Living with TMD

When you think of the term "bone joints," the ones that normally come to mind are knees, elbows, ankles and hips.  Everyone at some time or another has experienced pain in these areas.  Usually, the pain comes from overuse or a minor injury and heals in a few weeks, or in severe cases is relieved by a replacement of the offending joint.  But what are the options for the millions of people that suffer chronic pain of the jaws?

The jaw, or temporomandibular, joints (TMJ) are actually the most frequently used joints in the body.  Eating, drinking, talking, laughing, singing, grinding your teeth, and a hundred other movements of the face require the use of the TMJs and muscles.  Damage to these joints is excruciating and can be very difficult to treat.  In 2004, I suddenly began having severe facial pain.  It was so bad, all I could do was hold my face in my hands, rock and cry.  I called a dentist who agreed to see me as a work-in.  After talking to me about the pain and my medical history, he suspected a temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and referred me to a specialist.  He also prescribed Darvocet for the pain, a common medication for treating TMD.

I took the Darvocet and a couple of days later traveled the 100 miles to the specialist.  I spent probably close to an hour with the assistant as she went over every detail from having me describe and rate the pain to measuring how far I could open my mouth without pain, and then measuring how far I could open with pain.  She examined my teeth, my bite, and sprayed my jaws with a freezing substance that instantly took the pain away (unfortunately, only for a short few minutes).  The specialist reviewed everything, examined my teeth again, and began to explain TMD and the usual first treatments.