Roger Louis

The advice to send in a change of address is good. Tell your friend not to obsess over his problems, he could go as far as to call the reserve center that is the nearest to him and ask for advise. Most of the people that support the reserve are human will want what is best for him.

For your friend telll him to cut the card in half and mail it to the post where he was assigned.

Removing the results or delaying when a veteran can see the results appears to be another way for VA employees to hide from taking responsibility for the decisions or lack of decisions. While no one supports violence in the workplace I think it is necessary for examiners, report writers and decision make to face public review for their decisions. The veteran is the one with the right to privacy not the person making the decision. If the VA employee does not want to stand up and take responsibility for their decisions or recommendations they should find another job. That being said all of the VA employees that I am aware of are doing their best as professional employees. Both the VA employees and the veteran deserve a secure environment to provide or receive VA services.

By the way you can thank the last President Bush for the priority groups. That was one of his ways of reducing the budget for VA care.

Since my last comments concerning bruxism it appears that then there are some positive results. First,I was rated at 0% service connected for bruxism as secondary to TMJ and PTSD. My current ratting is 40%. Today I received authorization to see an oral surgeon for care at a non VA facility at VA expense. Apparently while the is no schedule for a rating for Bruxism that when secondary to another ratable condition bruxism according to the BVA becomes part of that condition. Please excuse my lack of procedural and law knowledge regarding the VA I just wanted to post this to suggest that anyone with issues with PTSD and bruxism seek care and a ratting from the VA. There is confusion by the VA staff and various people who advise veterans concerning who can receive dental care or be rated as service connected as a result of the damage to your teeth resulting from bruxism. The dentist who provided the exam was insistent even before he started the examination that my case did not qualify since the damage to my teeth was not a direct result of combat. He reflected his opinions in the report, however I was still rated service connected for the condition. While there is the VA dental insurance program which is a step in the right direction care for service connected conditions remains a responsibility of the Veteran health care system even if it is dental. The problem as often is the case is convincing others inside and out side of the Veterans health care system the VA's responsibility. I have a ways to go with my issues however I want to thank everyone who has provided comments. For me it is important to hear the comments that are not so positive and along with those that are positive, the not so positive comments point out issues that need to addressed and have made me try harder.

The following quote from the Veterans Affairs participation Guidelines for (VADip), Nov 1, 2013 "The VA Dental Insurance program (VADip) will offer veterans who are not eligible for VA Dental Care....." suggest that the insurance does no cover service connected issues. While 3K coverage for MetLife is a significant amount it will not begin to address the issues that Bruxism over a period of time can cause. The award was for Temporomandibular disorder (claimed as bruxism) at 0% which is not compensable. The dentist during the C&P said that I did not qualify for TMJ and that he did not think that I had a service connected dental condition or disability resulting from combat wounds or service trauma. Apparently based on recent VA guidance or the US Court of Veterans Appeals recent decisions which there are some the VA regional office disagreed with the Dentist and his staff or possible they thought that the condition further aggravated a medical condition. Not sure what an OP is but I am sure that I will learn, however I realize my limits as a layman. Depending on who interprets the CFR for the VA, and others. When the intent is to care for the veteran in my opinion the law is sufficient to allow the VA to cover as I understand has happen in the past veterans with many issues. In any even I want to again thank everyone for all of the excellent information posted which I am sure make my NOD and subsequent appear stronger.

I have tried 3 times to upload a copy of my award letter from the VA and have not been able to accomplish that. I am in the process of deterring what to say in the NOD and would like opinions based on the letter. Is there specific procedure for cutting an pasting or attaching a file to the forum. I have received a lot of excellent information from the forum and would like to find out the best way to quote the various laws and regulations based on everthing.

You all have provided some excellent responses to my original post. There is a lot of information to consider and I have been ask to put a copy of comments from VA online. Time permitting that will be posted later today or in the morning. I called the VA clinic that I normally go to for care and the dentist office could not provide me with an answer and referred me to the eligibility office, of course the person in that office was off today so a message was left. My goal is to get my dental work done but my comfort level with the VA dentist that conducted the C&P is not good. The civilian dentist is good however the cost for the work to be done is significant. Upon calling Delta Dental they said I was eligible for the new dental plan for Veterans however they only pay a limited amount. Additionaly there is the catch that they do not pay for anything that is service connected. As far as TMJ is concerned in my opinion the VA and the C&P examiner missed the point and that is that Bruxism is the concern and not TMJ. Additionally a NOD is in order and will be accomplished later this week. Thanks for the outstanding comments and if anything additional comes to mind let me know as that will contribute to my research.

First my intent with this posting is to ask a question concerning medical or dental care so if I started the topic in the wrong place please tell me how to start in the correct place. Today I received a letter from the VA Regional Office that said they decided that I have a service connection of 0% for Temporomandibular Disorder (Claimed As bruxism) which is associated with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) . My rating remained at 40% where it was prior to this claim and the decision. Of course I will submit a Notice of Disagreement for the entire claim. However the goal of my claim was not to increase the percentage it was to attempt to gain dental care from the VA. I am not sure that this decision provides for that care so if anyone has any suggestion I would welcome hearing them. This was a two part claim the first as mention was for Bruxism and the second was for Meniere's disease associated with sensorineural hearing loss. While I am rated at 0% for hearing loss and the VA has provided hearing aids the denied this portion of the claim stating the was not in my record to support the claim. I did receive a C&P examination for Bruxism however a decision was made concerning the claim for Meniere's disease base on a review of my file apparently since I did not receive a C&P. Both issues show up in the Ebenefits report of the review by the examiner even though I did not receive a C&P examination for Meniere's. One point of interest is the during the examination and in the written report if was evident that the dentist did not think that Bruxism would result from PTSD. Apparently the Regional VA office thought otherwise to some degree. I want to thank everyone for their service and support to this web site.

If your weight problem is sever talk with your VA health care provider and ask him or her what they recommend. There is time one of these drastic procedures are necessary and the medical staff at VA can advise you if you qualify and if it is recommended. The utlurnatives such as the VA's move program, nutura systems and weight watchers are in my opinion valid however you need to discuss with a health care professional. By all means if the recommend one of the two procedures you mentioned follow up with them as most professional will only recommend one of them if it is a last resorte and possible a life threatening situation. By the way a site that you migh find additional iformation concerning the procedure is webmd.com.

This is a request for advice. I am service conntected and rated at 40 percent. 30 percent is for PTSD, my dentist claims that my teeth are being damaged as a result of bruxism and willing to provide me with a letter state that. My question is it worth the trouble of askiing the VA to reopent my case and consider bruxism and if so what approach should I take. While I don't consider my PTSD to be serious enough to require the VA to appoint a fudicary I am concered that they might consider that as part of the process. Thanks in advance for your kind advice.

Please tell me how you check to see if the results of your physical for the national agent orange register have resulted in your name being added to the agent orange register. Also since I received the examination for the national register more than 10 years ago should I asked to take the examination again. Thank you.

For the last 4 months I have receive a letter froj the Department of Veterans Affiars, Health Eligibility Center in Georgia that says "Our records indicate that information used to establish your benefits of VA health care recently changed...." . Attached to the letter is a form for a ppeal the decision, the problem is that the form does not state why the decision was made or what caused a decision to be made. Additional the Uniques eligiblility factors and the percents have not change. My question is this a letter that is significant or is this just more VA paper work? I have always remained a Priority group 2 veteran.

Make sure that when and if you get a C&P for this that you are aware if the rinning in you ear comes from one ear or both. They will as this question and you should be aware of the correct answer for the question as it will impact on the results of the C&P.