Before I was properly diagnosed about 2 years, I has a root canal done and then I was still searching for answers to what was causing my pain. I then tried a mouth guard and I love it. Even though it didn't fix my facial pain, it totally makes my neck and jaw feel better. I clench my teeth at night, I do not grind. I've used 2 different style of guards and I'm currently sleeping with one called an NTI and I love it. However, in the last year, my jaw has stared to shift my bit severely enough that my dentist is referring me to an orthodontist. WTF? I've already been through brases practically 20 years ago! Does anyone else sleep with a mouth guard to help their facial pain? Has your bite shifted? I feel like I can't catch a break! I had MVD surgery 6 weeks ago and I've been feeling great and am working at weaning off of Tegretol and Lyrica. I just feel like it's never ending with me — I'm so mad!
Here is what my teeth looked like and what they look like now ...
I sleep w a mouth guard because I was told I
have myofascial pain syndrome which means
its a pain from mastification muscles neck,
behind ear, jaw etc. now it’s believed I have tn
I’m not sure if I should sleep with it or not
Jess its looks like it has pushed your bottom teeth forward? I have never worn one, only braces as a child and an adult. I must say you have beautiful white teeth.
An NTI is well known for causing an open bite -- that is where only your back teeth touch and the front ones do not. I used to use an NTI and it affected my bite. I no longer use it. I got mine from Dr. Boyd, the guy who invented them, and on the waiver I signed it says this can happen.
I saw an othrodontist and she feels I need a LeForte 1 Osteotomy to correct this. That's a major jaw surgery. I find it odd that an appliance can push the teeth out and create the problem, but mere braces aren't enough to bring it back in. If you see an orthodontist, please let us know what he/she says...
OH MY GOODNESS!!! That makes me so mad — I had NO idea. I feel like my bite started to shift right after I got my first mouth guard and I noticed my bite opening more after I switched to the NTI about 4 months ago. Do you use any type of mouth guard at night? I can't sleep without it. I clench so hard it makes my TN flair up. I had no idea that my jaw would shift like this. I saw 2 different dentists regarding mouth guards and they never said anything about it. I have a consult with an orthodondist in my area at the end of the month. I'm so damn mad right now. I loved my teeth ...
crystalv said:
I saw an othrodontist and she feels I need a LeForte 1 Osteotomy to correct this. That's a major jaw surgery. I find it odd that an appliance can push the teeth out and create the problem, but mere braces aren't enough to bring it back in. If you see an orthodontist, please let us know what he/she says...
I use a bite guard that is somewhat hard, and it fits on all of my bottom teeth. It's raised a bit, so I still worry about it worsening my bite, but my doctor said this was the best out of my choices. The NTI is the worst -- I always liked it because it made sure my back teeth don't touch. I wish I wouldn't have used it.
in my typical fashion i just way too much on the internet about open bites. the orthodondist i'm going to see uses this type of braces: http://damonbraces.com/ ... and i guess they have the same affect without surgery. well at least that is what i got from their promo video, so we shall see. oy vey. keep you posted, and thank you so much for letting me know about the NTI! damn NTI!
crystalv said:
I use a bite guard that is somewhat hard, and it fits on all of my bottom teeth. It's raised a bit, so I still worry about it worsening my bite, but my doctor said this was the best out of my choices. The NTI is the worst -- I always liked it because it made sure my back teeth don't touch. I wish I wouldn't have used it.
Wow Jessica I looked that link up and the brace looks like it works wonders. I would love a brace even at my late age! What puts me off, is the TN pain being triggered by it. It is very expensive around £3500 here in the UK and if it turned out too painful to wear and if it triggered off TN pain it would be unusable!
Do you have an over-the-counter mouth gaurd, or did a dentist or orthodontist make it for you?
Here's why I'm asking... I have slept with a mouth guard for many years to help with my migraines. Migraines now cause ATN pain, and if i forget to put in my guard I wake up with ATN & migraine. I had a dentist made guard & I grinded and clenched through it so I bought one at store & it was crap & felt like my jaw was getting worse from it. I got another rediculously expensive one special made from the dentist & it has worked great & don't think I have bite problems.
Also really weigh the options of not having orthodontic work or having it done and risking TN pain again.
You are strong, take a deep breath, it will be okay :)
So I have had 2 guards made by 2 different dentists. It all first started when I was trying to get correctly diagnosed. Most of my pain stemmed from my teeth and radiated in to my face. I do not grind, I only clench and I only clench on the left side. My first mouth guard I cracked within a few months and had to get it repaired. Once I finally was correctly diagnosed with TN (about 9 mo. ago) I was doing more research into possible "fixes" and I had a mouth guard called an NTI made — and that seems be the culprit here. I have worn over the counter mouth guards before but they don't fit my mouth very well and they never seem to be very comfortable and I end up taking it out in my sleep.
I had MVD 7 weeks ago — so I as I am very nervous if I would be able to even have any ortho work done without triggering anything, I'm also hopeful that I'm "cured". I'm still healing for sure, I still have minor twinges occasionally but my Dr. said that is totally normal and nerves take a long time to heal. Anyhow, we'll see. I'm almost drug free too ... so I don't know. I am still going to go for an ortho consult at the end of this month. We'll see what he says ... thanks so much for the advice.
tulips said:
Do you have an over-the-counter mouth gaurd, or did a dentist or orthodontist make it for you?
Here's why I'm asking... I have slept with a mouth guard for many years to help with my migraines. Migraines now cause ATN pain, and if i forget to put in my guard I wake up with ATN & migraine. I had a dentist made guard & I grinded and clenched through it so I bought one at store & it was crap & felt like my jaw was getting worse from it. I got another rediculously expensive one special made from the dentist & it has worked great & don't think I have bite problems.
Also really weigh the options of not having orthodontic work or having it done and risking TN pain again.
You are strong, take a deep breath, it will be okay :)
I am so glad to hear the mvd has been helpful for you! and almost drug free... wow! thx for telling me about nti guard, i'll remember not to get one :)
i know what you mean about being nervous about getting dental work done. i have always needed lots of dental work due to autoimmune problems & it causing dry mouth, after last trip to dentist 5 mo ago (root canal & 2 fillings) the next day i got severe tn (but months before that i was having lesser probs that went undiagnosed by neuro), so i don't want to go back to dentist this yr. strangely enough i was lucky that the dentist i went to gave me free work up of xrays/panoramic to make sure nothing else was wrong & he was actually knowledgable about this issue & got me started on right direction for tn diagnosis. still doesn't solve the problem of what i can do when i need more dental work! i guess will try to follow the advice i will give you about the ortho- try to relax & take it 1 day/pain at a time :)
JessicaG said:
So I have had 2 guards made by 2 different dentists. It all first started when I was trying to get correctly diagnosed. Most of my pain stemmed from my teeth and radiated in to my face. I do not grind, I only clench and I only clench on the left side. My first mouth guard I cracked within a few months and had to get it repaired. Once I finally was correctly diagnosed with TN (about 9 mo. ago) I was doing more research into possible "fixes" and I had a mouth guard called an NTI made — and that seems be the culprit here. I have worn over the counter mouth guards before but they don't fit my mouth very well and they never seem to be very comfortable and I end up taking it out in my sleep.
I had MVD 7 weeks ago — so I as I am very nervous if I would be able to even have any ortho work done without triggering anything, I'm also hopeful that I'm "cured". I'm still healing for sure, I still have minor twinges occasionally but my Dr. said that is totally normal and nerves take a long time to heal. Anyhow, we'll see. I'm almost drug free too ... so I don't know. I am still going to go for an ortho consult at the end of this month. We'll see what he says ... thanks so much for the advice.
tulips said:
Do you have an over-the-counter mouth gaurd, or did a dentist or orthodontist make it for you?
Here's why I'm asking... I have slept with a mouth guard for many years to help with my migraines. Migraines now cause ATN pain, and if i forget to put in my guard I wake up with ATN & migraine. I had a dentist made guard & I grinded and clenched through it so I bought one at store & it was crap & felt like my jaw was getting worse from it. I got another rediculously expensive one special made from the dentist & it has worked great & don't think I have bite problems.
Also really weigh the options of not having orthodontic work or having it done and risking TN pain again.
You are strong, take a deep breath, it will be okay :)
I am glad to hear that you have positive results in regards to your MVD surgery.
I asked my neighbor about the NTI guard months ago as I was triggering the TN because I am a huge clencher as well. She said it would change my bite so I did not look any further. I am wearing my night guard (made by my dentist) but over the months my bite has changed so it doesn't fit as well. My dentist has taken X-rays of my mouth because I have a cracked tooth and after 2 weeks of waiting to hear from the specialist, they want to do a CT scan as it looks like there is a cyst/tumor. Could this cause my TN? If removed would my TN go away? I had a head CT done months ago so the specialist will have a look and get back to me.
I wonder if clenching has any correlation with TN? Does stress?
Have you discussed the orthodontic work with your neurosurgeon or neurologist? I hope that whatever you decide, you are pain free . . . let us know!
I was wondering the same thing — does clenching have anything to do with TN?? My last resort before surgery was to try the NTI guard because in my research, of any mouth guard on the market an NTI would be the best solution and if I was still having pain after wearing it, then it wasn't clenching that was the root of my problem. Unfortunately I still had pain. So I don't know what correlation there is between clenching and TN — but I am convinced that clenching doesn't help.
I think that there are probably a ton of reasons why people get TN and a cyst/tumor could totally cause a problem. My neurosurgeon and all of the neurologists that I've spoken with and everything that I've read is that the idea of a blood vessel compressing the trigeminal nerve as the cause of pain is still just a theory — there are tons of people out there who have the same compression and no pain. It may just be manipulation of the nerve in surgery that causes relief. So I believe that it very well could be a cyst that is causing your pain. I think it's def something to look into more. I do for sure think that stress doesn't help TN.
I haven't talked to my nuerosurgeon or neurologist about my otho appt yet. I am going to just see what he thinks and maybe to get some more answers about what to do about a mouth guard. Regardless of my TN pain, I feel like my neck and teeth are less sore in the morning when I sleep with it. I still feel like I need to find a dentist who knows more about TN — mine does't really. I have't really had any luck finding anyone ...
collette said:
I am glad to hear that you have positive results in regards to your MVD surgery.
I asked my neighbor about the NTI guard months ago as I was triggering the TN because I am a huge clencher as well. She said it would change my bite so I did not look any further. I am wearing my night guard (made by my dentist) but over the months my bite has changed so it doesn't fit as well. My dentist has taken X-rays of my mouth because I have a cracked tooth and after 2 weeks of waiting to hear from the specialist, they want to do a CT scan as it looks like there is a cyst/tumor. Could this cause my TN? If removed would my TN go away? I had a head CT done months ago so the specialist will have a look and get back to me.
I wonder if clenching has any correlation with TN? Does stress?
Have you discussed the orthodontic work with your neurosurgeon or neurologist? I hope that whatever you decide, you are pain free . . . let us know!
I think your right . . . there are a lot of unknowns with TN and I think it is important to be your own advocate and feel confident in the specialists. There are also people who show no compression on the MRI but have the pain.
I think it is a good idea to talk to them before any ortho is done first too. I find that dentists sometimes say they know what it is, but don't really understand the triggers and how easily they are triggered.