Temporomandibular joint disorder relief?

booter

arran_m wrote: »

Thankyou for commenting,out of all of the symptoms of TMJ I fortunately dont grind my teeth.Ive heard of dentists offering plate guards (I think thats what they are called),so maybe you could ask your dentist or doctor about them?

My dentist told me to go to a local sports store and get a boxers gum shield kit - apparently you mould them to your own bite. He told me it did the same job but I've not tried it yet.

blah11

I used to get this really bad and still do sometimes but I've learned to control it quite well.

- no opening your mouth really wide like biting an apple
- no clenching your jaw
- no grinding teeth
- no excessive chewing (like gum)

I actually got my wisdom teeth out and thought the pain was just the teeth but it wasn't, at my preop appointment they discovered my jaw was spasming really quite badly. I got the electric therapy thing which helped quite a lot (I went once a week for about 2 months) and a plate guard too to stop me grinding in my sleep.

It's going to be a lifelong thing as its how I deal with stress but if I feel myself clenching I half open my mouth and sort of let my jaw hang lose for 5-10 secs and repeat a couple of times and it usually relaxes it.

Mayflower10cat

jugglebug wrote: »

Oh and the exercises mentioned elsewhere are useful though, as long as they are the ones I am thinking of.
Basically resistance to force. So pushing in one direction with your jaw whilst pushing back with your hand so the jaw doesn't actually move.
Difficult to describe them all. I usually demonstrate them in surgery.

Yes, they're exactly the ones I was shown. Very gentle but they have helped me.

penguin83

I suffer with this too. My jaw tends to lock randomly which is fun after a trip to the dentist and I can't close my mouth! My consultant showed me how to massage/manipulate my jaw so that it unlocks and how to support my jaw when yawning so it doesn't lock. Other than that I have some heavy duty painkillers for when it gets really bad. xx