i have TMJ. it comes and goes sometimes for no reasons and sometimes because of stress. ill get it alot almost constantly for a 3-5 month period and then it will dissapear for a while. its actin up again and hasnt stopped all week. ive been having trouble sleeping and cant concentrate very well. any advice on how to get the pain to go away? i saw the doctor and the only way to fix it is to break my jaw so they can re-align it. i dont think its worth it so i cose to deal with it. the doctor told me to use alieve but it doesnt work one bit. ive tried motrin, tylonal, IB profin, just about all the OTC pain killers for joints and muscles. none work. any advice? i geuss i could ask for a perscription pain killer or something, but id rather not.
I have TMJ, too. Like yours, mine is stress induced. I spent a week in a beach town in Maine, and mine almost entirely went away. Since returning home, it's come back threefold. I'm trying to cut back of caffeine (it makes me anxious-->makes the stress worse) to see if that will help it. I personally love love love ibuprofen for it, but I guess it doesn't work for you. Hang in there, man.
Chiropractic treatment and massage therapy (ask if they do trigger point therapy for TMJ) helped my jaw issues considerably.
WHOA! that doc is a quack . That is the absolute last resort! No good doc would tell you to do that. I went through several TMJ treatments for almost 2 years before I finally got a very non-invasive arthroscopic surgery which helped only about 30% I'd say. It fixed the popping but the joint disc will never be in place again unless I do get open-joint surgery which is more hassle and risks then it's worth. I live with a very mild pain. Get an oral surgeon that will make you a night splint to wear to bed. You get used to it. I've been wearing mine for 1.5 years and it helps a lot. Tendency to grind teeth at night makes it worse. BEst wishes and good luck!!!
I work in a dental office that specializes in TMD (temporal mandibular joint disorder) I also have it myself, so I can relate the tmj is the most complicated joint in the body 1 cause it is 2 joints attached by the mandible so u hurt one and both are injured because they work together..2 because it rotates and translates . so it doesn't just roatate, but it slides forward to fully open the mouth... TMD doesn't go away. Once you have a "click" or a "pop" that means the disc that is attached to the condyle has come off, is free floating, that is why we hear noise. there is no way to attach it again as it once was at birth. some sort of accident or parafunction causees this(car accident, blow to the jaw, developmental issues, skeletal problems, occlusal problems(bite issues the way the teeth meet) or gridning or clenching of the teeth and even orthodontics*repositioning of the teeth)there are many options to treat tmj , one of which seems to work the best .... I wore a splint (a muscle deprogramming device) for 15 months 24-7 except while eating it fit on my lower jaw and was a life saver. this repositioned my condyle into the socket and recaptured the disc so that it cushions the bone correctly. after that my bite was extremly off-meaning i only hit a few teeth on one side. at that point my teeth were adjusted w/ a procedure called and equilibration .. basically it is reductive reshaping of the teeth to stablize the bite. and i now wear a specially design , articulated night guard to protect my teeth from parafunction at night NOT ALL NIGHT GUARDS AND SPLINTS ARE THE SAME THEY MUST BE ARTICULATED PROPERLY OR THEY ARE ONLY GOING TO MAKE YOU WORSE...and once u have tmd a night guard will not fix the problem.. i have lost 95 percent of my symptoms and my body has adaptivly healed since tmd is a life long process if i eat something that istoo chewy or crunch, or if i am super stressed symptoms can flare up again. so if i get a joint ache or headache i simply put my nightguard in for an hour and they go away! if a doctor or dentist tells u u have tmj , that dumb, it is like saying "yup you have a knee" everyone that is human has tmj's ... tmd is the disfunction, disorder, or disease process of the joint it is serious .. most doctors do not diagnosis this problem the bone can degenerate and marrow can disappear, the disc can be perferated and also disappear. this process is slow and painful. w/ out proper treatment this problem only worsens..even though it seems to be better at times, it NEVER goes away....rarely young people..and i mean young like 13 adapt..more women have this than men...if you hear grindy gravely noises that means bone on bone which means the joint can flatten .. and in some cases (the only cases requiring surgery OF ANY SORT other than orthonathinc(extreme overbites class II bites) the bone can flatten so much it colapses...meaning the bite is open..u hit 2 teeth in the back and the front teeth cannot meet.. at that point one cannot function any longer.... so needless to say tmd is real, and needs to be addressed.. the only dr. i would let touch my joint is a American equilibration society member and dentist. since the way the teeth meet is in direct relation to the joint other dr. cannot truely help w/ this disorder..they only take ur money. how bad is ur tmd? do u have headaches? ear symptoms face pain do u grind or clench hear noise i would say take an anti inflammitory such a IB or advil....it will help keep inflamation down..narcotics will only make u a drug addict...but they do help, but really just disguise the pain..i would say take IB daily .. keep it in ur system or it will not help.. try to find urself a good doctor that is a memeber or AES ... i can give u names of dentist near you if you private message me.... it is worth it .. i promise! i love helping people! diet is also key, avoid gum , limit crunchy things like ice, granola, even salads...steak, things that require a lot of chewing...research foods that are inflammitory foods..they will make symptoms worse don't ride roller coasters or do anything that jerks the body around exercise and build muscles in upper back and neck will help tremendously and not to mention REDUCE STRESS! do not protrude mandible...meaning stick it forward...let it fall back naturally into socket.. do not open wide w/ a laugh or yawn and do not move jaw side to side intentionally! good luck contact me if u wish.....
