Hi Dr Tony, I have had impressions taken for a dental appliance, and I should be getting it next week. I'm curious about something you stated in a previous response - "The dental appliance will help TMJ issues but only after the muscles are relaxed". When I went for my exam (the day the impressions were done) my dentist determined I had TMJ. She recommended, but didn't require, that I get an appliance that I would wear during the day for several months to correct the TMJ. She said the sleep apnea dental appliance could make the TMJ worse. This TMJ appliance is not covered by insurance so I would have to pay the full cost of it out of pocket. I declined to do this, since my understanding is that there is no guarantee that the dental appliance will help with my sleep apnea. So rather than commit to treating the TMJ now, and since the TMJ is not bothering me, I thought I should first make sure the dental appliance works for the sleep apnea and then go from there. So I was wondering if you could go into a bit more detail about how the dental appliance (I assume you are referring to the sleep apnea dental appliance) will help TMJ issues, as that's not how it was explained to me by my dentist.
Also do you have any tips for a new user of the dental appliance?
Thank you in advance,
