TMJ Hope was founded in January 2010 as a support and informational resource for patients like you. What many of you may not know is that there was a site prior to TMJ Hope called TMJ Friends. I have personally been involved in the advocacy… Read More »Why I’m Stepping Down – And How It Should Give You Hope
When I started TMJ Hope a little over two years ago, I had a mission in mind, but no idea what would come of it. The mission was to help TMJ disorder patients thrive through support, information, and community. Of course, that is still the… Read More »Introducing: Beyond Hope
Welcome to TMJ Hope’s new website! Instead of New Years Resolutions, we thought we would start a new tradition of coming up with three words that will be our guidelines for the coming year. We will use these words as guidance for how we should… Read More »State of the TMJ Hope Union
You may have wondered why it has been a little quiet around these parts lately…. well, that’s because we’ve been working REALLY hard creating new things for you. First up, as you can see, is Pumpkin Week! The return of pumpkin every year signifies the… Read More »What's Next for TMJ Hope? – October & November
You may have wondered why it has been a little quiet around these parts lately…. well, that’s because we’ve been working REALLY hard creating new things for you. First up, as you can see, is Pumpkin Week! The return of pumpkin every year signifies the… Read More »What’s Next for TMJ Hope? – October & November
I thought it was time that I formally introduce myself. I’m sure that you’ve all wondered… who is TMJ Hope? What follows is part of the story of how TMJ Hope came into existence. I hope over the next few months, together we can turn TMJ Hope into what so many of us have always dreamed of, looked for, and been unable to find…a place you can count on for support, information, and understanding. While there may not be concrete answers and treatments for TMJ disorder yet, there is always hope. My experience with TMJ disorder began years ago at the age of 12, when I was attacked by a neighbors dog. This resulted in hundreds of stitches in my face and neck. At the time, the damage to my jaw was not apparent and certainly not investigated. The only symptom I had were drop to the ground headaches. The doctors believed they were caused by PTSD (which certainly would have been understandable, but we felt they were from something different). Five years later, the symptoms started to change into more migraine type headaches and jaw pain. I did rounds with my primary care physician, neurologists, orthodontists, oral surgeons, “facial pain specialists”, physical therapists — you get the picture. Next up was splint therapy — I had an anterior repositioning splint, NTI, soft splint, hard, bottom, top, Mora, Gelb, etc, etc. Other treatments I tried included physical therapy, trigger point injections in the face and mouth, prolotherapy, occlusal adjustment, massage, medications, TENS units, and more splints. New doctor meant a new splint. Any relief of symptoms was unfortunately, temporary. During all this my symptoms not only escalated, but they changed. I was now having daily migraines, and on a no chew diet. The pain severely impacted my day-to-day life. An MRI showed interior disc displacement on the left side. The doctor agreed that left TMJ arthrocentesis was necessary. Afterwards, I felt worse and my jaw locked again. I was then fired as a patient because as an oral surgeon he “did not treat pain.” My next surgeon reread the MRI and found that I actually had bilateral disc displacement without reduction on both sides. The next surgery was a bilateral disc suturing (an open joint arthroplasty). I had a great surgeon and fantastic support from my family, but I had no idea what I was in for. As a computer geek I did my best to research what was out there, but I wasn’t happy with what I could find. Where was the support? I wanted someone to talk to before & throughout the surgery, but it just wasn’t out there. I heard from many other patients, who were looking for the same. They urged me to create something. Read More »Who is TMJ Hope?
Here is how to make the most of our features: Subscribe to our newsletter. Our newsletter is a great way to keep up with the prior months events and news. It will start up very soon (and we may just have a little surprise up… Read More »New to TMJ Hope? Here’s How You Can Get Involved!