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Dear Dr. Farole I just wanted to thank you sincerely for helping me FINALLY BEAT MY TMJ! If it can be at all helpful please share my story below with others that suffer with TMJ. If nothing else, I hope that it may at least give them some ray of hope. “Hope” was something that at one point I almost lost, until I met you. My Story: About two years ago, I noticed a slight pain in my right jaw when I ate just about anything. Overtime the pain got progressively worse to the point where I even started avoiding eating just to avoid the pain. Then the pain was there all the time… when I woke up, when I went to sleep, playing sports, or even just talking. My first medical advice came from my Dentist who fit me with a “night time bite plate”. We hoped that stopping my teeth from clenching and grinding during sleep would alleviate my jaw problems. At the same time I tried three different Chiropractors, all using various manipulation techniques including Electro Therapy. I also spent a ton of money on massage therapies. After months of Chiropractors & Massage Therapists, I really had enough! I started losing my mind and actually thought I was “Inspector Gadget” for a minute… I tried going to sleep with all kinds of different contraptions… Magnets, Creams, even Rubber Tubes in my mouth (or on my jaw) to try to relieve the pain. I even tried TMJ kits that came with “Jaw Exercisers” that looked like clothes pins with no success. I tried hanging upside down everyday just to get more blood to my head… (LOL) Needless to say, it was time to find a specialist. I was referred to an Oral Surgeon by my Family Doctor. After a couple of visits, the MRI came back and it’s official… I have TMJ… “Hey… thanks for the big update!” The Oral Surgeon told me that I now have only two options. The first was to go through “Invasive Jaw Surgery” which has a 50/50 chance of making things worse for me. The second option was to deal with pain like thousands of others do for the rest of my life. He then proceeded to offer me steroid injections and prescribed muscle relaxers to mask the pain….hmmm FUN! So now… not only did I have the pain, but I was half asleep most of the day (while trying to run my very demanding business). After a while it simply took more and more muscle relaxers to have the same effect on the Jaw. I was sometimes taking 6 pills instead of the 2 prescribed just to feel better (So now I’m a drug addict!). A couple of months later, after switching between different muscle relaxers, the BIG BREAK came! I went in to the Dentist for my regular cleaning and the Dentist (God bless him) passed on Dr. Farole’s phone number, which he got from another Oral Surgeon… and as they say… THE REST IS HISTORY and SO IS MY TMJ! (Almost a year later and I am feeling GREAT!) I visited Dr. Farole and after a couple of very informative consultations I was selected to have what’s called Arthroscopic TMJ Surgery. Now it’s important to note that the scary word “surgery” should not really apply here. The procedure was over within one hour. Some General anesthesia and a couple of stitches later it was over. After about 48 hours for healing, I was truly a NEW MAN! It reminded me of the Laser Eye Surgery I had a few years back… when I went to sleep with a bad set of eyes (and thick glasses) and woke up with a brand new set of eyes (except it felt like I had a new properly working Jaw this time!) From what I understand this procedure is considered “Non-Invasive” and is therefore much safer then “Real” invasive Jaw Surgery. And I believe Dr. Farole mentioned that he had an 94% success rate! Dr. Farole also teaches at Jefferson University Hospital and has written chapters in medical college textbooks about TMJ. Remember now… the three chiropractors, the one dentist, and the two oral surgeons I consulted with over an entire year, ALL DID NOT know about “Arthroscopic TMJ Surgery” and all advised me that “surgery” was not a good option for me. Well, I just think it’s a shame that I had to wait and suffer for so long because none of them were really aware of this procedure. I wonder how many others are NOW dealing with the same lack of information in the medical community that I was dealing with. TMJ is too common of a problem for Doctors not to know their patient’s options. I believe that Dr. Farole was truly a blessing for me and I am grateful to have been connected with him. I highly recommend that anyone with TMJ should at least contact Dr. Farole for a consultation. From what I understand, many Health Carriers do cover Dr. Farole’s Arthroscopic TMJ procedure. Thanks Dr. Farole & Good luck to those of you battling TMJ! Shai
Fishman
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