My Wish Gone Bad

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Wish Gone Bad My New Year’s wish for 2008 was for something dramatic to happen to change my life. Usually my wishes never come true, but this wish came true one day later, a little differently than I had hoped for. I was eating lunch at school on the 2nd of January when I heard a pop and felt extreme pain in my jaw. I soon realized that I could not open my mouth wider than 3 centimeters. Several months and a couple procedures later, I still can not open my mouth wider than 3 centimeters. I have scheduled an arthroscopic surgery on the right side of my jaw for November 19, 2008. The surgery was scheduled by doctor request, but I am hesitant to go through with it because I have no knowledge of what will happen. I have many concerns and worries about this procedure which is why I did extensive research on TMJ syndrome, the arthroscopic procedure, the risks of having surgery to correct it, and alternate options to surgery. TMJ Most people are not familiar with the term TMJ, and according to Mayo Clinic Staff members ,their description of a TMJ disorder is “… tenderness and pain in the temporomandibular joint-the joint…where your lower jawbone meets your skull, the joint allows you to talk, chew, and yawn” (TMJ). About 5- 15% of people in the United States are very familiar with it because they are burdened with the disorder, and of that percentage, half are young to middle aged women (TMJ). It is very common for TMJ disorders to present themselves in multiple forms and everyone’s case is different. “Signs and symptoms of TMJ disorders may include: pain or tenderness of jaw, aching pain in and around, difficulty or discomfort chewing, aching facial pain, locking of joint, headache, and uncomfortable or uneven bite” (TMJ). Although my case is like most in the sense that I do not know the cause of my permanently locked jaw, there are proven causes of the disorder. “TMJ
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