Does anyone suffer from TMJ? Any tips on Coping?

Toothsmith

oopsadaisydoddle wrote: »

Well today is agony! Have alternated between paracetamol and ibuprofen and sat with my hot water bottle.

I'm also feeling pain in a tooth that I have a root filling in. It is on the the same side and in the same area as the muscle tension. I wonder if the TMJ has set the nerves off in that tooth again. It feels very tender!

My neck hurts too and does my face :-(...feeling a tad sorry for myself, if you can't tell!

Usually I jump in very quickly if mention of holding something warm against the face is made for tooth pains.

In this case I didn't, as I thought you might have been advised by your own dentist, and muscle/joint pain is one (and only) time it might be effective. I was worried however in case the diagnosis was wrong, and something else might have been causing the pain. Especially if you were just using the bottle off your own initiative, rather than because of proper advice from the dentist. I am more worried now that you are mentioning an old root filling in he painful area. There is always the chance that it might be a failing root filling that has given the problems, but not, as yet, been obvious to your dentist.

If a mouth/tooth/face pain is caused by an infection, then holding something warm against it will incubate the bugs and make them more active and make things 10 x worse.

If you've been holding a hot water bottle against it off your own bat, rather than because you've been advised to by the dentist - and things feel to be getting worse, then STOP!

Ring up your dentist tomorrow, and get seen ASAP.

oopsadaisydoddle

Toothsmith wrote: »

Usually I jump in very quickly if mention of holding something warm against the face is made for tooth pains.

In this case I didn't, as I thought you might have been advised by your own dentist, and muscle/joint pain is one (and only) time it might be effective. I was worried however in case the diagnosis was wrong, and something else might have been causing the pain. Especially if you were just using the bottle off your own initiative, rather than because of proper advice from the dentist. I am more worried now that you are mentioning an old root filling in he painful area. There is always the chance that it might be a failing root filling that has given the problems, but not, as yet, been obvious to your dentist.

If a mouth/tooth/face pain is caused by an infection, then holding something warm against it will incubate the bugs and make them more active and make things 10 x worse.

If you've been holding a hot water bottle against it off your own bat, rather than because you've been advised to by the dentist - and things feel to be getting worse, then STOP!

Ring up your dentist tomorrow, and get seen ASAP.

Thanks for that. My dentist did mention the hot water bottle but I hadn't mentioned the root filling when I saw her last week. This was because the tooth wasn't actually painful then. It was most definitely muscular then.

I shall see if I can get in again in the next day or 2.

sofababe

brook2jack wrote: »

Actually this is wrong. For most referrals to a NHS hospital for wisdom teeth removal NICE guidelines state that recurrent infections , or other pathology (something wrong with tooth or surrounding area) must be present. Only complex extractions aee referred to hospital.

However the vast majority of wisdom tooth extraction takes place in general practice where guidelines for extraction are the same as for any other tooth, and the extraction process is normally no more complicated than any other tooth and does not need general anaesthetic.

My wisdom teeth were growing along my gums and pushing my other teeth together, I now have very wonky front teeth at the bottom. Because there was no room for them to erupt I had to have my gums cut open and the teeth were broken into pieces with a chisel:eek: and then removed bit by bit. I was offered a general at the hospital but refused so the surgeon came to the practice and done it under local. My son had the same problem earlier this year and asked to have the procedure at the practice but was told that such a procedure is now only done in hospital under general, so that's what he had done.
I'm in Suffolk so guidelines may differ in other areas.

brook2jack

Since 2006 oral surgery eg wisdom teeth removal where bone etc needs to be removed has become a specialist service that has to be commisioned , so only practices that have a specialist contract or hospitals can carry out these complex extractions.

In most cases even so wisdom teeth can be removed under local anaesthetic. However sometimes due to the complexity of the proceedure a general anaesthetic has to be given.

However it is certainly not the case that all wisdom teeth need to be taken out with a general anaesthetic the vast majority are done under local in general practice but it depends on the complexity of the case.

alb1

I'm another TMJ sufferer, although mine has largely gone now.

I started experiencing pain after my brace was removed from my teeth when I was 16 (It started within days). I was originally treated as though it was a stress issue, although disagreed the whole time and have now found out that I was right.

I progressed from being treated with painkillers and exercise, to a soft mouth guard to wear at night, then all day too, and eventually ended up with a solid guard which I wore 23 hours a day. Just 3 days after I started using the solid guard I felt a large pop in my joint (this was almost 2 years after the pain started) and the cartilage which had a tendency to dislocate jumped back into place. The symptoms immediately reduced by about 90% and although another 7 years on I'm still not right, I can easily live with this.

The next option for me would have been surgery but my consultant was determined to do everything possible to avoid it and thankfully we found a solution.

I've since been diagnosed with hypermobility, which involves overly stretchy tendons and ligaments and completely explains why I have the problems

I know the pain of TMJ issues and I'm not entirely fixed, but I'm very happy to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel!

oopsadaisydoddle

alb1 wrote: »

I'm another TMJ sufferer, although mine has largely gone now.

I started experiencing pain after my brace was removed from my teeth when I was 16 (It started within days). I was originally treated as though it was a stress issue, although disagreed the whole time and have now found out that I was right.

I progressed from being treated with painkillers and exercise, to a soft mouth guard to wear at night, then all day too, and eventually ended up with a solid guard which I wore 23 hours a day. Just 3 days after I started using the solid guard I felt a large pop in my joint (this was almost 2 years after the pain started) and the cartilage which had a tendency to dislocate jumped back into place. The symptoms immediately reduced by about 90% and although another 7 years on I'm still not right, I can easily live with this.

The next option for me would have been surgery but my consultant was determined to do everything possible to avoid it and thankfully we found a solution.

I've since been diagnosed with hypermobility, which involves overly stretchy tendons and ligaments and completely explains why I have the problems

I know the pain of TMJ issues and I'm not entirely fixed, but I'm very happy to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Thanks for sharing your experience and am so glad you're feeling better for the most part.

I know that I suffer from stress from time to time and i imagine this won't help. I do think though that mine has probably deteriorated over the years because I can't remember the last time my jaw felt relaxed. I have constant pain - obviously some times are worse than others. Like I said in a PP, a dentist told me about 16 years ago that my jaw was misaligned then but I never thought much if it because I wasn't in pain back then.

I wonder if it has been a physical issue that has gradually been exacerbated by bouts of stress. I had a funny 'popping' sound in my ear yesterday and then I felt like I was pain free for an hour or so. Gradually came back though :-(. It was a really strange squelchy popping sound when it went that startled me!!