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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

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> > I have TMJ, but it rarely gives me 
> trouble.  For the last 3 weeks, I haven't been able to chew well, and 
> I've lost about 10 pounds now.  The last time it flared up was about 5 
> years ago, and that only lasted a day or two.  I was taught, once, how 
> to put my jaw back, but I've forgotten the technique and that's not 
> something I want to try without someone to guide me on popping it back 
> right.  I would love alternatives for things like TMJ...
> 
> 

Bev, herself had TMJ some years back so bad that she could scarcely eat for a 
week at a time.  She's never had body mass to spare, so I became quite 
concerned.

We went to, if memory serves, eight different dentists and oral surgeons.  
All eight gave a different opinion but seven of them agreed that a drastic 
and 
invasive intervention was necessary otherwise the condition would in no wise 
ever clear up.  In fact, it would just get worse and worse.    Genuine TMJ 
here 
before one composes a critique of his, I saw the X-rays, more than one set, 
and had more than one dentist explain them.  Genuine TMJ and rather serious 
at 
that.

One said the jawbone had to be broken and reset in a different alignment.  
One said shims had to be surgically implanted in the TMJ joint.  One said 
some 
teeth had to be removed and a prosthesis installed. Etc.

The last dentist was one I took an instant dislike to, and she me.  But the 
woman knew her stuff and no mistake.  While Herself was in the dentist chair, 
said dentist, having heard the tales of woe and jaw breaking, rolled her 
eyes, 
grabbed a mirror and held it up for Herself to see.  "Look, see here how you 
habitually line the midline of your upper teeth and the midline of your lower 
teeth?  Well, don't do that, do it like this."  She took Herself's mandible 
and 
moved it to a different place, subtle but observable.

Herself practiced in front of a mirror for a couple of weeks reminding 
herself what it felt like when the jaws were on the target alignment.  The 
TJM went 
away and here fifteen years later has never returned.

My sister, of an age with herself, also develped TMJ.  She had been a nurse 
and had the most prodiginous faith in surgery.  She opted to have one of 
those 
jaw breaking operations.  The nerves and muscles never quite healed right and 
it spoiled the appearance of my very pretty sister.  Moreover, she had to 
have 
two more operations on her throat to correct things caused by the first 
operation.  And for all that, she still has the TMJ problem.

Now I know, faith in medicine and earnest skepticism of anything else obliges 
many to conclude that the only explanation is that Herself's TMJ was not 
really all that bad or even present at all.  Not so.  

A dentist makes no money at all telling you to hold your mouth a certain way. 
 They make a bundle on surgical procedures.

James