Finding the Write Fit
You may or may not recognize the actor Burt Reynolds who was a celebrity icon in the 20th century. If Smokey and the Bandit rings any bells, then you probably remember Burt Reynolds. A former high school and college football player, Burt often did his own stunts while making a movie. During the filming of City Heat, Burt was hit in the jaw with a metal chair while filming a fight scene. The stuntman who played the assailant grabbed the metal chair instead of grabbing the breakaway chair. Burt spent the next two years in agony with constant vertigo and difficulty chewing food. Searching for a diagnosis and cure, he saw forty doctors. He was diagnosed with temporomandibular disorder (aka TMJ dysfunction) which can cause pain in the jaw joint and the muscles that control jaw movement. The problem was figuring out how to fix it. Not much was known about the issue then, but basically he needed extensive reconstructive jaw surgery. Finding a doctor willing to undertake the surgery wasn’t ...