Taking Control of TMJ by Robert O. Uppgaard
I’ve had mouth and jaw pain for around five years. I’ve seen my dentist, two oral surgeons, and an orthodontist. In January I made an appointment with another oral surgeon who specializes in TMJ but they cancelled the appointment on me, then didn’t have me scheduled for the next one when I showed up for it, and just generally added to the stress in my life rather than correcting it. I told them to forget it.
Somewhere during that period I bought Taking Control of TMJ without very high hopes. It’s full of mumbo jumbo psuedo-science although most of the advice is good. If you followed all of it you’d be the perfect person, eating the perfect diet and exercising, meditating, breathing deeply, balancing work and home life, etc. Nice work if you can get it but if I were that perfect I suppose I wouldn’t have a stress-related physical complaint to begin with.
But somewhere in the mash of general advice and touchy feely recommendations were a few concrete pointers about mouth posture that have mostly done the trick. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget about my mouth for a long period of time again in my life, but by adopting a few of Uppgarrd’s recommendtions I’ve stopped feeling daily discomfort and pain. I haven’t had real pain in over a month now and many days I only barely think about my mouth and how it feels and what position it’s in.
So I have to recommend the book. It did for me what five supposed professionals hadn’t been able to do, which is provide some relief. I held off on writing this review because I wanted to feel sure. I’ve had brief periods of feeling pretty good before but this one seems to be lasting.
Hi Dawn! I was wondering if by saying you use better mouth posture, if that means that you do the tmj exercises in this book. I just got this book and am curious if it will help me. I have been suffering with this for nine months now, and I have just about had it.
Hi Chrissy! By better mouth posture I meant the position I hold my mouth in – where the tongue is, how far forward my jaw is, etc. Most of us hold our mouths correctly without thinking about it, but once something has gone wrong, like TMJ, we start holding it in a guarded position and overthinking. The book helped me understand where my teeth and tongue ought to be and that helped my jaw relax a little.
Good luck with your TMJ. It’s an infuriating condition because no one seems able to help. I did think this book helped more than anything until more recently when I got one of the new mouth guards that only cover the front two teeth. The new guard was so much more comfortable to sleep in that I used it more often and that has made a big difference. I hope you find something that helps. Keep trying everything because you never know what will do it.
Really educational – continue to spread the word. Looking forward to an update. For too long now have I had the need to begin my own blog. Guess if I put it off any more I’ll never ever do it. I’ll make sure to include you in my Blogroll. Thanks again!!
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