Recessive Jaw? Overbite? questions please help?!

You have a temporomandibular joint disorder and the clicking is due to the dislocation of a structure called the articular disk whenever your teeth come together and then going back into place when you open. In the beginning stages of TMJ (aka TMD) the jaw just clicks and pops (this is called reciprocal clicking) and there may or not be any pain (that comes later as the condition worsens). Over time, the disk will start to be unable to go back into joint on its own but can do so when you maneuver your jaw in some weird way. Then the disk will pop back into place and you will be able to open wide again. However, once your teeth are together again, dislocation will take place again. As time passes, the disk will not go back into joint at all and this is called a "closed lock without reduction." When this stage of TMJ is reached, treatment becomes extremely difficult. At this stage, the disk becomes dislocated and acts like a doorstop to prevent the jaw from opening more than 3 fingers.

Whoever you are going to, you need to stop becasue that person does not know how to treat TMJ/TMD. The first clue is being instructed to wear your appliance only at night. To be effective, a splint must be worn 24/7 because your jaw is "broke." Just as a cast for a broken arm must be worn at all times or the bone(s) will not heal properly, the same analogy applies to the TM joint. The appliance is the cast that needs to be in your mouth 24/7 or the TMJ will not heal properly. There are many dentists who do not know anything about TMJ who think that clenching and grinding is the cause of TMJ and perhaps that is why you were told to wear your appliance at night only. Clenching and grinding rarely, if ever, causes TMJ problems and the false belief that it does is what was universally accepted many years ago when the condition was not well understood. Clenching and grinding can aggravate an existing TMJ problem but will rarely be the cause of it. At least in your case I am 99.99% sure that it is not; the most likely cause in your case is your Class II jaw relationship (retruded chin). Mandibles that are too far back causes posterior-superior displacement of the condyles and this in turn causes anterior displacement of the articular disk. In plain English, that means receded jaws push the jaw joints back and up in the jaw socket and this forces the disk to pop out in a forward direction. When this happens, the disk acts like a doorstop to prevent the mouth from opening wide and the jaw will feel like it is "stuck" until the disk goes back into place either on its own or with a little help from you by moving the jaw around. Surgery should not be considered an option and as long as your jaw is making noises it means that the disk is still able to go back into place and treatment can be conservative. Functional orthodontic treatment is the best way to treat your TMD, IMHO. Functional orthodontic treatment will advance your retruded chin forward to line up properly with the upper jaw like it should and need to be. This will give you the normal straight profile that will be the answer to your "uglines" problems. Check this website out to find someone who can really help you - www.iaortho.org.

functional orthodontist; treated TMJ since 1984