Hi leesal,

What do you mean by this? .... "The TMJ was the result of my accident". What happened to your TMJ? Did you have surgery on the TMJ? Do you have arthritis or crepitus of the TMJ? Did you have a fractured jaw, if so were you wired shut? If you do not have a clear diagnosis of the problems with your TMJ, then any dentistry you do to re align your bite may not work and may put you into a worse occlusion resulting in muscles spasms, etc.

A flipper or partial denture with clasps is not a permanent restoration. It is a removable one. A permanent restoration is one that is glued in place, like a bridge or a crown and not removable by the patient.

You asked for my opinion... I am not in favor of lengthening or opening the bite due to TMJ issues or any other restorative dental work to re align the bite until the TMJ is properly evaluated and the problems are diagnosed. Aggressive dentistry like crowns, veneers, bridges.... are irreversible restorations and not without risks of infection, injury and possible tooth loss. So irrelevant of the cost, although it is SO outrageously expensive, you just need to be so careful about putting yourself through all the work and trauma and with no guarantee that the outcome will be beneficial.

Unfortunately it can be difficult to find someone really competent in treating TMJ. Some dentists call themselves TMJ experts but really aren't and their idea of treatment is to build up the bite.

Most of the time, non invasive treatment for TMJ disorders have better outcomes. In your case you have dental issues along with the TMJ so you may find that you have to treat the two issues with 2 different practitioners. A dentist who treats you conservatively and someone else who physically works with the TMJ and other muscles. Both of these people would need to be in communication with each other so neither messes up what the other one is doing.

Here is one link that offers good information on TMJ. Perhaps you can contact them about locating a practitioner and/or a dentist in your area.... http://www.tmj.org/