Ten years ago, approximately my Junior year in High School, I started getting headaches. They were awful I missed a lot of school, saw a lot of doctors, and took a lot of medications. Nothing seemed to help. Over time I just learned to live with them.
Three years after they started I went to a Dentist to have my Wisdom Teeth pulled. A friend suggested I tell my dentist my woes. I did and he said once we get the wisdom teeth taken care of I will look into that. One day at an appointment he played with my jaw. He seemed to believe I have TMJ or TMD. TMJ stands for Temporal mandibular joint (joint where your jaw joins your skull) So TMD is a disorder of that joint. After playing with my jaw and listening to the clicks he decided to fit me for a brace/splint. I wore that splint 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Only talking it out to eat and to clean it. My headaches went away. I loved that splint and I loved that dentist even more. Eventually, I was told just to wear the splint at night. Somewhere in these past 7 years I stopped wearing it.
Not a good idea.
The headaches have come back and with a vengeance. This time my neck and shoulders have suffered as well. I have tried everything to treat them again. Byron and Diamond gave great massages and took care of them for a little while. They still returned each week. I decided I would jut deal with this fact of life. Then it hit me. GO BACK TO THE DENTIST. DUH... so last week I found a dentist online that focuses on Neuromuscular problems. I called for my free consultation. They got me in two hours after I called. After assessing my pained jaw the dentist said "yup I think your old dentist was on the right track. He filed some of my teeth so they would fit together better. It made a difference within an hour. I go back on Thursday for another appointment. I am so excited to get these things under control. I probably get to wear that wonderful splint again. I am not to excited about that but if it helps then I will do it.
I am wearing my old one today. I have been at work it is fun to stutter while talking to patients. When I answer the phone I have found my name is the hardest thing to say.
"Inpatient thith ith THethica"
It is great.
2 comments:
I remember that! That stinks that it came back but great that you are getting it taken care of :) It is nice when things actually work.
From Steve:
That is really cool that you were able to diagnosis the cause of the headaches. Imagine if you had to suffer with those headaches and you didn't know why. I think it is so cool that a dental treatment actually helped something hard to diagnose as the cause of your headaches! Anyways, glad your feeling good again.
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