Hi so I had both my styloids removed and now my ent is telling me i have bad tmj but cant find a doctor to take my insurance any suggestions or doctors that will take health insurance
Have you tried calling your insurance company to ask for the name of a TMJ specialist who is covered by your insurance. If not, that’s a good place to start.
During transcervical ES surgery some surgeons dislocate the jaw to give better access to the styloids during ES surgery. This is often not mentioned to the patient ahead of time & sometimes not put in the surgical reports. When the jaw is dislocated during surgery, tendons & ligaments can get stretched beyond what is normal leaving the patient w/ TMJ symptoms or worse TMJ symptoms if TMJ was already present. Was your ES surgery done transcervically (through the neck) or intraorally (through the throat)?
What symptoms do you have that point to TMJ i.e. pain, clicking/grinding sounds or sensations when chewing, jaw locking, ear pain, etc? We have members whose post op TMJ pain has been helped by getting botox injections. Nerve pain medication such as Gabapentin, Amitriptyline & Carbamazepine can also be helpful in calming nerve pain but can take a few weeks to start helping. Doses often have to be adjusted to find the correct dose that’s helpful w/ the least side effects.
If your remaining symptoms are the same as they were before your styloidectomies, you may need to revisit how much of your styloids were removed. Some doctors only cut them back to the “normal length” i.e. 2-2.5 cm which often isn’t short enough to stop them from irritating nerves which cause facial, jaw & ear pain. Admittedly these are also symptoms of TMJ.
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Adding couple of extra tmj thoughts. A mouth guard may help, especially at night. But finding right guard/jaw help can be tricky. Recall is leading US dental organisation in Las Vegas on functional dental work (it’s not just about surface of teeth but how jaw works). Also Microdental device (looks likes tens but is not) can release pain/tension in jaw muscles. Soft foods may help. D
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My jaw will lock open when i yawn and it clicks really bad when eating or chewing or stretching my muscles. I cant afford to see a tmj specialist. Im still having alot of my pain that was supposedly es like pain in my neck. Trouble swallowing. Feeling like foods getting stuck in throat and brain fog. I really just want to die i cant do this anymore. They also diagnosed me with fibro. Im only 27 and just want to end it all but my wife and kids wont get my life insurance money.
Being in constant pain is hard to live with. Below are some exercises that I’ve use to help with my TMJ. I hope these may help you find some relief.
This is a series of exercises and massages (believe there are 8 videos) that have helped in the past for me. I haven’t started them back again yet and haven’t watch them lately, but they were very helpful. (Be careful with these since you are locking. I would try to not open wide to prevent and try soft diet for a bit). If you can pull off a layer of pain, may be able to tackle the other items 
.
This is a really good book with some odd looking exercises in it. There is a section on TMJ called “ In the jaws of pain”. These will look like strange exercises, but he explains why to do them, and I think it will give you a good understanding that the TMJ situation is related to your entire body. They are all easy to do, just require a bit of time each day. I used these years ago and after my surgery my jaw is acting up, so I’ve been working on them again. With these exercises, you can think of your body like a car, in that it constantly needs attention and a tune up. (I should have never stopped these exercises)…
@Hunterlee739 - I am so, so sorry your ES symptoms are still very bad & your TMJ symptoms are so painful.
Two questions, how long ago did you have your ES surgery(ies), & do you mind mentioning who did your styloidectomies? Your remaining symptoms (brain fog in particular) sound like you may have IJV compression that wasn’t taken care of when you had your initial surgery(ies).
Getting a nigh/bite guard that @PatientD suggested can be very helpful (I have one) & can be made by a dentist.
Getting an Rx to a blood thinner such as Plavix or Brillinta can help significantly with the brain fog, but it takes a couple of weeks to become effective. A nerve pain medication such as Gabapentin, Amitriptyline or Carbamazepine can significantly reduce the nerve pain you’re experiencing.
If your styloidectomies were done w/in the last few months, you may simply need more recovery time. If it’s been a year or more then you may need revision surgery done by a different doctor who does a more thorough job of removing the styloids. Dr. Old is in your state & comes very highly recommended. •Dr Matthew Old, Otolaryngology, Ohio Sate University, James Cancer Hospital, Columbus (one surgery that we know of) *Dr. Old reportedly used a novel approach on a FaceBook ES Forum member where he removed styloid regrowth to the skull base & packed the skull base w/ cadaver bone to prevent styloid regrowth. (May 2021).
https://cancer.osu.edu/find-a-doctor/search-physician-directory/matthew-o-old
Hey Hunter, I’m so sorry you’re experiencing this. For clicking and locking, it’s likely your disc is slipping in and out of place. Your insurance might not cover a tmj specialist, but will likely cover an appointment with an oral surgeon. Not saying you should jump to surgery, however, they are covered by medical insurance and can get a scan of your joints and discs to see what’s happening when you are opening and closing your mouth. From there, if the surgeon is half way decent, they can make you a mouth splint to help or you could be a surgical candidate. For me, my lower jaw is biologically smaller than my upper and I need to get LJS to fix this. It’s just recent started causing issues for me at the same time my styloids have.
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Good advice ))).
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