the official diagnosis - I'm "internally deranged"

I went to see a doctor today (I'll call him Dr. M) because my dentist told me I have TMJ (it's causing pain and hearing issues in my right ear, difficulty sometimes chewing or opening my mouth, and apparently wreaking havoc on my back teeth so she suggested I go see someone).

I knew he was the right doctor for me when the first words out of his mouth were "wow, you have a REALLY big forehead". Later in the exam, Dr. M asked "why does your nose look weird????" (I broke it 3 times). Anyway, he said that the problem should be fixable with surgery because I have the kind of TMJ that can be helped with surgery (caused by trauma, when I broke my jaw in 2001), but he was afraid to suggest surgery because he didn't know what the doctor who originally fixed my jaw did to fix it. He is worried that the other doc used a teflon thing to repair the break and that teflon stuff is bad (I researched it and he's right). And the 2001 doc put in some screws which I was supposed to have taken out 6 months after the surgery...but I never did that. So I have some bone spurs that have grown over the screws that are contributing to the mis-alignment in my jaw.

So he had me see another doctor in his office for a second opinion and I have to go see a third doctor at the end of June. Dr. M said it's a simple problem to fix, potentially, if they can find out what the original surgeon did, but as it turns out, he's no longer practicing and I don't have a surgery report (I broke my jaw in a bike accident and was treated at the ER so it wasn't like a normal surgery where they give you a report after - luckily I kept the doctor's card). In the mean time I have physical therapy to do and potentially may have to wear a mouth guard that will keep me from closing my mouth (that's. just. great). I'm sure it will all get sorted, eventually.

I wish I had those "easy" medical problems to fix. This is like my zombie knee redux...