July 1, 1999
Dear Everyone:
Back some time in January, my right jaw joint began
to make a kind of a popping sort of thing when I opened my mouth too
wide or too suddenly. Some
times it would feel almost as if the joint had “locked” and I had to
wiggle it a little to get the joint to open.
In time, I could even feel the joint ball feeling as though it
was actually moving in and out of the socket.
After a while, around the end of February, I
realized that this wasn’t just happening every once in a while.
It was happening more and more and showing no inclination to go
away on its own. So I
decided to do something about it.
“Jeannie” cheerfully told me (from her experience
in taking depositions from medical experts) that I probably had a slight
inflammation near my jaw that was causing some swelling.
I should go to the doctor and get a prescription
anti-inflammatory that would fix everything up in a week or so.
So I went to see the doctor.
He checked my jaw and cheerfully told me that there was nothing
he could do. The problem was
dental, and he didn’t do dental.
Referral to dentist.
“Jeannie” cheerfully insisted that the dentist
could clear it all up in a matter of days, or weeks at the most.
However, the dentist informed me that this was special dentistry
and he only did general dentistry.
Referral to specialist with a temporary diagnosis of TMJ, to be
confirmed or re-diagnosed by the specialist.
(TMJ is short for Totally-Messed-up-Jaw.)
Went to see the specialist who explained that TMJ
really stands for
Temporomandibular Joint Problem.
In other words, I have a slipped disk in my right jaw joint.
After all those years of the health and safety
people carping on protecting our backs (“You don’t want to get a slipped
disk in your back!!!”), how come no one ever warned about getting a
slipped disk in your jaw?
The Good News Is:
This is not really serious.
We caught it early.
Surgery is not indicated.
The Bad News Is:
It may take years of treatment to correct, if ever.
The first order of treatment is to use a
Night Guard.
This is a piece of plastic that fits into your mouth at night,
while you’re sleeping, and prevents you from inadvertently grinding your
teeth, or clenching your jaw.
“Jeannie” cheerfully informed me that absolutely no
one is capable of keeping a Night Guard in their mouth if they want to
be able to sleep at night.
This is based (again) on her experience of dealing with people who are
suing either the dentist or the insurance company (or both) because they
haven’t been cured of TMJ.
We shall have to wait and see.
I won’t even get the pesky thing for another couple of weeks.
On the plus side, it looks like my dental insurance will pay for
at least some of the cost.
In the meantime, I just wiggle my jaw a lot to try and “unlock” the
joint.
And try to remember not to clench my teeth, even
when watching a rerun of
Earthquake on TV.
Love,
as always,
Pete
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