There is a terrible loneliness that often accompanies TMJ Disorder. Not being able to chew/eat is alien to the vast majority of people. There is little understanding of the dynamics of this condition. Chewing. It's so basic. So simple. So everyday. Yet TMJD sufferers often can only sip through a straw. There is no camaraderie at mealtime. You watch as others nonchalantly chew, talk and swallow without a thought. Pain may be your constant companion...it may be your only companion.
Not Well Understood
Despite the "experts" in this condition, this is really not a well understood ailment. Its causes are as diverse as the people who suffer from it. Its cures are even more uncertain. Too often sufferers are subjected to criminal, nonreversible procedures because of their desperate attempt to get pain free and be able to eat and enjoy food again. The result is that frequently sufferers are left worse off, physically and financially, after a treatment than they were before the treatment. There's no "TMJD Certification." It's Buyer Beware!
The condition seems to be most often brought on by injury, hyper-extension of the jaw (during lengthy dental procedures) and clenching and grinding of teeth, most often at night.
Amazingly, a large percentage of people who have this condition do recover without medical intervention given TIME and a SOFTER DIET. A few do require the services of a surgeon, and a the lucky ones actually get better.
Chiropractors often insist that they have the solution to the condition through spinal manipulation, and for some this may work. Hypnotism may work - for all I know, voodoo works. For me, time and a softer diet worked. Icing the jaw helped also. It was a long, slow, painful recovery, however, made worse by the plastic mouthguard a dentist insisted would help, but which only cost me $250 and more pain. This is often the case with mouthguards. People either swear by them or abhor them.
Probably one of the worst things about this condition is the sinking feeling that it will never go away, that this is the rest of your life: soup, oatmeal, pureed slop. There are actually many, many edible recipes for the TMJD sufferer, however. A bunch are in "You Can Conquer TMJ: Ideas and Recipes."
Recovery is Tentative
Once a person's had a bad bout of TMJ Disorder and "recovered," there remains an underlying fear of contracting the condition again. As a result, most people who've recovered remain very careful about what they eat. The first sign of discomfort finds the food item laying on the plate untouched. People greatly fear a relapse of TMJD. It's almost an obsessive fear with some primarily because those who've never had the disorder, JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND the pain, the depression, the alienation, the loneliness of the TMJD sufferer.
