Temporomandibular joint pain in young woman

Young woman with TMJ pain

A young female patient with severe neuropathic pain in the right temporomandibular joint.

The problem started 7 years before, her being at her 23 years of age, with alternating pain in the left and right TMJ. For a period of three years there was an attempt to treat the problem with medication offered by a neurologist, and in particular with a combination of antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs, but to no avail. Next, she visited an oral surgeon who found anatomical abnormalities in the jaw and decided to proceed with a surgical operation. Hence, three surgeries took place in the period of the next two years (maxilla enlargement, mandible enlargement, graft and blades), however, with several complications. Followed, orthodontic treatment and bracing. In the next two years, the pain continues to worsen and she tries acupuncture without any success. Finally, she gets Bottox injections that provide temporary improvement but when their effect ends, the pain returns.

She comes to our clinic in a desperate and frustrated state. From the age of 23 to 30 she struggles with drugs and surgeries and despite improving, she gets even worse. She is a a well educated woman with many interests and activities but this problem prevents her normal functionality and thus causes her great uncertainty. The pain is rather permanent with violent attacks every week and is not suppressed by the excessive medication that she is under at the time.

We have performed extensive research and decided to combine prolotherapy and PRP treatments in order to address her condition. Seven combined prolotherapy treatments and one PRP treatment took place over a period of 10 months. All the treatments were performed under ultrasound guidance. The improvement of her condition started as early as in the first month and continued to improve with the progress of the treatments.

A year after the completion of her treatment plan she is not in pain and she is very pleased with the results.