I had 2 splints total in 2019. My older sister’s friend was getting TMJ treatment here, so I went without really checking properly which place was good and just headed there first.
I can’t really say much about the level of expertise because I had no comparison. I wanted orthognathic surgery, but because my family opposed it (they said things like orthognathic surgery means death lol), I came here thinking I might as well get a consultation at least. At the time, I absolutely did not think the upper splint would fundamentally solve the discomfort from my malocclusion and TMJ disorder, and I didn’t understand why I was doing splints here instead of orthodontics and examinations for orthognathic surgery, and I talked about that too. But I was 20 at the time and just did what I was told, and in my family I had no decision-making power because of my own wishes, so the consultation kept going. The counselor also explained that there were beneficial aspects related to the splint and TMJ disorder in the military. The counselor was a woman, and my aunt and mom, who came with me, agreed with her and nodded along, so I ended up agreeing too and just said I’d do it. So it wasn’t a serious consultation. Please just take it lightly.
I’ll talk about my splint review. I had 2 total, ARS and CR. The ARS is a splint that makes the jaw move forward on its own when you close your mouth while sleeping, and the CR was a thick splint that prevents the teeth from touching when you close your mouth. The material was extremely hard, like plaster.
My conclusion is that both of them were completely unnecessary for me and I just wasted money and time. That’s because I sleep with my mouth open. The splint can’t do its job at all. Also, it was really uncomfortable when sleeping. It was hard to get used to. My TMJ disorder was caused by poor occlusion when chewing, which made force transmit to my jaw in a messed-up way.
For people like me who have TMJ disorder caused by a protruding jaw (skeletal malocclusion, or Class III malocclusion), I want to say this is not a fundamental treatment at all. My bite has been misaligned since my wisdom teeth came in, so I haven’t been able to wear the splints above for quite a while. And now, because of the misaligned bite, I keep getting sores on my tongue and inside my mouth, and even eating has become uncomfortable, so I feel like I can’t go on like this and am looking into orthognathic surgery.
There probably isn’t anyone with a setting like mine, but if there is, I hope this helps.