TMJ Disorder

Had my semi-annual dental cleaning this morning. For the past several months, I've been having trouble with bad pain along the left side of my neck, up into my jaw area and around my left ear. Migraines have started to center around that area, too. And it's going into my left shoulder. My ear closes over the smallest touch and it feels like it's really full, but I know there's nothing in the ear. It's been going on now for a few months. Comes and goes, for the most part, but now the pain is pretty much constant. I thought that maybe I had pulled something when I was lifting a dumbbell over my head. But it's back and in full force. The right side of my jaw is making crackling sounds, like plastic wrap being balled-up. I find myself opening my mouth really wide, just to give my jaw a rest....Rick says when I do that, he's waiting for my fangs to appear; I tell him he's been watching too many vampire shows. 

Classic TMJ, according to my dentist. I can't take any OTC pain meds or anything like that, so I'm kind of in a bind. Ice doesn't work; heat doesn't work.

He suggested a bite guard, so I'm heading into Target tonight to see what I can find. Hopefully I can fit it OK and can start wearing it to bed and we'll see if that helps at all. My dentist said it could take a few weeks before I start to see any kind of relief at all. He also suggested that I wear the guard on weekends when I'm home and we're not going to be out and about. I am a clencher and, although Rick says he's not heard me grinding my teeth lately, he knows that I have been doing it in my sleep. My dentist says a lot of this is stress-related.

Getting older is certainly not for the faint-hearted. 

I had a problem with TMJ years ago, so I empathize greatly.  It mysteriously went away on it's own finally but, was a problem for many months.  Utterly unbearable at times.  

Currently, I know I grind my teeth in my sleep, and I catch myself during daytime also when stressed.  I actually just broke a tooth (it fractured from the inside) and it needs a root canal.  The endodontist asked me if I grind, when I said I do he said that frequently it can lead to broken teeth.  

I had a couple of guards made by my prior dentist some time ago.  The first one, was too bulky and so, I never wore it.  Was like a giant hockey puck in my mouth.  Last year, I had him make up a new one from slimmer, lighter material.  However, I never liked the dentist and wound up switching to another practice.  Didn't even bother to p/u the guard (or my records for that matter); I just really didn't want to go back there.

A guard will help but if you can get it covered by your insurance, get it created by your dentist.  It will be made to order from an impression of your mouth, so it will fit way better.  Which means theoretically you'll use it.  Unless you're me of course.  In which case you won't 

sivyaleah said:

A guard will help but if you can get it covered by your insurance, get it created by your dentist.  It will be made to order from an impression of your mouth, so it will fit way better.  Which means theoretically you'll use it.  Unless you're me of course.  In which case you won't 

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^I agree. (Except for the not-using-it part.) 

I broke a healthy molar in two, from clenching at night, it is no fun to go through that. My dentist told me during the day we can bite about 90 lbs of pressure, but while we are asleep it can go up to 900 lbs while clenching!

I'm surprised your doctor is not having a guard made for you, you might want to push for that. The guard has to fit really well to be usable IMO. Mine is very thin and fits right against my teeth so it was easy to get used to. (Also, I have the motivation of not want to go through several surgeries again, and over a year of doctors visits for an implant.)

I hope your stress eases up soon! Adding pain like that to stress just doesn't help at all!

Every 5 years or so, I have to get a new mouth guard (aka night guard) made by the dentist. It is expensive, but it fits much more comfortably and lasts a lot longer than the ones you get at the store. They can make them in different materials. The first one I had was too hard/rigid, and it snapped right in half in my mouth the first night I wore it because I bit down so hard in my sleep. They had to make me one that was hard, but still a little flexible so that it had some give against the pressure.

I have been wearing one at night since I was 15 years old. If I didn't, I'd probably have no teeth left. I grind my teeth terribly at night. My current night guard already has holes in it from grinding. I suspect I have some mild TMJ.  My jaw cracks, too, and I get what I like to call "jaw headaches." It starts with pain in my jaw line and works its way up to my temple.

I used to have a dull headache 24/7. I would wake up with a headache, and through the day it would become less, but never gone.  My doctor did an CT of my brain, and everything was fine.

It was years later that one day I was at my dentist and he asked me about headaches.  Then he described my symptoms like he was a fly on the wall!  Then he told me that I grind my teeth.

He fit me with a night guard appliance for my upper teeth, and I've mostly been headache free. I still get the occasional migraine, but that's either from my eyes, or my neck.

I'm on my 4th night appliance already, and have to get another.  Mine has been adjusted a few times to accommodate a back filling, so it's a bit uncomfortable on one side.

If this bite guard works out fairly well, I'll spend the money and get fitted for a custom guard....Rick does have dental insurance, which will cover a little over half the cost. 

I do have an appt with a neurologist at a migraine clinic in a couple weeks to try to help with the migraine pain. Not being able to take OTC pain meds is throwing me for a loop a bit. My family doctor made this appt, thinking that anything we can do to help me manage pain is a good thing. When I get a bad headache, the pain will last for a couple of weeks.

I started describing my symptoms to my dentist yesterday and he said they were classic. TMJ to a T.  When I mentioned that the sound of plastic wrap crinkling was on my right side of my jaw, he finished my sentence for me, saying, "but all the pain is on your left side." I nodded my head and he said, "Yeah, that's normal. You definitely have some TMJ issues going on." So we'll see how things go. He is willing to do a custom guard for me, but wants to see if this one will work OK first.

I hope the guard gives you some relief! :cross: