For those who wore TMJ appliance and had the styloidectomy surgery, how soon did you start to wear your appliance after surgery? When did you get your appliance adjusted after the surgery?
Due to my TMJ I had conscious sedation and no intubation. The surgery was done externally and didn’t bother my jaw in the least! I didn’t have my appliance until after the surgery but I think I could have worn it righty away.
By tmj splint do you just mean the mouth guard or is this something more involved? I wear a splint for grinding my teeth, are we talking about the same thing?
By TMJ splint, I mean the repositioning appliance, wear 24x7.
I wear a "night guard" i.e. mouth guard when I sleep (& am supposed to wear it during exercise when I might clench my teeth). I was able to wear mine starting the first night after surgery. I also had an external styloidectomy.
I had external and wore mine the next day. No problem.
Can I ask if those with TMJ find their splints help their Eagles symptoms at all? Thanks.
Since I never sleep without my splint, I can't say whether or not it helps my ES symptoms. My symptoms seem to come and go of their own accord although I have found that vigorous aerobic exercise does induce some of my symptoms, so I've had to scale back on my exercise.
:)
Jeffina78 said:
Can I ask if those with TMJ find their splints help their Eagles symptoms at all? Thanks.
I find it difficult to separate the two because I started the splint shortly after surgery. I can say that without the splint my tmj flares up a lot.
I had severe facial pain before surgery. I don't think it was from TMJ, but I went to a TMJ doc and he made a bite guard. It relieved my pain by a lot, all of my facial pain. It did not relieve the ear pain, tongue burning and the salivary involvement that seemed to keep saliva from draining and causing my jaw and face to hurt.
After my ENT surgery, (internal), I began to use the splint again in about 3 or 4 weeks. Actually, it no longer seemed to help. My mouth seemed crooked with it after the doctor removedl the styloid. My TMJ doc has readjusted it several times but I have found that I really no longer need it. It actually seemed to cause pain that I did not have if I did not wear it.
I guess the facial pain was 100% from ES and not TMJ. I do have a very crooked jaw and bite and I now use an invisalign brace in my mouth to keep me from biting my gums, but not for TMJ.
In fact, I have found that the bulky bite guard actually made my acid reflux very problematic. Now I sleep well at night and no longer need acid reflux meds. That said, it really relieved the facial pain when the styloid was lodged in my throat.
Thanks everyone. My son has been having pain around TMJ area for close to 3 years. He has been seeing several TMJ doctors, has multiple TMJ appliances/splints. None of the TMJ treatments helped his TMJ pain. The last TMJ doctor reviewed his Cone Beam xray/CT after several month treatment without improvement, found my son had elongated/calcified styloid process (3.5-4 cm) on right side (the side he has pain). The TMJ doctor does not suggest surgery. But after trying TMJ treatment, physical therapy, cranial therapy, acupuncture, prolotherapy and trigger point injections for last two years without any improvement, I thinks the elongated styloid process may be the cause of the pain. We have scheduled the surgery with Dr., Cognetti on 7/24. Hope the surgery will relieve his symptoms.
His symptoms:
Facial pain around TMJ area (pain gets worse after eating)
Swallow problem
Hearing pop when swallow
Tinnitus (started 1 year ago)
Ear pain (started 1 year ago)
Please wish him well for the surgery, and hope that it helps with his symptoms! Let us know how he gets on!