Re: Osteoarthritis and TMJ damage

[Guest guest]

Hi,

What kind of surgery will you be having? Are you having surgery just

to correct your open bite or are you having surgery on the joints as

well? I've had 5 jaw surgeries so far - lower and upper to correct an

open and overbite, TMJ arthroscopy, arthroplasty, bilateral joint

reconstruction using distraction osteogenesis. Now I'm scheduled for

surgery #6, bilateral joint replacement, sometime around June 15

whenever the artificial joints are ready. good luck with your surgery.

Ask if you have any questions.

> Hi all. Been reading the info..Very interesting. I had a perfect

bite

> all my life until some type of injury set off the TMD two years ago.

> Now I am dealing with an open bite (due to athritic conditions)so it

is

> either live with it or surgery on June 8th. I have been seeing Dr's

at

> MAYO Clinic for about a year.

[Guest guest]

> > Hi all. Been reading the info..Very interesting. I had a perfect

> bite

> > all my life until some type of injury set off the TMD two years

ago.

> > Now I am dealing with an open bite (due to athritic conditions)so

it

> is

> > either live with it or surgery on June 8th. I have been seeing

Dr's

> at

> > MAYO Clinic for about a year.

[Guest guest]

It's definitely better to avoid joint surgery if at all possible.

I've had joint problems since childhood (my jaws starting locking

when I was about 8) but I was always told to avoid surgery on the

joints. I had orthognathic surgery in the hope that correcting my

bite would reduce stress on the joints and thereby halt the

progression of the arthritis. Most people do have less TMJ problems

after orthognathic surgery but I was one of the few that got worse.

Afterwards, my joints got ankylosed (fused) and I had avascular

necrosis. That's when I had my first joint surgery. My surgeon

wanted to be as conservative and minimally invasive as possible so

that's why we started with just the arthoplasty. Unfortunately my

arthritis has been very aggressive so now we have no choice but to

use artificial joints.

There are several people here on this site who did get good relief

from their TMJ problems. I hope you are one of them.

>

> I think I am having a LeFort 1 and saggital split to move the

lower

> jaw forward. That is what I was told the last time I was there

> however he had not checked all my impressions, scans, etc.. The

OS's

> there want to avoid the TMJ if at all possible so no joint surgery.

> I am going in the 31st of May for Pre-op appt..

> I also have osteoporosis so this is a little scary...wondering if

my

> bones will hold up.

>

> Thanks for the concern.

>

[Guest guest]

---

Can I ask if you have arthiritis in other joints?

If I was 75 or 80 I might just leave my bite as it is but I have a

lot of living to do and I am hoping that it all works out.

I have been very blessed in that I have not had a lot of pain. I

belive that is due to lots of PT/ultrasound & shots in the joint.

The oral surgeons(5 of them) at MAYO say they due about 200 of these

procedures a year.

Thank you for the info..

In orthognathicsurgerysupport , minirascal2002

<no_reply@y...> wrote:

> It's definitely better to avoid joint surgery if at all possible.

> I've had joint problems since childhood (my jaws starting locking

> when I was about 8) but I was always told to avoid surgery on the

> joints. I had orthognathic surgery in the hope that correcting my

> bite would reduce stress on the joints and thereby halt the

> progression of the arthritis. Most people do have less TMJ problems

> after orthognathic surgery but I was one of the few that got worse.

> Afterwards, my joints got ankylosed (fused) and I had avascular

> necrosis. That's when I had my first joint surgery. My surgeon

> wanted to be as conservative and minimally invasive as possible so

> that's why we started with just the arthoplasty. Unfortunately my

> arthritis has been very aggressive so now we have no choice but to

> use artificial joints.

>

> There are several people here on this site who did get good relief

> from their TMJ problems. I hope you are one of them.

>

>

>

> >

> > I think I am having a LeFort 1 and saggital split to move the

> lower

> > jaw forward. That is what I was told the last time I was there

> > however he had not checked all my impressions, scans, etc.. The

> OS's

> > there want to avoid the TMJ if at all possible so no joint

surgery.

> > I am going in the 31st of May for Pre-op appt..

> > I also have osteoporosis so this is a little scary...wondering if

> my

> > bones will hold up.

> >

> > Thanks for the concern.

> >

[Guest guest]

I mainly have the arthritis in my TMJ joints. Two years ago, my

primary care physician tested me for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus

(among other things) because the TMJ surgeon said the destruction he

saw in my joints was typical for those types of athritis but my

blood tests all came up negative. It may be just osteoarthritis but

now that I'm having problems again, my doctor is referring me to UNC

to make sure that I don't have some other rare form of arthritis. I

have some problems with my feet, hands and knees but those are

pretty minor in comparison. If it is osteoarthritis, at 38, I am

much younger than the typical osteoarthritis patient.

Since my teenage years, I had surprisingly little pain before my

orthognathic surgeries given the condition of my joints. I did have

occasional " earaches " that I just attributed to swimming but it

probably was from my TMJ since it was similar to what I experience

now just not as bad.

PT was very helpful in pain control. The ultrasound felt so good I

wish I had my own machine at home. They gave me a TENS unit for home

which does help a lot as well.

I do hope you do have a successful outcome with your surgery.

> ---

> Can I ask if you have arthiritis in other joints?

>

> If I was 75 or 80 I might just leave my bite as it is but I have a

> lot of living to do and I am hoping that it all works out.

>

> I have been very blessed in that I have not had a lot of pain. I

> belive that is due to lots of PT/ultrasound & shots in the joint.

>

> The oral surgeons(5 of them) at MAYO say they due about 200 of

these

> procedures a year.

>

> Thank you for the info..