TMJ Support Group

For the immediate, you should do as much as possible to rest your jaw. Go on a very soft diet for a few weeks, oatmeal, soups,etc. Avoid clenching during the day and any extreme jaw movements like opening wide to check the pain. Use hot compresses, as well as ice, a few times throughout the day, and try to avoid talking alot too for a while(believe me i know how inconvenient this all sounds). For now, take anti-inflammatories, such as advil and aleve as much as needed, even daily. More than likely you are clenching and grinding your teeth in your sleep, which is exacerbating and perpetuating the pain and trauma to your jaw. The clenching at night is like running track daily on a broken ankle, it never gets a chance to heal, and the more pain leads to more clenching..If your under alot of stress, do everything in your power to get away from what or whoever is causing it. Trying to relax before going to sleep is very helpful. If things don't get better after a couple weeks of doing all these conservative things religiously, you may need to see a specialist for a splint to wear at night. An NTI device is a good place to start because it will diagnose whether or not clenching is what is going on, and it's very effective and not expensive. www.headacheprevention.com And above all, do your best to relax and not let the pain frustrate you at this point. Be well.

Thank you so much for all your recommendations! I really appreciate it.

HI--What other symptoms do you have? How did it all start you think? Tmjd treatment is complicated, depending on the severity and the individual case. It sounds like you need to find yourself an excellent tmj specialist, and get a thorough exam and x-rays of your joints to see what condition you are in, and at the least, get a nightguard to wear, usually a full arch lower splint to take the load off your joints and see if you have any improvement. Usually in some cases just increasing the vertical dimension makes a huge difference. Look on these associations and see if anyone in your area belongs to these: 1. American Academy of craniofacial pain
2. American Academy of Orofacial pain
3. Amnerican association of Functional Jaw Orthodonists
Cross reference these associations and see who in your area comes up on at least 2 of them. Good Luck--J.

I know for me it was hard to train myself to keep my jaws unclenched, but I had to learn to not place my tongue on the roof of my mouth, cause the moment I did,, I would start to form a suction and then I would clench my teeth. the hot compresses are good.. and I used to rub an analgesic linament into my jaw joint around the ears and over my temple... sometimes the menthol would make my eyes water,, but it really helped with the pain and inflamation without messing up my stomach from NSAIDs.. another thing I use is massage... outside and inside the joint... do this after a heat treatment... and only stretch till you feel pain, pull back if it hurts... It took a while but the pain did eventually subside.... sometimes the pain in your teeth are from different nerves being pinched.... The Trigeminal nerves are sometimes affected from stress in the back of your scalp, after my last car accident I had lots of pain in my head.. but the pain that would shoot into my teeth and jaw were terrible. I used heat and massage for that also... I did also try a TNS machine along the nerve path it helps too. Now that I have it mostly under control,, I am careful to keep my B vitamins up so that I can deel with stress and do self checks to see if I am holding my breath, or clenching my teeth.... when I feel the tension rising... I take a few moments and do some deep breathing exercises... they are very good for relaxing you.... you can learn to do this thru any yoga site on the web... youtube probably has videos you can watch as well. but it is the one main thing that most practicioners recommend for stress release.... Breathe.... real deep from your belly and push it out as far as you can ... then progress to holding it in between.... the extra oxygen going to your tissues will help to heal alot of what is causing you pain. : ) Rachel

What excellent information everyone has given you, The only thing I can add is to get a down pillow, they are expensive but it takes the pressure off your face and neck.

I hae learned more on this site than from any doctor I have seen. Way to go everyone!

Thank you all for the great advice! You will never know how much I appreciate it!

I go to a chiropractor to adjust my jaw and rub it. It hurts like hell during the treatment, but feels much better after. Seh tells me to heat and not ice it b/c ice will make it tense up more. I also rub the joint from the inside with my finger. I got a night guard and that helps. Even if you don't grind your teeth, it seems to lengthen the muscle and give me more to work with. I hope you feel better soon.

I had painless-TMJ too, which I chose not to treat. Then one day it suddenly started becoming unbearable to chew on my right side. I went to a TMJ specialist and he put me on weekly rounds of 1h sessions of heat pack + electro stimulation. That seemed to make the pain go away. Though, of course, I can't be certain it wouldn't have gone away on its own.

I'm also now wearing one of these: http://images.google.com/images?hl... It helps keep the popping down, though it still doesn't feel quite right.

The pain hasn't come back.

Good luck,
-Patrick