Hi, my name is Terri. I just turned 40 years old on the 31st of August. I suffer from Chronic Pain
all over but the worst of my pain in on my face. On November 20th 2002 after 3 failed TMJ surgies to try and correct
severe damage caused by domestic abuse I had to have a Bilateral T...

Hi, my name is Terri. I just turned 40 years old on the 31st of August. I suffer from Chronic Pain
all over but the worst of my pain in on my face. On November 20th 2002 after 3 failed TMJ surgies to try and correct
severe damage caused by domestic abuse I had to have a Bilateral Total Joint Replacement of my Jaw. I take morphine pills and morphine lollipops for pain and will have to take these meds for the rest of my life. I was only 19 when I was in very seriously dangerous domestic abuse relationship with a man 16 years older then me.. One day while riding in a car with my abuser he sucker punched my jaw 3 time and I immediately felt my jaw break. Both discs popped out of place and he fractured my jaw bone. He knew broke my jaw and refused to take me to the hospital for fear of being arrested. My jaw was forced to heal on its own with no medical attention. Needless to say after 3 failed surgeries I got severe osteoarthritis and it destroyed all bone, I had no choice but to have the joint replacement surgery. I am in constant pain especially when I talk, eat, yawn, sing, you get the idea. With my jaw issues alone I am unable to find a doctor to treat me. Since taking the pain medication Actiq ALL of my teeth are destroyed. I had to have my left top and bottom teeth extracted, all my right top and bottom teeth are ALL BROKEN down the my gums,All of my broken teeth are beat red and very infected and swollen.. My front 4 top teeth are intact but wiggly, now for my bottom teeth are broken, and am missing 3 bottom front teeth because they broke. Every dentist that I have gone to have turned me away because of my jaw replacement. Not one of them has seen a tmj joint replacement before and are afraid of it. There is not much info on TMJ especially with TMJ Total Joint Replacement. I am inURGENT NEED of help. Not just cosmeticaly but my teeth are supposed to be the major support structure for my joint replacement and I am now afraid that my joint replacement will fail due to no support. I have been to EVERY DENTIST in my dental insurance plan NOT ONE WILL HELP ME!!! Please help me find someone to help my dental needs and so they can make sure my joint replacement is ok and will not fail anytime soon. I am suffering all of this because some uncaring bully decided to beat me on a daily basis. I have thouht about suicide and wish I would just go to sleep and never wake up. I cannot take the physical pain but most of all the emotional pain that I still see when I look in the mirror. I still see him screaming at the top of his lungs that I am not worthy of anything, ugly, stupid, I know it is going to take a long time to get rid of the emotional abuse, if ever but I should not have to suffer with this lingering pain he has caused me. I would like to know how many domestic abuse survivors are suffering with chronic pain both physically and emotionally. Please HELP me, I am literally DESPERATE at this point. I a not remarried, we just celebrated our 11 years marriage on August 20th and we have 2 little kids together, a boy, Casey age 10 and a girl, Hallie Bleu, age 8. It has been hard for them to see me live in my bedroom, I have lived in my room for 6 years now, since my traumatic jaw replacement surgery, now with my teeth I really do not want to go nowhere. I only go to important doctors appointments. This is a very desperate situation for me. I was a baby, only 19 years old when this happened how much more of my life do I have to suffer before a caring doctor will help me. I will be happy to send pictures or anything you want that can help you help me. Thank you very much, Terri M from Ohio

Hello, my name is Melissa C*, I am writing the events that lead up to my being on life support August 2007. On 8/14/07 I had an appointment with Todd A* to have 3 uncovered root canals removed. One of which he just did a few months before. This was all part of his plan to renew my teeth. I sig...

Hello, my name is Melissa C*, I am writing the events that lead up to my being on life support August 2007. On 8/14/07 I had an appointment with Todd A* to have 3 uncovered root canals removed. One of which he just did a few months before. This was all part of his plan to renew my teeth. I signed in, the dental assistant called me back, put me in the chair and we waited for the dentist to come in and numb me. He left the room and came back, asks me if I was numb and started to pull my teeth. He never ask me any thing about the constant coughing I was having he just would stop for a minute then continue. At one point one of the teeth fell down my throat and I guess he thought I was just coughing again, after he saw I was chocking the dental assistant looked down my throat, saw the tooth and suctioned it out. It seemed to be a long time, as they were laughing and it took a while to get their attention. I still can’t understand why they did not use a dental dam on me to protect me. They put gauze in my mouth and sent me on my way. The day before I went to see my internist DR W*, who had treated me for bronchitis about 3 weeks before, he did a chest exam and said I was clearing up well and did not need any more antibiotics, although I still had some what of a cough. He gave me one pain pill for my dentist appointment, which was pre approved by Todd A*.
After I left the office my boyfriend Gary F* drove me back home from Norcross GA to St.Simons Island where we had recently moved. I slept most of the way, and went to bed as soon as we got home. The next day I did not feel well, we went to lunch and I had Gary bring me home and then went to bed again. Gary asked me how I was and I told him I just wanted to take a nap. He wanted to go sit on the beach for a while so he got me to bed and said if I need anything to call him. He was only gone for maybe 15 minutes, when I called him crying, my whole body was shaking, and I felt so sick. I can’t remember what time it was but he finely talked me into going to the hospital. When we got to the hospital they said it would be at least a 4 hour wait, there was no way I could even sit up, much less for 4 hours. The nurse told us that most of the people there had the flu and that was probley what I had. So we left and stopped to get some Theraflu. I took it and went back to bed. About 2 or 3 am I crawled to the bathroom vomiting every where uncontrollable bowel movements and was laying in the floor very weak. Gary woke up, found me cleaned me up and rushed me back to the hospital. They wanted to put me on life support, I fought them, I did not want to go on life support as I have never seen anyone come off life support and I did not want to send my children through that trauma of making the choice to take me off and have to watch me die. I felt like I was going to die. After hours of asking for the form to sign to not go on life support the Dr. called my boyfriend and got his permission to put me on life support, I was drugged and was too weak to fight any more. So around 5 or 6 pm that night they put me on life support.Unfortunatly I remember almost everything. It has been 7 months now and I have still not regained my health. Every day is a challenge. I had septic, repertory failure, and streptococcus pneumonia (s pneumo), Due to the bacteria of the tooth going into my lungs as I was tiring to chock it up. If you need any more information please let me know.
Thank You, Melissa C*
Update: It has been 2 years now and I am still not feeling right.
My e mail is: deansmith7777@yahoo.com My phone # is ***-***-****

HELLO DOCS!!!
I had Breast cancer in 1991,,,(coloid carcanoma (type of thyroid ca) and Intraductal) Before this I had pretty good teeth, then after all the treatments and thankfully a long time of remission, my teeth have almost all died off. There isn't any pain really at all, th...

HELLO DOCS!!!
I had Breast cancer in 1991,,,(coloid carcanoma (type of thyroid ca) and Intraductal) Before this I had pretty good teeth, then after all the treatments and thankfully a long time of remission, my teeth have almost all died off. There isn't any pain really at all, they just turn dark and break off and are dead. I was told that in 91 when I had all the radiation etc, that it was a bit diffrent then and my teeth weren't even thought about and now they protect them better. Anyway,,is this true? and is that why my teeth have died and I hardly smile anymore, let alone can I afford to get them fixed. I was so fortunate to survive the cancer, and even tho I went thru menapause then (age 31) I got married again 10 years later and wham, had twins at 41!!! Little miracles themselves at 2 & 3# and perfectly normal and A students! I am now 51 and hardly ever smile,, as my teeth are so bad now.
I have found a trick that I do that is probably not the healthiest, but it helps my looks at school, church, anywhere,,I atually take fake finernails and cut them to fit the broken teeth and glue them on!!!!! I have told a few people and they thought I was crazy, but it bothers me and now its bothering my twins, and they feel bad it takes mommy so long to eat and If a fingernail/tooth falls off in public, I run to the john and glue it back on!!! I have had a few glues that have burned me and ripped some skin,,,imagine that! and I have to be reallly careful when I do it, I have glued my fingers to many times!!!
I wanted your opinion on the older radiation and tooth decay/dying teeth and also on how I am disguising it,,am I making it worse? or causing another problem?? ANy help out there??? I can not afford to get done what needs done and have no dental ins, I do have medicaid, but they dont help with teeth and I have some heart stents and I have heard that dental health is imparative to heart health also. Can you give me your opinions on this?? I know you will crack up at the fake fingernail thing, but when you get thru laughing,,,,let meknow the repercussions of it and the hearth health and of the past radiation. but hey,,it does make it looks so much better! Don/t try and eat an apple with them glued on tho!! haa
Julie Dunn
Royal, AR (Hot Springs National Park AR area where we also have no flouride in our water since it is so famous for its great water!!) I had gave the twins drops as babies to add flouride to their diet.

Would like to see Dr. Dorffman answer the question regarding silver filngs and merury ; is it safe or not. Would also like to see a question and answer segment for Dr. Dorffman. He is well like and does beautiful work.

Would like to see Dr. Dorffman answer the question regarding silver filngs and merury ; is it safe or not. Would also like to see a question and answer segment for Dr. Dorffman. He is well like and does beautiful work.

What is the best treatment for TMJ? Surgery or mouth guards? My daughter finished her undergraduate degree in 4 years with a double major and a minor and is currently in medical school. Our dentist said that TMJ is responsible for her headaches and ther eis a problem with the alignment of h...

What is the best treatment for TMJ? Surgery or mouth guards? My daughter finished her undergraduate degree in 4 years with a double major and a minor and is currently in medical school. Our dentist said that TMJ is responsible for her headaches and ther eis a problem with the alignment of her back teeth. Is that a result of TMJ. While in 12th grade she had her braces removed and her teeth were fine.

The reasons a child sucks their thumb. The effects on their dental development and ways to get them to stop.

The reasons a child sucks their thumb. The effects on their dental development and ways to get them to stop.