Thursday, August 28, 2008

NTI for TMJ

I kind of wish I had a picture for this post, but none yet. Just wanted to give an update for those of you who have seen my facebook status and are wondering what is going on and why I have a lisp! :)

I have been having mild jaw pain for quite awhile now, along with my jaw popping while chewing, and feeling like it would lock if I opened it too wide. My dentist has been monitoring it, but this past week the pain was getting really bad. Yesterday it was terrible, so I called so see if I could get an appointment, and they took me in right away! I was pretty impressed with that!!!

So I went in and my jaw has definitely gotten worse. I can only open my mouth about 1/2 the amount of what most people can. (Dad, if you are reading this, I can already hear the snide remarks about how much I open my mouth!) End result....I now have a prescription for muscle relaxers and also a little mouth guard, called an NTI, that fits over my front teeth and basically makes me look like Bugs Bunny. Most people only have to wear it at night, but I am supposed to wear it ALL THE TIME, unless I am in public. Praise the Lord for that "unless!"

Last night when we got back from our youth leaders meeting, I put it in and Jackson started laughing. I said, "Does mommy look pretty?" He honestly replied, "No, mommy looks EWWWW!" I said, "Oh, that makes mommy sad!" The poor kid started BAWLING, and said "No, mommy pretty!!!" I hope he is always this tender-hearted! :)

4 comments:

Althea said...

That is a precious story about Jackson! I hope the mouth guard helps!

KK said...

I feel your pain :-( I also have TMJ...my mouth piece fits over the bottom of my teeth...I only have to wear it at night. I end up taking it off half the time in the middle of the night...lol Hope your mouth piece helps!

Nancy said...

Jackson is such a cutie. I also have TMJ, but I will swear by my mouth piece it works so well. Maybe we could have a TMJ sleepover and then we wouldn't feel so bad we would just laugh.

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain too!!!! I was diagnosed with TMJ a couple years ago and have a mouthpiece that fits over my top teeth. It makes me talk with a lisp too but I also only wear it at night. I had bad earaches a while ago and realized that it was due to me not wearing my moutguard. Dumb me!!! Make sure you wear it and after a couple days, you'll see a HUGE difference. Good luck!!!

Emily