Dear Patient,
Welcome to our office. This practice is limited to oral facial pain, temporomandibular joint disorders, and oral devices for sleep apnea. We do no dentistry. For any of these problems, we like to know if you have ever worn any kind of mouth guard for a grinding problem, and if in the last five years a dentist has taken a panoramic radiograph (full view of the mouth where you stand in front of a machine that goes around your head ear to ear). If you have a guard please bring it with you for evaluation on your first visit. If you have had a panoramic radiograph, please obtain it or a copy and bring it with you to your first visit as well. If the x-ray was taken digitally, your dentist can email it to us at info@sleep-tmj.com. If you have not, our office can take this x-ray. If you have had any other type of imaging of the TMJ joints please bring it or at least a copy of the report. Sleep patients will need to obtain a copy of their initial polysomnogram (sleep study) to bring to their first visit.
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TMJ PATIENTS:
Your first visit is a 60 minute consultation and exam. The doctor will begin by listening to all your symptoms and complaints. If you bring a guard, he will evaluate its current usage. If you bring a radiograph, he will view it to examine the temporomandibular joints. Then a comprehensive examination of the head, neck, and face, will be performed. Afterwards, an opinion will be given regarding your problem and a treatment plan
FACIAL PAIN PATIENTS:
Your first visit is a 90 minute consultation and exam where the doctor will listen to all your symptoms and complaints. It is suggested that you bring with you a written history of your problem beginning with information related to when the problem started, what doctors you saw, what medications you tried, and what helped and what did not. Next, a comprehensive examination of the head, face, and neck will be preformed. After, the doctor will give you his opinion about your problem and a treatment plan.
SLEEP DISORDERS PATIENTS:
Your first visit is a 60 minute consultation. If you have any of the above problems, the doctor will begin as above, if not, he will start with an examination of the mouth and review of the panoramic radiograph to ensure that you are a candidate for the use of an oral appliance. He will review your sleep study. Next, he will discuss the various devices (there are over 70 FDA approved devices, and our office currently uses from six to ten) and explain to you how they work in connection to sleep apnea. Together you will decide in your case which is the best device for you. If you decide to go ahead with treatment, impressions are taken on this visit and sent to a lab. It takes about three weeks to get the oral device back. You will then come in for your second visit where you will be fitted and shown how to wear the device. After that there is one to approximately three follow-up visits depending on the patient. Once you are sleeping comfortably through the night utilizing the device (this can take two weeks to two months) you will be referred back to your sleep physician for another sleep study utilizing the device. We want to make sure that this oral device is taking care of the apnea.
APPOINTMENTS:
Once an appointment is set up we request you download and print the health history form and appropriate consent form. This will need to be completed and faxed to 301-530-8572, e-mailed, or brought to your first visit. It is extremely important to fully fill out these forms. We need the full names and mailing addresses of your physicians and dentists so our doctors can communicate with your doctors regarding the findings of your initial consultation. If you do not have internet access, we will mail these forms to you.