This is part two of Jessica’s TMJ story. A couple days ago, we left off with Jessica telling us about her first arthroscopy. In this interview, we pick up with Jessica telling us about her most recent TMJ surgery. (Catch up on the first interview.)
Here’s the rest of our chat:
Stacy: Prior to your recent arthroscopy did you do anything
different?
Jessica: I changed my diet to soft foods, took muscle relaxers and
pain medication.  My dentist gave me some physical therapy
exercises, but they made the pain worse. I have become a
big proponent of MRI’s, but this time around my MRI came
back normal. I was confused because I had the same
symptoms as before.  I gave the report to my doctor and
found out that the MRI was read wrong. She said that a lot of
radiologists don’t have the experience, or the knowledge they
need to read a TMJ MRI, and as a result they get it wrong.

Stacy: Your current surgeon gave you the option of having
arthrocentesis the second time around, why did you choose
arthroscopy instead?
Jessica: I questioned why if I had a more invasive procedure the first
time would a more conservative procedure work this time?
Again I had zero quality of life. We talked about both options
and agreed to do arthroscopy again.  I had my second one
in June of this year.Read More »Jessica's Arthroscopy Story, Part Two – Patients Who Give Us Hope!

This is part two of Jessica’s TMJ story. A couple days ago, we left off with Jessica telling us about her first arthroscopy. In this interview, we pick up with Jessica telling us about her most recent TMJ surgery. (Catch up on the first interview.)

Here’s the rest of our chat:

Stacy: Prior to your recent arthroscopy did you do anything
different?
Jessica: I changed my diet to soft foods, took muscle relaxers and
pain medication.  My dentist gave me some physical therapy
exercises, but they made the pain worse. I have become a
big proponent of MRI’s, but this time around my MRI came
back normal. I was confused because I had the same
symptoms as before.  I gave the report to my doctor and
found out that the MRI was read wrong. She said that a lot of
radiologists don’t have the experience, or the knowledge they
need to read a TMJ MRI, and as a result they get it wrong.

Stacy: Your current surgeon gave you the option of having
arthrocentesis the second time around, why did you choose
arthroscopy instead?
Jessica: I questioned why if I had a more invasive procedure the first
time would a more conservative procedure work this time?
Again I had zero quality of life. We talked about both options
and agreed to do arthroscopy again.  I had my second one
in June of this year.Read More »Jessica’s Arthroscopy Story, Part Two – Patients Who Give Us Hope!