Joint surgery before jaw surgery?

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Joint surgery before jaw surgery?

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Started 1 year ago by Shawna
Latest reply from Shawna
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Shawna
Member

Hello all!
First off I want to say that this is an amazing website. Quite easily the best place to get first hand information for people getting jaw surgery. Most of my top fears have been put to ease by reading these threads –or given me something to add to my list of questions for my surgeon.

I currently have TMD. Both of my jaw joint discs are displaced. I like to call them my rice crispy joints because they snap, crackle and pop – super cheesy, I know. It started at age 16 and now at (eek) 29 ¾ it makes a loud pop every time I open my mouth past 1.5 cm and sometimes I get stuck open. Even though eating is a nightmare and I get “fun” headaches, for most part I’m really lucky because I only have mild to medium pain. Some people get unbearable pain. After two years of wearing a splint, eating softer foods and working with a TMJ Specialist, I’m now on to joint surgery. The plan is to repair or replace the discs in my jaw joints. That is happening on June 28th.

Since my TMD was caused by my lower jaw being too big for the top my TMJ and surgeon have said I need, that’s right you guessed it, jaw surgery. So now I’m working with the surgeon’s staff to gather up proof of medical necessity to convince my insurance to pay for the braces and the jaw surgery. *crosses fingers*

My question: Has anyone else here gotten joint surgery before jaw surgery? If so, did it bring about any extra issues that you know of with the jaw surgery? I’m also wondering if my insurance will be less likely to cover the jaw surgery if my TMD issues have been fixed with joint surgery. Thanks in advance for the help!

Sorry for the book-sized post. Hopefully I didn’t put anyone to sleep.

Shawna

*Oh and a fun note about Vermont, there is only one surgeon in the state that does this surgery and he's not a CIGNA provider - I worked it out but what a pain in the neck.

Posted 1 year ago #
jasonc
Member

I'm still awake! Whew! jk jk, ok I have a clicking too, but really only when I open to my widest possible point, my surgeon & ortho noticed this, but never really mentioned it being a huge problem that I would need surgery for. I also have crackling when opening & closing that probably only I can hear. When does all your snap, crackle, and popping occur?

Answer to your questions (sorry in advance because I'm probably at no help to you here): nope no joint surgery, haven't really researched or known anyone with it so never heard any issues, hopefully insurance will cover you but I don't know how they "think"

Good luck though!

Posted 1 year ago #
Shawna
Member

My pops and cracks happen every time I bite into food, chew, move my jaw side to side and sometimes when I turn my head. I can talk without any popping but I do have a minor lisp that my husband finds endearing/humorous. If I open too wide or yawn I can get stuck open until I bite the bullet and force my jaw to close with a nice big clunk noise. This does hurt a little but I think it’s mostly the icky noise. While I know it’s bad for my TMD/TMJ, sometimes I do this to gross out my adoring coworkers. ;)

I was told around age 20 that I would most likely need to have joint reconstruction and jaw surgery but I didn’t believe I was that bad off. Now that I’m almost… not 29, I’m worried what another 10 years will bring.

Without wearing my TMD/TMJ splint, I have a cross bite that makes it so only a couple teeth touch in the front. When I wear my TMD/TMJ splint (worn on my bottom jaw), it forces my jaws into the correct position for my jaw joints, which gives me an under bite and more pronounce lisp. –I sort of sound like Shelly from South Park (that’s funny for those of you who don’t watch the show).

Speaking of funny, I love the avatars for this website. They’re very cute!

Posted 1 year ago #
jasonc
Member

Ahh same thing happens to me when I do pretty much anything with my jaw (even moving it). Should I see someone about it or because I don't really have any pain I shouldn't? Anyways, I also had a slight lisp before surgery, so hopefully my surgery has fixed that. Your case really sounds just like mine, except maybe I don't notice it as frequently or my case just isn't as severe. Maybe as I get older, 25 yrs old as of now.

Yeah I hate my lisp, and I definitely let you know if it goes away after surgery, I'm on day 8 right now but still can't talk all that well. As for Brandon, he never noticed but when I listened to his presurgery video compared to the later ones, I noticed that his tiny lisp did go away!

And the avatars, can we change them? I look so sad all the time hahaha

Posted 1 year ago #
jadeleary
Member

Shawna, did the insurance cover your braces too?? That's awesome if they did, I know that would never happen where I am, in suck-ass Jersey. I so want out of this state.

Posted 1 year ago #
Shawna
Member

Jason: I would definitely see someone about it if the popping is still happening after you’ve recovered from jaw surgery. I hope you’re feeling better today than yesterday and so on. Your posts have all been really positive.

Jade: If I do end of getting the jaw surgery and I can prove that it’s medically necessary then yes, CIGNA will pay for my surgery and braces. Now, that’s only if I don’t get forced into a Health Savings Account or HSA by my work…

I had my joint reconstruction pre-op visit today with my TMJ doc (not the surgeon). He told me that it will be 6 months after this surgery before he and the surgeon will decide if and when I should have jaw surgery. That frustrates me a tad because on April 22, he and my surgeon told me that jaw surgery would be a must – not a maybe. They said that I should plan to have my braces on in 6 months. It’s not that I really want jaw surgery; I just don’t want to add another 6 months onto the whole process. It also concerns me when I get conflicting information from the same physician month to month. It’s unfortunate that we only have one orofacial specialist in Vermont (though I love his staff). Lucky that my surgeon does instill me with lots of confidence. That helps!

This joint surgery will take me out of work for one – two weeks, depending on how I feel. I may have to stay over one night at the hospital. I’ll be on the liquid diet for the first week and then move on to softer foods. Even though I’m not having jaw surgery yet, this site having given me tons of information that will help me with the joint surgery. Thanks everyone!

Shawna

Posted 1 year ago #
MelissaAnn
Member

Just found this post. Shawna...I'm have to have joint surgery also. At this point its unknown wether or not I'll need jaw surgery. They are doing a discectomy without replacement. I have had joint issues for most of my life but had some trauma about 6 years ago that made it significantly worse. Have had trouble finding any real information about this surgery on the net and what I have found hasn't been very reassuring. I see the surgeon on the 29th. I wondered if you could give me some specifics about the surgery and the end result. I found an article that said most discectomies end up being unsuccessful and end up requiring joint replacement. My joint cracks so loud you can hear it from 10 feet away...grinding and crunching that I can feel hand hear also. Have been locked open and closed. Also have blinding headaches, inner ear pain, eye pain, and pain in my shoulders that is all related to my damaged joint. So I'm really hoping for a fix with this surgery. If you can give me any info that would be GREAT!

Thanks,
Melissa

Posted 9 months ago #
Shawna
Member

Hello Melissa,
First off let me say that I would do the joint surgery again in a heartbeat. Not everything that I'm reporting will sound like fun but it's worth it.

The TMJ Joint surgery that I received required the surgeon to remove both disc and correct their position. Apparently the discs were goofed up for so long it caused them adhered themselves to the bone. After surgery, the surgeon explained how splint therapy would never have worked on my situation -which made me feel loads better about going through with the surgery.

I ended up with stitches along the front side of both of my ears. I looked a little Frankenstein-ish for a while but you couldn't notice it now unless I pointed it out to you.

For the first 2-3 days I was only able to eat liquids. I then moved on to very soft foods like mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs and creamees (or soft serve depending on where you live) for about a week and a half. After that I could eat other things but they had to be in very small bits. I won't lie; chewing wasn't fun for a while. Sometimes my mouth would snap shut and I'd get sharp pains in the joints (this has gone away now). Also whenever I took the first bite of anything I was eating I would get a "fun" muscle spasm (as if I had bit into a lemon). I still get that now but it's not a big deal.

After surgery my bite changed quite a bit. I ended up with an open bite which was expected due to my jaw sizes/shapes. I was only able to open my mouth about 1 fingers width. I was good and went to physical therapy twice a week for a month and then once a week for another month. I did the recommended exercises and by then I could open about 2 fingers width.

Now a year later I can open wider than I could before surgery (a little more than 3 fingers). I can eat without grossing everyone else out. I still get slight popping/noise while yawning and sometimes when eating but it's nothing like before. I have noticed more ear pain than before but the headaches are a million times better. I'm hoping/guessing the residual ailments will continue to get better.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions about the surgery. I'm happy to pass on my experience if it will help you out in any way!

I'm now taking steps towards the orthognathic jaw surgery on both my top and bottom jaw. CIGNA has initially approved the surgery. I have braces on my top teeth and am getting the bottoms on next month. It's all wreaked havoc on my bite. I now have only have 1 tooth that touches when I bite down on my left side.

Contrary to one of my last posts, CIGNA is NOT paying for the braces. I am paying $6000 out of my own pocket (lame).

To be continued…

Posted 9 months ago #
MelissaAnn
Member

Glad yours has gotten better! I have to have my disks removed because they dislocate when I close my mouth. Tried an appliance but didn't work. They would have to move my lower jaw so far forward to recapture the disks that it risks doing more damage. How long were you out of work? How is the pain? Did you have to stay in the hospital? Did they replace your disks?

Sucks that you have to pay out of pocket for your braces! If I end up needing them my insurance will only pay a portion. Crossing my fingers I won't need them. My bite is perfect when I'm dislocated...my joint is just messed up...go figure. Lol

Posted 9 months ago #
Shawna
Member

I stayed overnight at the hospital but they had me out the door in less than 24 hours so they could still call it an outpatient surgery.

They did not replace my discs. They remove them from the bone that they were adhering to and were able to pin them in the correct place. For me it was like having a wedge in the joint that never excised before -it wasn't bad, just different.

The pain wasn't too bad. I knew enough not to push it and move my jaw too much. I stayed on top of my meds and rotated between ibuprofen and Tylenol (acetaminophen) as my doctor proscribed.

I was out of work for 2 weeks. I could have gone back to work after 1 week but I had plenty of sick time.

A year later and I still don't have fully function joints but it's still a lot better than it was. Hopefully the Orthognathic surgery will fix me right up.

Posted 9 months ago #

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