There is no way to explain the emotional heart-wrenching pain we have endured over the past 17 years watching the life of our only daughter be devastated by the effects of her multiple TMJ and facial implants-implants needed to enable her to chew without excruciating pain so she could digest her food, receive nourishment-in short, to LIVE-not to be more beautiful (such as the majority of silicone breast implants who made a choice to enhance their figures). TMJ implant patients had no other choice if they wanted to survive!

Our daughter is a victim. We have come to find out that these implants were made of materials that never should have been used in the body. Maxillofacial surgeons, especially one, told us that these implants were safe and effective and would relieve the major part of her TMJ pain. Of course this did not happen. After her Vitek II total joint replacement surgery when her pain increased along with other symptoms, her surgeon refused to acknowledge that the TMJ and facial implants he had recommended could be the source of her pain, and eventually leading to many serious problems involving her immune system due to her pain, and eventually leading to many serious problems involving her immune system due to the failure of these implants, He said she was a "complainer," her problems were all "imagined," he lied to us (I found out later) when asked if the implants could be causing her symptoms. I will NEVER forgive him. If he had taken the time to really listen, to investigate, to remove the implants in a timely manner, I believe that her condition would not be so serious today. Fortunately, she is now under the care of doctors who understand the dangers of these implants. The implants are removed but the damage to her immune system is ever-present; she still has debilitating, never ending pain in her jaw, she has severe problems opening her mouth to chew and to swallow, she has cognitive, speech, visual and emotional problems, joint pain, etc. She spends most of her day in bed under strong pain medication to take the edge off the pain; she has been hospitalizes multiple times due to severe reactions to pain medication; she will have to have surgery soon to remove hypertrophic bone growth; and so it goes, an endless ordeal. She is disabled at age 32 and has no prospects of being able to earn a living or to resume her education. She is courageously dealing with her medical problems and is helping to get out information to others so they won't have to suffer the same consequences.

The financial and emotional toll on the family of any chronically ill person is enormous. Everyone is familiar with the financial problems involved and with battling insurance companies for coverage you were told you had and were repeatedly denied. I won't go into all the emotional tolls on the family, especially the caregiver who usually is the mother or spouse. Suffice it to say the caregiver is also the "buffer zone" between the family and the patient-always in the middle trying to provide love and support to all, to be everything to everybody. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. The caregiver has to acknowledge (no matter how difficult it is to do so) that he or she must have time for his or her own leisure and enjoyment, without feeling guilty! I can say this is very difficult to do. I see my daughter valiantly tackling her disease and its complications with an awe inspiring vengeance and facing each day with determination to survive. I see her push herself to the limit. I also see her try to understand that I need my freedom-but at the same time make demands on my time. I see my semi-retired husband trying to help out, to understand and console, to allow a little more time for me to be with her-but at the same time wanting me to be with him more, to travel, etc. I see my sons and their families trying to help out, to understand, to allow me time to be with her-but at the same time wanting my attention and wanting me to be with them. I have finally come to understand what someone has said- "if you don't take care of your own health, your needs, allow yourself the freedom from being the caregiver, you will inevitably run the risk of not being there for anyone when they desperately need you."

I want to urge that responsible research be undertaken to find safe, effective materials for TMJ and facial implants and that the NIH and FDA take leading roles in this endeavor; that the FDA re-evaluate their criteria for facial and TMJ implants; that TMJ disorders be unequivocally classified as a MEDICAL DISEASE; that insurance companies be pressured to cover the medical and surgical needs of TMJ patients; that funding for medical needs of TMJ patients be granted free of charge to TMJ and facial implant patients who have been wrongfully injured by these implants; that doctors be made aware of the dangers of these implants and that they be required to tell their patients of these dangers and the possible resulting medical problems; that doctors LISTEN to their patients complaints and not dismiss them as imagined and to realize that the pain and the symptoms are REAL; that legal avenues for lawsuits against malpractice and product liability be opened up for victims without time limits since most of the patients had no idea they were in danger!; and lastly that everyone involved work hand-in-hand to remedy this dreadful disaster.

Finally, on a note of fantasy-or justifiable revenge, I often feel that perhaps the only way to get the manufactures of these implants and the maxillofacial surgeons who used them to fully realize the extent of the damage done by these implants is to sentence them to have the implants placed in their faces, to endure the unrelenting pain, the mental and emotional abuse, the immune problems, etc, etc. Then maybe they could come to understand the hell-on-earth they have created for their victims.

Drawing by Karen