Posted: October 17, 2011
Felicia’s case is a good one to share with everyone. She was referred to me by my friend Norm Huefner, a dentist in Laguna Niguel. Felicia’s case was complex as she suffered from a number of painful TMJ jaw symptoms. As can be seen in the before picture of Felicia’s smile, her teeth were worn down due to her destructive bite. She didn’t like the way her teeth looked, but more importantly she was in a great deal of pain and discomfort. Felicia said “ I’d wake up each morning with tight sore jaws and every meal, chewing was very painful. I was just tired of having pain in my face all the time”. It was obvious that Felicia’s pain was affecting the quality of her life. So we embarked on a journey using neuromuscular dentistry techniques to eliminate her TMJ facial pain. Using a TENS unit, electromyography (emg’s) and jaw tracking we were able to identify an ideal bite position for Felicia’s jaw. She wore an orthotic at this position for several months. As each week went by, Felicia’s TMJ pain diminished. After eliminating her pain with phase 1 orthotics, or a “trial bite”, Felicia chose a phase 2 option of full mouth reconstruction using all ceramic crowns and veneers. As you can see by the photos, her case was a great success. She was thrilled with the esthetic outcome, but more importantly is pain free and the quality of her life is improved!
