Re: and Thera-bite

[Guest guest]

Hi Connie,

I like my Thera-bite, at least as much as I can like my torture

device. I've used tongue depressors, too, but they tend to hurt my

teeth. The thera-bite is more comfortable since it disperses the

pressure over all my teeth instead of just a few.

I'm almost three months post-op now. I can open to 17-18 mm easily

and after a lot of stretching, I can get to 23 mm. My bite tends to

shift to the left because the muscles are tighter on that side. The

therabite doesn't really change it, if anything it's easier for me

to get my lower jaw to the midline because the muscles are looser.

Maybe that's why your bite was off. The muscles could have been

stretched more on one side. Did your ortho say why it was off? It

sounds like you're making good progress with your opening.

> Hi there,

>

> I definitely like my thera-bite. I could barely fit it into my

> mouth when I first got it (I was only 8mm), but by Sunday night I

> was up to 14mm, and 18mm after stretching. I haven't been real

> aggressive with it. I open til it hurts, then ease back a tiny

bit

> before I hold it open.

> Something that freaked me out though is that by Sunday night my

bite

> wasn't still perfectly straight and started hitting my splint when

I

> would bite back down. Before I started to use it my bite was

right

> on, and two days later a bit off. I went to the ortho yesterday

and

> told him. The instructions tell you not to tip the therabite

while

> using it because it could cause your muscles to stretch

> incorrectly. My concern is that maybe I was tipping it because my

> splint was reshaped and doesn't cover the molars on the right

side.

> I thought maybe that was causing me to tip it. The ortho took a

set

> of my previous models and set the therabite up against it to see

if

> it actually reached clear back to my molars. It doesn't so he

> wasn't concerned with me continuing to use it.

> How about you? I know you said you've been using it for years for

> TMJ. But after your surgery did it seem to change your bite at

all?

>

> Connie