I am currently a physical therapy doctoral student and I was diagnosed with Tempromandibular Disorder (TMD) or more commonly referred to as "TMJ" about 11 years ago. At the time the specialist I saw told me that there was a surgery available but it was only 50% effective and so I should essentially "suck it up" until I could not stand the pain and then he'd operate.
So... 11 years later I was still "sucking it up." I was accustomed to migraines that lasted 5-6 days at a time and I was forever massaging my jaw because of the muscle tension. I could not chew tough foods like bread ends or caramels. I would take Ibuprofen like it was candy and I thought it was just normal.
Last August,I found a new dentist who highly recommended that I speak with a specialist, as there have been some medical advances in the past decade, (which made sense!) so I made an appointment to see a new orthodontist.
Here's a "before" picture of me with my husband. If you look close you can see that my jaw is asymmetrical and the left side juts out kinda weird.
No comments:
Post a Comment