Introduction by Dr. Afzali

When I first met this wonderful patient of mine in our Lake Forest office, she was suffering from TMJ pain and an underbite. Additionally, she had difficulty hearing and speaking, which made her hard to understand. She’d seen other orthodontists, and they all recommended surgery, which she didn’t want to do.

After I evaluated her and let her know I could help her without surgery, she was fully on-board. In just three months from the start of treatment, there was major improvement in her TMJ symptoms and, after five months of treatment, she no longer had any problems with her TMJ. She was able to articulate better, and she told me her sister said she could understand her much better when they spoke on the phone. She also started to see improvement in her hearing and, by the end of her treatment, she was able to hear well. I feel tremendous satisfaction to have had the opportunity to help this beautiful individual.

From a technical perspective, the key point in this case was to reestablish the position of the upper and lower jaws. After restoring the occlusion into a functional bite, I knew we were close to healing the TMJ. The improvement in hearing was a fortunate side-effect of the treatment.