thing with this list a lot of people come to it searching for absolute answers from a group of "experts." Most of us here are simply people going through or have completed treatment. Unfortunately, since we are all individuals there are no absolute answers, truths or only one way to approach a problem. For example, I'm going through a lot because thirty years ago my pre-molars were pulled. Because of that, I'm not a fan of extractions. I would not recommend extractions to anyone without seeking more than one opinion. I could advocate that extractions are wrong and should never be done and that any ortho who recommended them was incompetent. That’s the type of absolute answer much like your statement on Herbsts. Extractions may be wrong for some, but not others.
I also agree the sample size in your referenced article was very small. We also don't know how random the sample was. Without those factors, it is little more than anecdotal.
Mike
I wore braces (this time) for 1294 days or 3 years, 6 months and 17 days.
But who's counting?
Jaw Surgery June 1, 2009
Thanks for praying for me and thinking happy thoughts.
I think that's a little bit of an understatement . . .
By the way, Dr. Rick on this board told me what I said about the herbst. If you can't trust an orthodontist, then who can you trust? Speaking for myself, I will be trusting the doctor who actually went to medical / dental school for many years over a woman with too much time on her hands who thinks she knows everything because she is able to "research" on the internet just like the rest of us are . . .
Think for yourselves people!
Upper ceramic and lower metal braces
Round #2 - Had braces as a teen for 4 years!
Treatment time: 14 months
Braces on: July 19th, 2006
Bottom braces off: August 29th, 2007
Top braces off: September 19th, 2007
BLWR on bottom and Essix on top!
Sorry to hear about your TMJ problems! I experienced similar TMJ issues prior to and shortly after braces. Speaking from personal experience, my TMJ pain seemed to be moderate by using the special mouthpiece my ortho gave me. After 6+ months in braces, I've had virtually no TMJ problems and I haven't had to sleep with the mouthpiece at all. My advice is to stick with the braces for another few months to see if your problems go away. My ortho also suggested to consume less caffeine (he says that caffeine causes you to bite down harder than normal while sleeping), which has seemed to help the TMJ problems quite a bit. All I did was switch from coffee to tea.
