Klarinet Archive - Posting 000850.txt from 1998/03

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: TMJ
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 11:44:38 -0500

Shouryu Nohe wrote (regarding small jaws/large teeth):
> Of course, being a music major, I know absolutely JACK concerning medical
> science (other than the fact that my brain is MIA), but I must ask...if
> this is the cause of jaw pain, wouldn't it be plausible (albiet painful)
> to solve the problem by pulling the wisdom molars? I mean...wouldn't this
> be beneficial in the long run (musically and otherwise)?

Removing the wisdom teeth is almost invariably required in the
situation described (they tend to impact because there is nowhere
else to go). Unfortunately, the problem is usually that
the jaw is too small for the teeth even in the absence of the
wisdom teeth. It is not terribly uncommon to have to extract other
teeth (in addition to the wisdom teeth) under these circumstances,
although now they can do some things that encourage jaw growth in
specific circumstances.
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64124
email: dikarius@-----.EDU