After about a week or two, I noticed I was biting down on some back teeth that I never bit down on. A dentist explained to me that this "eruption" was proof that my lower jaw was in fact moving forward slightly, which is one of the reasons I sought out this treatment in the first place. I have noticed, and a couple close friends have noticed as well, that my top row of teeth, while not completely straight yet, have ceased to appear shifted to the right side. They are now pointing down completely, and the orthodontic phase of this treatment hasn't even begun to take full effect by this point.
Also, one of the major complaints I had, tension on the right side of my jaw around the condyle area bordering on pain every now and then, has basically completely subsided. I haven't felt this tension in about a week, and it used to be the kind of thing I would notice at least once a day.
I will admit that upon being fitted with the SOMA, I was a little bit disappointed. While the few pictures I had seen of the SOMA made it look like some really sleek bit of dentistry, with no more of an appearance than a standard retainer (with some really cool looking orthodontic wire showing), mine actually came with a pretty bulky platform on the bottom of it that separated my teeth by what seems to be a few centimeters. As well, speech is difficult, but not impossible. When I first showed my friends my new appliance, and spoke with it, of course jokes were made (the lisping didn't help), but over time it just became normal to them (and to me).
The most interesting thing, beyond my subjective "this is how I feel" information is the measurements taken by an EMG machine. EMG is a measurement technique where the activity of the muscles is measured by electrodes either inserted into the muscle, or, as in my case, simply attached to the skin. At this particular dentist's office (Dr. Ray Behm of Clearwater, Florida, www.saveyourteeth.com) the muscles being measured were 1. Temporalis 2. Masseter 3. SCM 4. Digastric (both sides were measured). My EMG results without wearing the SOMA showed, per my memory, muscle activity 2-3 times higher than normal. As soon as I put in the SOMA, measurements were taken again, and all activity went down to normal or slightly below. When I obtain the JPEG files of these measurements I will post them for everyone to see how truly effective this technology is.
