Thank you Jules! I appreciate your kind words. 
I heard back this morning. I will wait now for a date for surgery. A question I have is, he cuts the styloid off as far as he can reach and the nurse says it ends up about 1cm left. Is that good for it not to grow again? Thank you!
@Deb7 - 1 cm is nice & short, very close to the skull base, & you most likely won’t experience any regrowth. That’s how short Dr. Cognetti cuts the styloids back & he has done MANY very successful ES surgeries over the last 10 years.
I look forward to hearing when your surgery is scheduled. I’m so glad you’ve made this good progress. If your outcome is good (as we hope!) we’ll add Dr. Chang to our Doctors List.
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Thank you @Isaiah_40_31, that makes me feel better. I sure wish I had a surgery date. I had another terrible night. I think my Glossopharyngeal nerve went wonky for whatever reason. Had a terrible taste in back of my mouth, left side tongue irritated, bottom lip swollen and painful on the tip of my tongue and tingly. If I tried to lay down my oxygen level would drop to 93 and heart rate go up. Even sitting up same thing. I had to get up and walk around and do things to keep my oxygen level up. It felt terrible. I am so over all of this. I literally did not get one minute sleep. 
I feel so bad for everyone who has to deal with this terrible condition.
On another note, I asked about other Eagle’s surgery Dr. Chang did and the results for people. I was told he is selective who he performs surgery on. The nurse said he only performs surgery on those he thinks will have a good outcome. She said you are one of them. She also said he does not remember any patients who did not have their symtoms completely resolved. There is that.
Thank you for encouraging me in this to go forward, Having all this info beforehand has been a Godsend.
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So sorry that your night was awful, it sounds really grim…sending you hugs & praying that surgery will be soon and successful 
@Deb7 - It wouldn’t hurt for you to call Dr. Chang’s office to let them know your symptoms are getting worse so you can’t sleep at night & ask if they can give you a time estimate (days, weeks, months) as to when your surgery will get scheduled. It’s ok to push a bit when you’re suffering like you are!
I’ll also pray that you’ll get a surgery date very soon.
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Thank you Jules. I think it was the worst ever. I was never so glad to see morningcome. Every day is a new day for me and I am always grateful to Jesus for all the help He provides in my time of need. 
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Thank you so much for suggesting that. I will go on my chart and see if I can get in touch with his nurse.
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If the answer for when you can schedule surgery isn’t great, you could ask to be put on a cancellation list if you’re able to go at short notice?
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Another good tip thank you! I did not think of that.
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Hello, well I have a surgery date of August 11th. Now that I do, I need to get it settled in my brain. It makes me somewhat anxious. I got a call and then went on “My Chart” to see if a brochure was there as he said. I found my appointment and thought it strange that under the name of surgery he is doing which is (tranoral resection of Styloid Ligament.) Then it said “need tonsil instruments, coblation wand and GYN ring curettes. “First of all I have no tonsils. I had them out when I was 16 years old. I looked up Coblation wand and it said it uses low-temperature radio frequency energy to precisely remove tissue.Sounds like it is a lot better all the way around than traditional electrosurgery. What the ring curettes are for I have no clue. Do they now use the Coblation wand to do these surgeries?
Anyway just thought it weird I got the list of supplies. LOL! I just want everything to go smooth. I also do not want to second guess my decision because now it is real. I want relief of these symptoms I have been having for a few weeks. Thanks for listening.
EXCELLENT NEWS, @Deb7!! 
I’m excited for you!! I agree it’s weird that they listed the instruments needed for surgery. I suspect the need for tonsil instruments is because intraoral surgery is done in the area of your throat where the tonsils are (or were in your case). I’m not familiar w/ what instruments are used for tonsillectomies so can’t suggest more than that. I don’t know anything about how intraoral surgery is done though I’ve watched some YouTube videos that show intraoral ES surgeries. You’ll most likely have a pre-op appointment w/ Dr. Chang & you should ask him about what each surgical tool mentioned in your MyChart message is used for. If you don’t have a pre-op appt., you’ll still see him before surgery most likely & you can ask him then.
I’ve put your surgery date on my calendar. I’ll be praying for you!
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I guess the coblation wand could be used either to burn through the tonsillar tissue if they were being removed, or maybe to strip the attachments from the styloid, I think that’s perhaps the way they do this…(there are several ligaments & muscles which are stripped & left in, it doesn’t make any difference to swallowing etc). Have you been able to get any clarity on whether external surgery is possible, I think you mentioned earlier in the chat that he might need to try either method?
Will pray for a successful surgery for you, not too long to wait!
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@Isaiah_40_31 and @Jules Thank you for responding to my post. I am second guessing my surgery now and would love you both to give me your thoughts. I talked to Dr. Lederman’s assistant yesterday as I am going to try Oralase laser treatment for pain at their clinic. Dr. Lederman is who referred me to Dr. Chang. She is my doctor for TMJ. She gave me my mouth appliance last November. She is also the one who diagnosed initially the calcified elongated styloids. She determined my pain issues to be from Ernest Syndrome that does not directly I think involve the styloid ligaments. But it is a condition of stylomandibular ligaments. It seems they have similar symptoms. Her CT scan showed 3.2 calcified styloids in November 2024. Dr. Chang’s recent CT scan showed a 4.4 cm on the left and 4.2 on the right. Did it grow in those 8 months or was she not correct in length? She asked me if he mentioned Ernest syndrome when I went in for my appointment. I said he did not mention it. So could I have Ernest and Eagle syndrome both? If you had Ernest Syndrome would you have long calcified styloids as well? If I have the Eagles syndrome surgery how much will that help me if I also have Ernest syndrome or only Ernest and not Eagles. And how do you know for sure if it’s one or the other? As much as I want to get rid of my pain (for sure) I do not want to do a surgery and have it not be the right thing to do. So now I’m confused and unsure right now what to do. I can’t have a surgery until I get unconfused. Just when I thought I had it straight in my mind to go ahead and do surgery now I have taken pause as to whether it is the right thing or not when the two doctors do not (maybe) agree on the correct diagnosis. Do either of you have thoughts? Thank you. And in advance I am sorry if my questions are confusing as I am trying to piece it all together. I would like peace of mind and relief from these daily/nightly issues.
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@Deb7 - We have a few members who’ve had both Ernest Syndrome & ES. They can go together.The stylomandibular ligament isn’t that far away from the stylohyoid ligament. They both attach to the styloid but the stylomandibular ligaments attach to the mandible on each side where the stylohyoid ligament attaches to the lesser horns of the hyoid bone. In at least one case, the calcified section of the stylomandibular ligament was removed at the same time as the elongated/calcified stylohyoid ligament was shortened. It’s important for you to talk to Dr. Chang about Dr. Lederman’s findings & ask him if he will also remove the calcified stylomandibular ligament in the same surgery. If he declines to acknowledge that the stylomandibular ligament is calcified, ask him if he’s willing to have a peer to peer conversation w/ Dr. Lederman to discuss her findings.
You can click on the magnifying glass image in the upper right & type Ernest Syndrome or calcified stylomadibular ligament in the search box & posts will come up where those have been discussed.
Before surgery, definitely clarify whether Dr. Chang thinks your stylomandibular ligament is calcified & should be removed during the same surgery. You don’t want to have two surgeries if you don’t need to.
I hope this helps.
Regarding styloid length discrepancy, CT scans are taken in very thin slices, so in order to measure the styloid lengths, the doctor has to step through the slices & make an estimate of the length. It’s easy to estimate on the low side, & a number of our members have been told by their surgeons after their styloidectomies that their styloids were longer than they appeared in their CT scan images. I expect your styloids didn’t grow that significantly in 8 months, but I guess it’s possible.
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Thank you for answering so quickly. I am going to email Dr. Ledermann tomorrow and ask her if she could get in touch with him and figure it all out. I need them to come to some consensus as it makes me anxious about surgery if they are not on the same page. He told me when I first came in that her CT scan was a lesser quality than what he needed. Because he could not see the angles that he wanted to see. So that’s why he asked me to go in and do “in the tube” CT scan. Her’s was sit in a chair and have the machine around my head. And he is the ENT surgeon and she is not but I do trust her. She is an Orafascial Pain Specialists Clinical Director. She is Kim Ledermann D.D.S., M.S. She has been around awhile running this clinic in St. Paul, MN. I love her and her staff.
Having said all that I have 15 days to figure it out and decide. Thanks for your help once again. I appreciate all of your advice. I would be lost without this site.
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I agree with @Isaiah_40_31 that we’ve had members with both, the symptoms do appear to be very similar… Here’s one post:
The Importance of Diagnosing Ernest: A Crucial Study - General - Living with Eagle
It is a worry going ahead with surgery in case it doesn’t help with your symptoms, you want to get it right first time, so I totally understand you need to get clarity, and I think it’s right that you do. I hope you get answers soon
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Thank you @Jules for weighing in. I appreciate it. I will look Up these links.
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Thank you for this information.
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