you should try the NTI first, there also this thing thats available in europe but not here yet called AGELK. google it. ive been talking to these dentists at sci.med.com. gotta try them before you resign to joint surgery.

On May 14, 2008 my husband had his right disc removed due to it being severly dislocated beyond retrieval and had a fat graft put in to replace the disc. It has been wonderful! He has NO PAIN!

Please don't suffer anymore with a dislocated disc. There is hope and help at the Piper Clinic in St. Petersburg, Florida.

On the day of my husband's surgery there were two other patients having the same procedure done (one was having both sides replaced. I saw them both the following week during check ups and even though they were older than my husband, they were doing just as great as he was. Dr. Piper will give you straight-up information and if you're like us, you will finally feel like there is a doctor who actually knows what they are talking about and can actually do something to help.

Google The Piper Clinic and read for yourself. Best wishes. JK

JKim,
Thanks for the information!!!!
My email address is louisads@netero....Can you see if there are any doctors here in california that practice this.
Thanks you soooo much,
Kathy
California

pls. can you tell me what AGELK. is I have tried to google is it a splint ? Live in U.K.

If you have bone on bone grating you probably need to be in a repositioning splint to get your lower jaw in a better place so your condyles have more room to function. Usually a lower full arch splint that repositions your mandible. It's worn 24/7 in the first phase of treatment. The NTI and upper splints are not going to get at the root of your problem, and they only are putting a bandaid on the problems at night. I know some people have had luck with them, but if you leave the lower jaw in the wrong place indefinitely, you still are damaging the joints on a regular basis. Have you had a x-ray of your jaw recently to show what's going on?

I had joint replacement on the left side but my surgeon had horrible bed side manners and I would not recommend him nor will I ever go back to him when I need the right side done. I had mine done about 6-7 years ago. I was in so much pain and had to do something funky just to get my mouth open and my jaw was completely dislocated after a lifetime of painful TMJ. It was only partially dislocated on the right side so I decided to leave that one alone for a while. I recommend the surgery. I haven't had any problems with that side since the surgery and it was a life saver! You can't even see my scar. It's like a face lift scar in the hair line. Good luck to you.

Try everything before surgery. Then try it again. I am not saying that surgery doesn't work for some people, but, after many years arthritis takes the place of the TMJ pain. Sorry to be so pessimistic. I just don't want you to go through what I have been living with for so many years.
Good luck, Peach, whatever you decide.

I'm 12 weeks past having a TJR replacement and I am incredibly thankful and happy that I had the surgery. I'm doing better than I've done in years. At least so far it has been a huge success. But, I agree that you should try everything before surgery. It's not an easy decision and only you can make it. Good luck!

Hi klpeach ... here i am again .. a huge mri advocate .. they show things that xrays don't .. did you say that you have had a tmj specific mri - it takes a special machine. I feel your pain .. i just had surgery this past thursday to clean out a ton of debris and arthritic damage... was worse than the dr. had expected - no disc even in there anymore. he did smooth down the bones .. condyle, etc. i'll let you know in another week how i'm feeling. i hope you get lots of advice .. i'm in NC - don't know about CA - that is the hardest part - finding a dr. that you trust. i'll keep up with you and see how you'r'e doing!

.. that reminds me - I found my Dr. through a referral of a friend that had had orhagnathic surgery in Philly. She called and asked for a refernce in Charlotte, NC and he was right on with the Dr. that he referred me too. Good for asking on-line .. I hpe that helps!