Anybody else have TMJ problems?

[TechBoyJK]

OMG this stuff sucks.. I know there's like 100000 things that could cause suffering, so I'm glad I'm 'reasonably' healthy but it gets downright painful.

Your TM joint is your jaw joint. THere's a disc between your skull and your jaw that your jaw pivots on. If that gets out of alignment, or the tendon holding the disc in place gets weak or stretched that disc will throw out the entire motion of the jaw, causing clicking, grinding, or locking.

I've already had one surgery after my jaw would lock up daily. I'd have to crack it open. The surgery took care of the locking and made it ok for about 2 years but now it's back to grinding, etc. It's not locking, but when I open my mouth any more than 1/2" in cracks, and when I close it I feel it pop back into place.

What makes it hurt is that the TMJ is on the same nerve as your temple so you don't really feel the pain in your jaw, it's more like a headache.

Sucks. Anybody else deal with this?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

That sucks. I have issues with a lot of joints because most of my ligaments are loose (I can dislocate most of my joints without pain), but I seem to have been spared with my jaw.

 

[moshquerade]

That sucks. I have issues with a lot of joints because most of my ligaments are loose (I can dislocate most of my joints without pain), but I seem to have been spared with my jaw.

Are you tall?


Sorry to hear about your troubles OP. TMD sucks. : /

 

[TechBoyJK]

Are you tall?


Sorry to hear about your troubles OP. TMD sucks. : /

Thanks.. If you ever feel your jaw clicking, get it checked out asap. It's only going to get worse. Everytime your jaw clicks, it's stresses that tendon a bit, which makes it weaker. I let mine get so bad that it started locking up, and all of that basically destroyed that disc and tendon. My surgeon said my disc is only 60% of what it used to be.. it's from popping and knicking cartlidge off of it piece by piece..

Surgeon also said TMJ problems are the most common cause for misdiagnosed migraines since the pain is felt in a similar area.

 

[moshquerade]

Thanks.. If you ever feel your jaw clicking, get it checked out asap. It's only going to get worse. Everytime your jaw clicks, it's stresses that tendon a bit, which makes it weaker. I let mine get so bad that it started locking up, and all of that basically destroyed that disc and tendon. My surgeon said my disc is only 60% of what it used to be.. it's from popping and knicking cartlidge off of it piece by piece..

Surgeon also said TMJ problems are the most common cause for misdiagnosed migraines since the pain is felt in a similar area.

Very useful info to share. :thumbsup:

Also, if you have TMJ problems (TMD) don't chew gum. Don't ever open your mouth wide like to eat a sub/hoagie type sandwich, and yawning.... try to stifle those wide mouth yawns.

 

[nanette1985]

TMJ from rheumatoid arthritis. Fortunately no surgery so far, pain's a bitch though. There are times when I really want to open my jaw wide and I have to say no. Been ages since I had a really satisfying yawn .

 

[zinfamous]

Undiagnosed, but I'm pretty sure I have it.

I can make the popping sound with my jaw, at will; it will mildly dislocate or lock when eating hard or sticky things, like a crusty bread; ringing in ear, headaches, etc....

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Yeah my jaw pops

 

[Rage187]

My wife does, can't open her mouth more than 3/4 of an inch. Doctor wants to operate and scrape some of the scar tissue out through a hole near her ear.

It has been over 5 years since, you know. Man I miss those.

 

[CrazyAznDriver]

The left side of my jaw pops and cracks like mad and im pretty sure I can dislocate it if I want, though I don't want to find out... Luckily I haven't had it do anything painful yet. Had lots of headaches growing up though, not so much now.

 

[TechBoyJK]

My wife does, can't open her mouth more than 3/4 of an inch. Doctor wants to operate and scrape some of the scar tissue out through a hole near her ear.

It has been over 5 years since, you know. Man I miss those.

That's basically the surgery I had.. Small dot in front of the ear.. they get all the trash out.. flush it out, soak it with steroids, and pull the disc back into place.

 

[polarmystery]

I used to grind my teeth and have TMJ problems, but after I got braces that problem pretty much evaporated. Maybe your issue is teeth alignment related?

 

[yhelothar]

I've been getting cracks, grinds, and pops for quite a few years. It started as one solid pop when I started getting middle ear infections. This pop gave me a compulsion to keep popping my jaw. At first this pop was so loud that it was audible externally. Then when I had the middle ear infection fixed by getting a tube on my eardrum, the pop turned into a crushing grind.

I'm also betting mine has something to do with my teeth alignment. The canines on my right side has inverted positions, so instead of the bottom canine tucking beneath the top one, the top one tucks beneath the bottom one. So my entire jaw is shifted over to the right.

 

[TheVrolok]

Sure do, and it had gotten really bad the last few months. However, a week and a half ago I received some OMM from a DO and while it was incredibly painful at the time, the musculature around my TMJ has been significantly loosened and the amount of pain/discomfort relief I've had is shocking. Things aren't perfect, but I was very pleasantly surprised/impressed with the improvement after 30-40 minutes of treatment.

 

[Nik]

Girlfriends seem to cause this problem for me. My only prescription was to be single. It's working out nicely

 

[crab]

I developed locking problems white in the hospital after breaking my neck. Every morning I wake up and have to "crack" my jaw open before I can eat anything. It doesnt hurt even if it sounds like it should, and really isn't nuisance enough to have operated on.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Sure do, and it had gotten really bad the last few months. However, a week and a half ago I received some OMM from a DO and while it was incredibly painful at the time, the musculature around my TMJ has been significantly loosened and the amount of pain/discomfort relief I've had is shocking. Things aren't perfect, but I was very pleasantly surprised/impressed with the improvement after 30-40 minutes of treatment.

OMM?

 

[Mr. Lennon]

When I was a kid I used to crack my jaw all the time. Now I've noticed if I move my jaw to the far right it makes a small pop. I don't have any issues opening my mouth, but now you guys got me all worried.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Had it really bad. Saw a specialist who created a special mouth piece for me that I had to wear 24hrs/day that slowly repositioned my jaw. Now, I don't get the dizzy spells I would get when turning my head.

I don't believe it's curable without surgery but the odds of it being successful is very low and can make things worse. Note this was over ten years ago, don't know if better options have been developed.

 

[alkemyst]

This the same as dick suckers cramp? Can't say I have experience with it.

 

[TheVrolok]

OMM?

http://www.aacom.org/about/osteomed/pages/default.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathic_medicine_in_the_United_States

Basically, in the US DO's practice with the same rights/privileges as MDs and are often times indistinguishable as they share the same positions in specialties/administration, etc. However, DOs tend to be more focused in the primary care disciplines than MDs.

The training is also slightly different; both are 4 year programs with 2 years in lecture and 2 years in hands on training but the first 2 years have slightly different content orientations. MDs concentrate more on pathology, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, etc and DOs concentrate more on clinical medicine with less focus on the more "pure science" in this way DOs aren't as effectively training to do bench research but may be better trained to do clinical primary medicine.

In addition, DOs get training in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine which is, well, some parts massage therapy, some parts physical therapy, some parts chiropracty, and some parts sorta out there. It is not well respected by MDs for fairly valid reasons (lack of supporting data, clinical studies, hard science, etc.). However, I can tell you that my jaw hasn't felt this good in months and all the doc did was manipulate the musculature around the TMJ; no meds, no injections, no surgery.

 

[YoungGun21]

I used to grind my teeth and have TMJ problems, but after I got braces that problem pretty much evaporated. Maybe your issue is teeth alignment related?

Teeth alignment is VERY related. It basically determines how your mouth sits closed. I have slight TMJ, but I do think it was worse before my braces. I know I still grind my teeth at night as bad as ever though. I'll probably run into some jaw trouble when I'm older.

 

[Whisper]

I've had a "clicking" on the right TM joint for probably 7 or 8 years now. It's never locked, and I never actually have to pop or crack anything *knocks on wood* but it can get annoying.

I've noticed, though, that it's not nearly as bad when I eat; mostly only when I yawn, or just try to open my mouth to see where the popping occurs. If I shift my jaw to the left before opening, I can actually avoid the clicking altogether. Good times.

 

[CptObvious]

I've had TMJ issues for 5-10 years. Had orthognathic surgery last year (not specifically for this, but it was one of the issues). The cracking stopped on the right side but continues on the left. However going into the surgery, my surgeon pretty much told me that fixing that problem is pretty much a crapshot. Medical science isn't quite there yet when it comes to TMJ I guess.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Are you tall?

I'm not. Just 5'5. When I asked a doctor about it she said her first guess would be Marfan syndrome, but that since I wasn't tall it was unlikely. My guess is Ehler's-Danlos syndrome, but since there a whole host of other problems I've had to deal with I just really started trying to get help on random joint issues I have : (