I haven't been on for over a year. I've learned that my trigger for Meniere's is TMJD. This week will be a year since wearing an orthotic on my bottom teeth to move my condyle off my ear. So far my success has included: Instead of 5 different tones of Tinnitus I now only have 2 and I don't notice T much during the day...mostly when I wake up. Ear fullness went away within two weeks of getting my orthotic. Fullness returned last fall during allergy season, and went away after my tmj specialist adjusted my orthotic. Dizziness/Vertigo - gone. Occasionally I get a little off balance, but that goes away. My hearing went from moderate hearing loss to the normal range. What was happening to me? About 6 months before my first vertigo and MD dx, I was doing a lot of exercise classes. I was doing a plank and heard a POP behind my ear. This happened around the same time I had gotten a new crown. I probably had TMJ for years and years, but the two things went hand in hand. The new crown is slightly larger than my other teeth causing my bite to get off (occlusion). My bite also changed when I fell on my face pushing my front teeth inward. When my tmj specialist took a 3D xray of my jaw, it showed that my condyle was resting on my E. tube and ear. The orthotic that I am wearing is NOT a mouth guard. Mouth guards are for people who clench and grind their teeth. Mouth guards are used to protect your teeth. An orthotic is used to move your jaw. Why did I choose to try this route? While on a Facebook site for Meniere's I read the story of a woman who suffered for 25 years with Meniere's and was later dx with TMJD. Her symptoms have been relieved from wearing an appliance on her teeth. She decided to spread the word and started the Meniere's No More FB site and the Meniere's: Vertigo Tinnitus TMJ site. I read her story and the story of several other people who have been helped. I decided to get checked, and the rest is history. I hope this post helps someone. I believe you have to find your trigger. I believe Meniere's is dx without the doctors really trying to figure out what the cause is. My trigger was TMJ. Yours may not be, but I believe it is could be.
Congrats Patti! I started PT a little over a month ago. They seem to have zero'd in on my C1/C2 and my jaw. I believe my triggers seem similar based on my cervical history. The jaw issue was new to me. It's encouraging to hear your success. Thanks for coming back to share. K
Great PT person! C1/C2 are big problems with a lot of TMJ sufferers. I also see a chiropractor. Some see a NUCCA chiropractor. I don't know of any in my area, but I heard good things about them. Since wearing my orthotic my neck has gotten straighter. It's the weirdest thing, but if you think about it there are so many muscles in your neck and the jaw is right there. Another thing I want to add that I forgot is that I never knew I had TMJ. I had no pain. Some people don't, which is really a good thing because others who do have pain suffer greatly. It is my dream (and Susan's too) to some day go to an ENT conference to tell our stories. We want to tell our stories to help other people. We also want the insurance companies (medical or dental) to acknowledge TMJ because right now it is very rare for one or the other to pay for treatment. Medical insurance says it's a dental thing, and dental insurance says it's a medical thing. Some patients have been lucky to get the coding done so some of their costs are paid for.
Congratulations Patti! I am glad to know your success, and I am not alone. Here in Tokyo Japan, we have at least three dentists who point out correlation between occlusal disharmony and Meniere's and/or vertigo / hearing loss / tinnitus. My ear started from hearing loss and tinnitus, and after two months of struggle, I decided to go to one of these dentist, where I knew that not only my back teeth was imbalanced but my entire TM was slightly off the side towards my involved ear. And during the therapy I learned that one of the major cause of TMJD was clenching, grinding or bruxism, all contributing to destroy cervical spine through powerful TM muscles. When I look back the day that I noticed my hearing loss, I was strongly clenching for a few minutes at medical checkup! Also my upper teeth and lower teeth was always touching. Once I noticed this habit, I consciously separate upper/lower teeth. And within two month, my ear has been very well - my hearing is back! So I suspect that these habits had been heavy load for my cervical spine. I'm also doing a dentist developed exercise to loosen muscle around TM - it works for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le0ivHy7jZM I went to a chiropractic and adjusted C1 to C4 as well as thoracic vertebra. Hopefully this is going to be a permanent fix.
Patti - I for sure have TMJ. I've had it for about 20 years and Meniere's for 15. I have a night guard but like you said it does nothing for the ear. How did you find the right dentist to get the appliance made for you??? Any information would be helpful! Thanks!
Patti, it's been excellent. It was just 3 days that I recognized clear difference after wearing the appliance. Every time I go see my dentist, he does fine tuning to gradually move the mandible to the right position. He also takes Moire photography to check the entire body balance. Since I knew bruxism was one of the major cause, I consciously kept my tooth apart. I am still wearing the appliance almost everyday. As you may know that when the mandibular position changes, occlusion also changes and the tooth may not bite well without the appliance. Luckily my dentist is also capable of dental crowns, so I asked to remove old metal crowns with metal fillings and replace them with allergy-free, zirconia dental crowns in a molar teeth and a bicuspid so I can bite better without appliance. So Patti, is yours a Gelb appliance or something similar? Just curious because Gelb is the frontrunner but I don't see many others in the U.S. In Japan, they have the dental network capable of the mandibular appliance and they have 30 certified dentists all over the place. So finding the dentist in the region is not the issue, just the cost and patient's awareness may be a challenging factor there.
If an orthotic is not a mouthguard then what is it? What does it look like? When is it worn? Are certain dentists certified to make these?
dwayne, the orthotic is for mandibular repositioning. The idea is to move the temporomandibular condyle off the ear and rebalance the masticatory power to be more evenly distributed. It will move not only jaw but all related muscles and then upper cervical positions as well. I have a few images of the appliances below. https://dynaflex.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/modgelbsplint_L.png http://www.bioclinic.jp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/clinic_img002.png http://www.hdc.cc/3contents/img/mpa_image03.jpg It's usually directed to wear 24 hours a day. Appliance for the day and night may be different. My appliance for the day looks very much like modified Gelb appliance whereas the appliance for the night looks more like the appliance for sleep apnea. Regarding the dentists who can make these, I am also interested to know who else other than Gelb can do in the U.S. Looks like DynaFlex can fabricate these splints. https://dynaflex.com/laboratory-services/orthopedic-splints/
Hiro mine is not a GELB. It is a GNM orthotic. It is worn 24/7 on my bottom teeth. I have to eat with it also. That is Phase I. Phase II is either reconstruction of my teeth(which is really costly), staying in the orthotic the rest of my life (which can be costly also as the orthotic won't last forever), or braces. I am 56 years old. My tmj specialist won't be around forever. So I chose braces. He thinks that's best also. So in a few weeks I'll begin Phase II as my jaw has moved into the correct position (off my ear). Phase II should never be started until you are at least 6 months symptom free and your jaw does not need to move anymore. Phase II is permanent. You can see what a GNM appliance looks like by Googling GNM orthotic. You can also go to the Occlusion Connections website to learn more about their philosophy and teachings. Here is also a list of GNM dentists. https://occlusionconnections.com/dental-gnm-experts/ . Hiro, that is wonderful of you success. I have heard of GELB and no of some people with success wearing a modified GELB. The flat plane GELB has not had as much success. How do you find a qualified TMJ specialist???? It's not easy. A TMJ specialist is not a regular dentist. Some dentists claim they are but they have to have additional schooling (post grad credentials) in TMJ. A night guard will not help you move your jaw into the proper position. A night guard is only for the protection of your teeth for grinding/clenching purposes. Any dentist that says it will help you move your jaw is not telling you the truth. I learned a lot about this subject by joining the Facebook group Meniere's No More: Vertigo, Tinnitus, TMJ. Susan Drago McDevitt is the admin. She suffered with Meniere's for 25 years and out of the blue came in contact with a tmj specialist. She was reluctant to start treatment but then did. She is now symptom free. It is her wish to spread the word and that's why she began her site. A lot of the symptoms of Meniere's mimic TMJ. I will try to post a photo. I have so much more to share but have to get to work. I will come back later to share more.
Patti - Can I ask a general price range for your TMJ treatment? I'm willing to pay anything if it helps my Meniere's but as we all know everything is trial and error and I was just curious what this cost would be?
I'm trying to post a photo and I can't do it for some reason. It's a poster photo of a woman with tmj and it lists the symptoms of tmj. A lot of the symptoms on the poster mimic symptoms of Meniere's. The cost of TMJ treatment is varies very much from specialist to specialist and location too. I have heard of some people who spend hundreds of dollars and others who have spent thousands. I have heard of some people who have gone to several different specialists and have spent thousands of dollars in combination with each splint they have gotten. I have heard of some people who have only gone to one specialist and that was all that was needed. It is hard to find a qualified specialist. Some specialists sound great on their website and then you find out later they aren't so great after all. What I recommend is finding a specialist from word of mouth, finding one that does a 3D xray, and ask a lot of questions, and getting at least two consults with two different dentists.. The FB site I referred to above actually has a FILES section with people who have been treated successfully and those people wrote testimonials. Susan also keeps a list of qualified/successful dentists. She also has questions to ask a specialist. She has a files section called TMJ for dummies. I know it's a lot of money and may take a long time, but I and several others who have found that tmj is their trigger have gotten our lives back.
Patti, thanks for the name GNM orthotic and the list of trained specialists. I am glad to know there is such a specialist network through training. This list will be a great help for someone who might consider consultation in the U.S., Canada, Germany or Singapore. I found my specialist through searching testimonials. It took me sometime until I find correlation between dental treatment and sensorineural hearing loss and/or tinnitus. It is still hard for us to find the right specialist because they have legal limitation in expressing treatment for Meniere's disease due to "insufficient evidence" in curing Meniere's from their medical community perspective. So they likely say they will treat TMJ rather than MD even if the results may include relief in symptoms exactly the same with those of MD. So the list is great - I will add this hyperlink to my list of specialists.
Here is more information on TMJ and Meniere's -- https://www.facebook.com/MenieresNoMore/posts/1402936226491596?fref=gc&dti=1577831952495456&hc_location=ufi
Yesterday I was able to locate the list of GNM specialist. Today I cant seem to find it. Would you please repost?
Yes, of course. I just want to say that it doesn't have to be a GNM specialist, although I am partial to my GNM specialist. I feel that GNM is on the right track with treatment. However, there are some who say they are GNM and actually have not completed all the courses. I recommend if you go the GNM route to make sure your specialist has completed all 7 courses of occlusion as well as orthodontics. I also recommend you find others who have had success with the particular dentist, make sure you get a 3D xray of your jaw, and a couple consults with different tmj specialists. Remember a regular dentist does not have the qualifications. They may only fit you with a mouth guard. A mouth guard's purpose is to protect your teeth from grinding and clenching. That is all. A custom made orthotic or appliance is what will move your jaw. Here is the link for GNM specialists -- https://occlusionconnections.com/dental-gnm-experts/ . Read up on GNM also. It's very interesting.