Jaw surgery for TMJ problems

This sounds awful. I am sorry but I have no experience of this so can't offer any advice.

I do hope other Gransnetters can help.

Thank you, Tangerine. It's not much fun ... and I don't have a great success rate with the NHS over the years ... but at least it's not life-threatening.

Please think very carefully about this. I am in an online Arthritis Group and one of the members had this done and it was a truly awful experience, and now a year later, during which she has hardly been able to open her mouth to eat, it has got to be done again!!!

I would suggest joining a closed Facebook Group for TMJ or Arthritis, and asking for advice from people who understand it well.

That's a good idea, Sparklefizz - I'll do that.

I'm aware that any surgery can go horribly wrong and it would be devastating if it did so with such a crucial joint. This is why I'm mulling things over and seeking advice from wise women.

Notreadyforthis - I think I have the same as you- undiagnosed, but similar symptoms as you had - on my right side - I manage - it hurts slightly when I open my mouth wide - I think it started after I had a filling in my right bottom tooth. I’m sure I’m wrong. It’s probably arthritis. I will talk to my dentist at my next appointment.

crazyH - I strongly advise you to get your dentist to look (and listen) carefully. I have dreadful crepitus and wish I'd made my dentist and doctor pay more attention years ago ... maybe the bone degeneration could have been prevented. It's now got to the stage that other muscles in my face/head are affected and I never, ever wake up refreshed and often have a headache that lasts all morning.

I haven’t had jaw surgery for this, but I have had surgery to break my jaw and reset it. It was an interesting and uncomfortable experience! I had to have one side done again a couple of months after the first surgery and this one left me with permanent nerve damage on one side of my face and I had an uncomfortable exercise to do to stretch my jaw. Six months after I had to wear a local anaesthetic patch for 12 hours a day - TMJ was suspected at this point. I didn’t eat properly for about a year, lost a lot of weight and it adversely affected my blood sugar levels and now I have Diabetes.

Oh good grief, PaperMonster! That sounds absolutely dreadful - I'm so sorry to read what you've been through and the situation you've been left in. I sincerely hope life improves for you.

I am most definitely taking these comments on board!

So sorry to hear what you've gone through PaperMonster. My very best wishes to you for some improvements soon.

Oh heck, thanks ladies! It does sound worse than what it is - five years ago now since I had it done! It’s the best thing I’ve done and if I hadn’t done it, I’d not be able to eat solid food by now! I’m not even aware of the nerve damage unless I talk about it!! It feels like anaesthetic wearing off when you’ve been to the dentist! The Diabetes can happily bugger off though, although I’m now quite used to eating low carb!!