The TMJ Healing Plan: Ten Steps to Relieving Headaches, Neck Pain and Jaw Disorders (Positive Options for Health) Paperback – May 4, 2010

I bought this as an OT treating TMD. This has great information and explanations about all aspects impacting the causes of TMJ. Even good ideas to try and begin healing yourself if you cannot get to a therapist who understands the TMJ.

My TMJ/Botox doctor (who is a facial reconstructive surgeon) confirmed for me that physical therapy is effective at treating TMJ. After hearing her professional opinion, I immediately ordered this book and haven’t looked back. The exercises in this book help substantially. Life changing in all honesty. I bought this book out of desperation due to a painful TMJ flare up looking for relief. This book is packed full of information I never knew and provides many excellent neck, back and jaw exercises that TRULY help relieve and (fingers crossed) prevent future or furthering TMJ issues and pain. I have practiced the authors “POTSB TLC” and have done her stretches for about a month now, and it just dawned on me that I’ve been COMPLETELY pain free for a while now! This is coming from someone who was getting jaw Botox therapy for TMJ only to have the pain relief benefits wear off after a short 2-3 months. I’m now 5 months post jaw Botox injections and would/should have been back in pain at this point due for more. But I’m not, thanks to the invaluable knowledge I’m now practicing in this book.This book has theoretically saved me thousands in treatment and many miserable days in pain. I wholeheartedly recommend. For $10, it’s definitely worth a shot.

The book is good to have. I want to share my tmj treatment experience here and hoping anyone who gets here and have similar concern know he/she is not along with the discomfort and hoping my experience can help them make better treatment decision.I was a longtime night time teeth grinder; however I did not really feel any pain except occasional jaw soreness. I do have occasionally headache from working in front of computer too long, which emphasis how important exercising and good posture are. About two years ago I got an expensive $2000 splint made hoping it would save my teeth from futher grinding and clenching, and putting my jaw in a more relax position. Sadly, now I have more discomfort in my jaw and i started to experience pain in my left side molar. I was also told that I developed a open bite now where my front teeth donot touch. It has been a very frustrating experience and has cause more pain and discomfort both physically and mentally after spening over $3,000 (including all x ray, diagnosis and adjustment fees). I spent so much time analyzing whether I have done the right thing for myself and it become a stress for me to wear the splint. If I wear it, i dont' feel comfortable and thinking it was the cause of my jaw joint to move(the reason for developing the open bite), but if i don't wear, i am afraid of loosing my teeth from grinding. The TMJ specialist I am seeing wants me to get braces to correct the bite now or getting equilibration adjustment from him to correct the bite (which he would grind down my back teeth significantly where I might experience teeth sensativity to make the front teeth meet). At this point, i don't want to proceed further with any invasive treatment. I do feel a great asymmetry on my right and left side body so I am focuing on balancing my posture and muscle. meanwhile I am reinforcing myself to remember the proper way to rest my tongue and keep teeth apart, lip closed and swallow correctly. A lot of dentists and physicians do not understand or care about how our posture and daily movement can create unbalance in our body which might be one of the causes for our discomfort. Even though we might be able to find some helpfule information on the internet, this book has done a good job to put a lot of helpful information together to help us better understand our symptoms. I would recommend this book to anyone who have tmj related concern. Please anyone explore conservative options first and get a qualified independent second opinion before doing any irreversible or extremely expensive procedure. It is very frustrating to become worse than you started after spending a lot of money and I hope everyone can avoid that and get rid of the pain and discomfort.

I wish I had read this book 20 years go. It contains a lot of information on TMJ. Many I can use right away with great relief, such as changing my pillows and adding a lumbar support. I came away with a lot of knowledge to help myself and to know where to get the right help and how to communicate with healthcare professionals. Her advise to “measure twice and cut once” is golden.I want to respond to the most helpful negative review about seeing a neuromuscular dentist. Neuromuscular dentistry is not a discipline. It is invented by a company to sell its machines that measure and treat occlusal problems. There was a class action lawsuit by a group of dentists who bought their machines and felt they were duped. You can Google it. Per the author’s recommendation, if you have TMD you should see an Orofacial Pain Specialist who is an active member of the American Board of Orofacial Pain.