Possible TMJ Disorder?

I also forgot to mention that I have an overjet and my teeth are severely crowded, I had braces for 1 year and a half and I didn't wear the retainer and now my teeth are back to their original position.

Hi Jonathan yes it's TMD OK! If your in the UK you will be referred to a maxfax a cinsulant who deals with mouths and jaw problems. If your double jointed please tell him. If not have you had any form of headaches or wisdom teeth problems. Don't worry I have had the lot! First if you are hypermobile I would avoid having your wisdom teeth taken out but if your jaw is very overcrowded this may be necessary. If the pain is worse you may have food trapped under the skin of the errupting wisdoms. My youngest has the same and both his present dentist and I feel wisdom teeth should be kept clean. If you can afford it I use a Braun electric toothbrush with the ultra soft head, unless you have gum disease you can switch the head to the normal one for the rest. The surgeon may send you for therapy! I have to say at 68 still with all but 3 teeth I was sceptical. However the physio does work. It's easy you can repeat it several times a day and I can definitely say after 4 weeks of the 6 week course my problems are no more! Good luck avoid tooth extraction if possible and 6 weeks of exercise your TMJ will be much better. Should it return just redo the exercises!🍀

I finally found out why I was having pain in my jaws and why my jaw was getting locked up when I yawned, it's due to bruxism (excessive clenching and grinding of the teeth), my dentist said to me if it doesn't improve by December 30th then he will make me a mouth gaurd/mouth splint.

Dr. Williams has done tmj surgery to my mother and she is really found relief after surgery.

i suffered for 17 months with tmjd. horrible pain. im finally out of it, ill tell you my opinion on what has worked for me and what has not.

-24hr bottom splint therapy ---- do not do!! crazy expensive and moves your jaw forward, a big not to do

-tens unit therapy while undergoing splint therapy----not necessary, was part of that expensive therapy

-chiropractic therapy----yes if they have available ultrasound, cold laser therapy, stem therapy and internal and external massage, no adjustment of the tmj, can make worse

-dry needling of the masseter muscle----yes yes yes! wish i did that from the start, a physiotherapist for the tmj can do this, not expensive and does not hurt, if you read that it does hurt dont pay attention to that, it doesnt. dry needling, after 2 sessions of it, i have not more issues, you do have to keep up with stretching excercises with heat, wear a hard mouthguard on the top of your teeth at bedtime and keep your teeth apart during the day.

i hope this helps you

hi jonathan.. was following your post (fellow tmj 'casualty' ..after 30 years of it i finally had an entire joint replacement in june) and i noticed kate9956 has posted lower down..  she's keeping quiet about it but she's started her own terrific thread called "what finally worked for my tmjd, please look!!".   highly recommend you go check.. i've already recommended it to 'michellebee', another lass dealing with the same issues.  it's well worth reading!

hope you make some progress with your situation, jonathan; chances are it's deal with it now or deal with worse later.. but one way or another be certain relief is out there and waiting for you to find it.

bad news is everything you describe is classic tmj disorder stuff ..and sadly 21 has nothing to do with it!   sucks, but it can come from so many causes and age usually has little or nothing to do with it.

it may well be to do with your teeth, but by no means necessarily.. only way to find out is a proper investigation.  it's clearly bothering you enough to be worthy of that.  then again, back to the old cry of "are you in the uk?" - we've got 'free' healthcare ('least, last time i looked we did) but if you're in the u.s....    ???

as well as other posts do also go check through some of the related info the site puts up right here.. it's surprisingly exhaustive and i found it all very helpful.

all best wishes,

jas.   

p.s. ..so glad it turned out you don't have that e.d.s. - sounds too grisly for words!  ;o)

 

I have to get a bite guard which I'm not looking forward to at all, I'm getting the impression on Monday and luckily it's free for me as I have a health certificate with covers me for full health costs, but a lot of people consider it to be very very uncomfortable, is it? And is it true that a bite guard can change your bite?

..nine days later ..how is it going jonathan?  you said you were being 'sized up' for a bite guard a week ago..  have they made it yet?  it'd be good if you keep us posted as to how you're getting on with it.

stay positive and give it a go.. i've twice spent time in something similar and that was 24/7 ..is yours to be a night only affair?  i used to call mine my titanium and plastic scaffolding, but really, neither was too bad.

as to changing your bite.. only if that's clinically what you need, for example to level a jaw that's slightly out of alignment but they'd have told you if it was that, i'm sure.. likely reason is to protect your tmj from the effects of grinding by putting a kind of soft buffer in there - protects your teeth too ..bonus!

good luck with it!