TMJ Resources - Our Family - Patient Talk
Is it legal for a doctor or dentist to refuse to treat TMJ? Emergency or non-emergency? (ie: IMO a locked jaw is an emergency situation.) Can a Health Insurance Company force you pay higher fees because they do not have qualified doctors on their roster and you have to go out of network? (This is BS, IMO)
I know I can always seek out a doctor who will treat me, but in my condition - I have bilateral total replacements, arthritis and osteoporosis of the Jaw - few doctors have the expertise and it is a high risk situation for me. I am currently in a pickle, the bone around my prosthetics has deteriorated to the point where my jaw is practically falling off my face, the prosthetics are locking, clicking, popping, there is much inflammation and pain in surrounding tissue, the muscle has atrophied, I can see the prosthetics sticking out through my skin. (so gross - I can feel the screw holes).
My Oral Surgeon refused to examine me 18 months ago when it started to be slightly but definitely visible. I had an increase in pain and felt changes prior to this but did not see it in my appearance until then. I went to see him twice, the first visit he did not examine me or take x-rays but suggested I see a psychiatrist, that it was “all in my head”. He said the recent death of one of my children was causing me to be "depressed and hysterical" rather than truly in need. A month later when my appearance suggested there was something definitely wrong, my dentist told me I should see the surgeon again and my dentist gave me his latest panagram. I went back. At this visit the surgeon became very angry thinking my dentist was making a diagnosis - he said only HE can make a diagnosis. After his assistant and I calmed him down he became angry again when I asked he take images and at least feel my jaw - with his fingers. He refused to touch my jaw. He yelled at me saying "Leave your jaw alone, there's nothing wrong with it, don't even touch it!" and ran me out of his office. At least they didn’t charge me for the visit. He has done this sort of thing in the past, not believed me when I told him I thought something was wrong and other doctors have intervened.
He has performed 8 surgeries - 3 major, the first was a bilateral total joint repair. He didn't believe there was anything wrong at first in spite of popping and scraping and a referral by his close friend, my dentist. He sent me for MRI's and said he didn't see anything wrong. I asked why I was sent to him, to explan the pain and noise. He called the doctor who prepared the MRI (my surgeon did not have the report yet) and put him on speaker phone so I could hear (teach me a lesson). The doctor told him the reason he didn't see anything on the MRI was because everything was gone, meniscus and all - bone on bone. He said "Do her". In hindsight I should have left then. The surgery was supposed to last 2 hours but he had to stop after 7 hours because he had removed so much bone from the condoyles. Then I had to have a Sagittal Split Osteotomy. At first he vehemently denied that I needed it, even though he had removed so much bone in the first surgery. My dentist and orthodontist intervened, I had 4 teeth pulled, 18 months of orthodontics, the surgery, 6 weeks wired shut, 4 more months before braces were removed. Beautiful results. The last surgery was a total bilateral joint replacement due to total reabsorption of the condoyles (Why don't they just say osteoporosis? What is this dental mumbo jumbo?). This diagnosis was only 8 months after the Sagittal Split Osteotomy. What a waste of time! The implant surgery probably should have been the first and only surgery. I think my case is really more than he could handle, perhaps it was a good thing he threw me out. With all this metal and wire sticking out of my face, I pick up the Radio Farm Report out of
The wire holding the Sagittal Split together on the right side worked it's way loose and came out through the back of my mouth quite some ago. The Surgeon yanked it out with a pair of pliers. The one on the left side has worked it way out from between the bone and sticks straight down. My current dentist doesn't know what to think, he has always seen me this way (I have been seeing him for 3 years) and figures I can't get any worse. HA HA. He referred me to an Oral Surgeon he knows but they did not accept any of my insurance and charged a first visit fee of $350.00. I couldn't afford it. In the following months my appearance became worse and pain increased. In desperation, 8 months ago, I visited the orthodontist who had done the orthodontics for the Sagittal Split Osteotomy and oversaw the surgery. (He didn’t trust the surgeon to place my jaw correctly). At this visit he was shocked at the condition of my jaw only from the visual exam. He said it was if I had never had the Sagittal Split Osteotomy because my overbite is worse than before and my lower teeth now hit the roof of my mouth. He said my jaw had grossly deteriorated and it wasn't worth the expense of an MRI. He sent me to a TMJ specialist. The specialist also said "it wasn't worth the expense of an MRI" because the visual exam alone showed gross deterioration. There was no real way of knowing what was going on until I was opened up. He said my "TMJ was terminal", my implants needed to be replaced, The only recourse was surgery to remove the old implants, try to restore the bone and install new implants. He explained all he could do was to "try to make you comfortable and control the pain". (He made it sound like I was dying or something). He said it was just a matter of when.
I am 47, I don't want to wait until I am in dire need because of my overall health. I could be in terrible shape in a year, or 5 years, whenever it got to the point I could wait no longer. I am having trouble maintaining a healthy diet because I have to keep to soft foods. He did make me a very good splint. (I have to clench my teeth to keep my mouth closed, the splint helps bear some of the muscle load). Since my Oral surgeon refuses to see me the TMJ specialist is referring me back to my health insurance carrier. He says there is not a surgeon in
None of ALL the insurance I have, and we pay plenty for it, including separate dental, covers the damage to my teeth caused by the TMJ.
Can certain diagnosis' of "TMJ" be called or renamed "Osteoarthritis/Osteoporosis of the Jaw Joint" instead of just TMJ? (Forget "Reabsorption" - call it what it is).
I broke my hip 6 years ago and have a total prosthetic hip replacement due to osteoporosis and it is fully covered by BCBSTx. It is called a "hip" replacement but technically I broke my leg at the Femoral Neck and it's a Femoral Joint replacement. A joint is a joint.
I can get crutches, a wheelchair, there are ramps etc., and I could get by without walking, but I can barely get care or help for the joint I eat, speak and swallow without turning cartwheels - if I could turn cartwheels - ha ha.
Also, I have a DEXA every year on my hip and spine, why is this procedure not done on the jaw considering it is the largest weight bearing bone in the body?
Doesn't make any sense.
Are there answers out there, I have been dragged through mud and blood by doctors and dentists for more than 30 years and I am very weary.
Or is it all in my head?
