Re: PLEASE HELP!!! Therabite-type devices???

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I also use a Therabite for my TMJ. I've also had multiple jaw

surgeries - my sixth one was bilateral total joint replacements on

June 29.

My surgeon's goal for my opening is to get to 30 mm. If we get a few

more mm that would be a bonus but he doubts I'll ever get a normal

opening which is considered to be 35 mm. I'm happy now to be at 23

mm which is the most I've been able to open for years.

If you're at 35 mm already, why do you want more? Are you having

trouble chewing things?

I don't know of any other devices that would stretch you further.

Have you tried putting on another set of foam pads to the bite part?

That might give you a few extra mm. How much further do you want to

open? If you open too wide (like with yawning or laughing), you run

the risk of dislocating your jaw (open dislocation as opposed to a

closed dislocation from a displaced disk). People with healthy

joints can dislocate from opening too wide so I'd be extra careful.

Are you seeing a physical therapist for your TMJ? I've been going to

PT off and on now for several years. They might have some other

suggestions as well.

Sorry I couldn't send this to your email. Your email address didn't

show up on my screen.

> Hi everyone!

>

> I've had pretty severe TMJ (on both sides) for eleven years now

(it

> started when I was only 15!) It used to be so bad, I'd be in

> constant pain every waking moment of the day, whether I was even

> moving my jaw or not, and experienced a severe loss of range of

> motion. (I will say that one benefit of the experience is that

I'm

> now extremely tolerant to pain - I barely even took any

painkillers

> after my surgeries.)

>

> I was blown off by my PCP and insurance company for 9 of those

years,

> and finally went and found my own specialist about 2 years ago.

By

> then, the damage to my joint was so great that I've had to have a

> total of four surgeries (one upper orthognathic, and three joint

> surgeries, including removal of the obliterated cartilage on both

> sides) so far just to be pain-free and gain some motion back to

the

> joint. At my worst point, I could only open about 5 millimeters.

>

> I'm doing much better now, and have been using a Therabite for the

> past 6-8 months to counteract the years of muscle-shortening I

went

> through. The only problem is that the device stretches to a

maximum

> of only 3 and a half centimeters, and I reached this max about a

> month ago. I asked my surgeon if he had anything else that could

> stretch it even further, and he told me to use my fingers.

However,

> since my muscles are still so tight, this REALLY hurts my

fingers.

> I'd like to find a device other than stacked tongue depressors!!!

>

> If anybody knows of a device that can stretch my jaw further than

3.5

> centimeters, PLEASE let me know!!!!! So many messages get posted

in

> this forum, I'd really appreciate it if you could send me a

message

> at:

>

> tomorryo@h...

>

> so I won't have to sift through the message archive!

>

> Thank you!!! )

>