Good Morning, My daughter is currently suffering with this. Any first person ideas would be great. She has already been to several MDs. Hille
I hurt terribly from TMJ for years until my dentist (bless his heart -- he'd gone to a TMJ conference) told me a stupid little trick that has really worked wonders. I do want to say that it was so stupid I felt like Namaan dunking in the river -- but I did it and am so glad I did. When you go to sleep, press the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. -- not with any kind of force -- just rest it there. It provides a little leverage that keeps your jaws from clenching. It doesn't work right away -- it takes time. Do it during the day -- every time you think about it. Keep taking whatever med the doc recommended, but eventually, it becomes habit. Now, if my jaw gets tight, thats the first thing I check, and usually, that's what I need to do. I threw my mouthguard away a while after I started this. Good Luck.
Is she under stress? During law school I got TMJ so bad I was grinding my teeth down at night. My jaw would occasionally lock. But I forced myself to relax, kept the thought on my mind constantly: "Keep that jaw relaxed, keep that jaw relaxed" and it got much better. I still technically have TMJ, my jaw's still misaligned and pops when I open it wide, but I just don't open it wide much anymore and it almost never hurts.
TMJ Hi. I speak from first hand about TMJ. I have had it in my right jaw for over twenty years. In my opinion, it happened when I had my impacted wisdom teeth removed. I had never had any problems before that. Shortly after surgery, the symptoms worsened over time. I ended up going back to the oral surgeon. He sent me to PT. They had me to do some oral exercises. One of that was mentioned in another post to put your tongue to the roof of your mouth. It helps some but depends on the degree of TMJ one has. I noticed that when I get overwhelmed or have anxiety the symptoms worsen remarkably. Sometimes I feel like getting a sledge hammer and banging the darned area. Warm cloths, tylenol combined with ibubrofen has worked with me to some extent. I have a couple of friends who have TMJ. They take hydrocodone for it. I had a splint to wear at night. It made my situation worse so I tossed it. The oral surgeon did endoscopic surgery on the jaw. He said it was really bad. He scraped the joint out. He also said I have osteoarthritis started in the joint. Next surgery he said would be to cut around my ear, peel back the side of my face, take a piece of cartiledge from my ear and make a new disc for the joint. He said that there is a risk of cutting a major nerve in the face and if that happened it would affect the face muscles making me appear to have had a stroke. So, needless to say, that "aint" going to happen. I will just have to live with the pain for now. Heat and massage of the area works best for me. I will definetly keep your daughter in prayer. TMJ pain is no fun at all. Any of you that saw Liar Liar when he beat himself up in the bathroom, that is the way it makes me feel. It is awful.
Found some help Hi, We found a massage therapist who works with a local MD who does alternative medical therapies. This has helped the situation. Thanks for all the ideas. Hille
