38 Years Old, Major TMJ Problems, Crooked Bottom Teeth - Petoskey, MI

It has now been ten days since I got my lower braces. At first the pain was really bad and the brackets were irritating the inside of my cheeks. It took a while to be able to eat regular food again. After about 5 or 6 days I noticed that my jaw was not clicking when I would open and close it. Although the bite splint had worked wonders for my pain, I was still getting that really annoying click with every single bite of food or every time I would talk. After listening to it for 20+ years, you just get used to it. So it was really strange to not hear it any more. I also noticed that I could not bite down as well as I could when I first got the braces. I went in a couple of days ago to have my bite splint adjusted because of this. When the dental assistant had me bite down on the carbon-type paper to see where I was making contact, she was amazed that only one tooth was hitting, right in the middle. She ground down a lot of my bite splint and then I was able to get a full bite again. I decided to take a picture today to see if I had made any progress. I had gone through years of family photos, trying to find a picture of me smiling with my bottom teeth showing, because I had forgotten to take a good "before" picture. Unfortunately, only my top teeth show when I smile, and the one photo I did take on day 1 of braces was taken at an angle. But I tried to duplicate the same angle, and I was pretty surprised at the movement so far. Things look promising!

I had braces for 3 years when i was in middle/high school. The results lasted for a while but then my bottom teeth started to relapse. Because my mouth is so tiny, I had three adult teeth removed prior to the braces. When I was 33 I was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a hereditary connective tissue disorder. This explained the pain, bruising, and dislocations I had suffered all my life. A few years later my jaw was in constant pain. I had a hard time eating, sleeping, and basically just living a quality life. After seeing the success my son had with braces, I decided to talk to his orthodontist about my TMJ problems. She suggested starting with a bite splint, which changed my life. It not only helped my facial pain, but my neck, back, and knee pain as well. The hearing came back in my left ear and I was sleeping well. After 4 months of wearing the splint 24/7 she evaluated my bite again. The splint had gotten my jaw to "forget" where it wanted to go, based on how my teeth fit together to bite. Now it was deprogrammed and would fit where it SHOULD go. She decided that braces could replicate what the splint was doing, and would correct the crowding on the bottom as well. May 27, 2015 I got my bottom braces as a 38th birthday gift to myself. They are on the bottom only, so that I can keep wearing the splint on top. Later, I will get top braces. This process will take 3 years in all.