Anybody who has done TMJ treament before?

After a few years of severe ear pains, I finally went to see an ear, throat and nose doctor today, as recommended by my mother.
It took the doctor 15 minutes to figure out that I have TMJ- my mom, who was with me, is a nurse, couldn't believe. She didn't realize it before. Partially that was because I never connected half the symptoms to my ear pains- for some reason, I thought it was normal for my ears to ring a lot, and accounted the fact that my jaw was sore and it was sometimes difficult to chew to my wisdom teeth, and their removal this summer.
After figuring out what was wrong, the doctor told me that while the diagnosis was easy, the TMJ treatment is a lot harder. I'm going to be contacting my family dentist to see if they have a specialist who can treat it, and if not, I'll be asking my family doctor for a dentist that she recommends who can treat it.

What I would like to know is if anyone here knows anyone or has personally dealt with having TMJ treated?

 

I have been living in pain for almost 5 yrs. It took 2 yrs for my Chiropractor to ask my physician if anyone had done a TMJ MRI. Low and behold not one Dr had. They ran everything but that and thought I was crazy! My right joint almost all the way out of socket. I deal with facial swelling, ear bleeding and drainage, bellspalsy's symptoms, cystic acne along my jaw line.
The pain is God awful! Most days I wish I was a horse they could just put me down.

A dentist can diagnose it, but they usually refer to an oral specialist who can confirm with MRI. However, a lot of dentists, GPs and even some oral specialists aren't very knowledgeable about it and there's only a handful of specialists in this area because of its complexity. Apparently it's a really tricky area to treat and there are different variations of it too. Some people have these symptoms only mildly, rest their jaw or get a splint made and then it settles or disappears. Mine has become chronic and is getting worse (according to the MRIs) over time.
Surgery is a last option as it has limited success and sometimes people end up worse after.

 

I had really really bad TMJ problems, and saw quite a few doctors who made me various splints to wear for my mouth.

After years of trying different stuff and doing lots and lots of research, I decided to see a gneuromuscular dentist (GNM). If you don’t have success with any treatment that you plan on doing, I highly recommend seeing one if possible.

Good luck with your treatment, feel free to ask any questions if you have them.