Hi, this post was just what I needed to read at this very moment. I have been scouring the internet all morning for success stories with mouthpieces. My 10 year old son just got a Gelb appliance yesterday and has been pretty uncomfortable and crying about it. I'm scared it won't work, I'm scared of further damaging him, I'm scared of messing up his jaw and bite and face, etc. I barely slept last night and have been just sick with worry.
He developed a throat clearing tic about 3 months ago, I could say that it came out of nowhere but when we really think about it there have been very slight tics every few months (only noticeable to my husband and I) since he was about 6 years old. This throat clearing tic then all of a sudden became noticeable to everybody. He had a hard time at school, soccer, with family and friends, even adults were turning to stare at him. He then started a snorting tic and a neck and back stretching tic. I took him to all sots of doctors but also started looking for alternative ways to help him and came across TMJ. I took him to a dentist in Virginia who ordered an MRI which confirmed TMJ and like I said he just got a Gelb mouthpiece for the bottom and will be getting an ALF appliance for the top. I do have to say that since starting some vitamins and especially magnesium his other tics mostly faded.
So again, my worry and anxiety is not only that it won't work, its the fear of possibly causing irreversible damage to his bite or jaw placement or just something going wrong in general that will cause more issues than just this relatively mild tic. I came across an article that children should not wear a mouthpiece for more than 4-6 weeks to avoid seriously damaging consequences and my child is supposed to wear it for a year! My son has such high hopes in this working and puts all his trust in me. I have to put all my trust in the doctor, but if something goes wrong, how am I going to answer to my son? These are the thoughts that keep me up at night. Success stories with this treatment is hard to find. I'm glad it worked for your son and you've given me hope. Thank you!
