Forever Waiting

So I haven’t updated since a few important things have happened since I last posted. 

I wore that little appliance that Dr. Browder gave me for 24 hours like he wanted me to. At the end of this day, I was still feeling the same. Quite honestly, I was actually feeling slightly worse because this new appliance is SO uncomfortable. I called him back after that day and told him how I was feeling. He is used to treating patients who haven’t been touched by a surgeon yet, so he told me to try it for the rest of the weekend (this was Friday). 

Reluctantly, I wore the application all weekend and had a horrible time. This was obviously no good because this indicates that my joint is the sole problem, not my bite. That Monday I called Dr. Browder to update him. He said, “Unfortunately, this indicates that your condition is past my type of treatment. I discussed this with Dr. O’Neill and we believe you need to just continue to be treated my him.”

Disappointing, but what can you do? Dr. Browder was Dr. O’Neill’s last dentist he had for me to try out so I’m back to the surgery route. I called Dr. O’Neill’s office right away to make an appointment to come back and discuss our next option. 

That Thursday I went to talk to Dr. O’Neill with my parents and he told us what he had in mind. He wants me to get my primary dentist (Dr. Breeden) and get my bite splint adjusted. He says he wants my bite to be evened out more than it is. Apparently my back teeth touch before my front teeth touch so he wants to try and fix that to see if it will give me pain relief. After I wear my new bite splint for six weeks, I will check back in. If this fails to work, he said he wants to try another Arthrocentethsis just to try one last thing. 

I had one done last October/November but it obviously did nothing for me. If this fails again, then we will discuss what we need to do surgically.

In the meantime, he suggested for me to get a second opinion. I know most people get second and third opinions before they even get surgery, so this makes sense. He even recommended someone to me. Dr. O’Neill said he is confident that he can do any of the surgeries that I need and be successful, but it is always good to have a second opinion. 

He suggested Dr. Daniel Laskin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Laskin) He seems super legit. Apparently, he is the best at TMJ surgeries and he happens to practice at the hospital/university 20 minutes away from me! 

My mom called him to make an appointment and he said he will happily help treat me (and he takes my insurance, yay!). He is going on vacation tonight though, so he said he will call me in two weeks when he gets back from vacation. When he calls me we will set up an appointment for him to check me out. 

Excited!