Temporomandibular Joint Disorder gots me down

[flakatl]

i woke up in the middle of the night - feeling like i got hit in the jaw by a 2x4 - with severe pain in my jaw and the oddest accompanying sensation...i can't feel my teeth.

these teeth:

Comments

[kriserific]

TMJD is so weird like that. I got it super bad, where all of the sudden one day my ear would pop and crackle and I could barely hear out of it. I waited 2 months and it never got better. I thought I had an ear infection that was rotting out my ear or some shit. So I finally went to the ear/nose/throat doctor and he figured it out in like 2 seconds that it was TMJD. I guess there is a just a breaking point.

If you go to the doc, they will basically just give you pain relievers and ask if you want to be referred to a physical therapist. I used cognitive-behavioral relaxation techniques and stopped chewing gum (temporarily) that made it go away after about 6 months, but I was also in a class for CBT so I was only disciplined about it because of that.

You're covered on my dental plan as of oct 1 as well. They have some weird splints and shit they can try but those look nasty. They also try to con you into buying a night guard for $400.

It's tricky. And stopping chewing gum is not an option?

[flakatl]

i can probably get by without gum - but it's not going to be a walk in the park. it really curbs the nic fits.

and i had some popping symptoms of TMJD when i was a kid and the doc i saw gave some isometric exercises for the jaw that i still remember that helped me at the time. i think i'll try that before a $400 night guard and "weird splints and shit".

that sounds like some medieval torture shit. not going there.

[kriserific]

The exercises are probably your best bet. Physical therapy for that would not be intensive, maybe it is worth going to a E/N/T doctor and seeing what they say. Just waiting til oct 1 so it is mostly free :)

[flakatl]

i'm in no rush to go to the doc. you know how much i love going to the doctor.

it only hurts when my heart beats and since i can't chew anything - i'm fucking starving.

but i'll live.

maybe i'll have some soup.

invisible noms equals epic toothaches...

[oversaturation]

ouch. my mom has a nightguard to keep her from grinding her teeth badly...kind of like a retainer? maybe a dentist could recommend something?

[yerktoader]

I used to get TMJ-ish shit when I was a teenager - teh suxors. But my shit was all because of serious oral fixation....yeah, I know I'm seriously opening the door on that one.

used to chew a LOT of shit. hard plastic, gum, nails. i used to love chewing gum with ice so the gum would get extra hard. took me a long time to stop the nails, but everything else I quit a long time ago. when I was doing it a lot - primarily because my mom was harping on me about TMJ...and how all the chewing and jaw popping would come back to haunt me.

dunno if that fits for you. I also have been diagnosed as a night grinder because of damage on my teeth, and I don't grind during the day. navy dental was going to give me a nightguard but it never happened. they said it was pretty important for me to get one because of the damage I'm doing at night...

[ext_124467]

My worst issue by far was grinding my teeth at night. I tried the $600 guard they molded to my teeth at the dentist. Cracked it in a week. So they replaced it with a thicker one. Cracked it in two. Needless to say my jaw was on fire during the days.

The best thing I found was consistent rotation of heat and icing. Anything less wouldn't do it for me. And chewing was bad, soft foods AND NO GUM, you're only making it worse.

[yumeko46]

The isometric exercises work like a charm. Not against numbness though. My jaw has popped for 20 years now. It was unbearable, the ENT doc suggested that before surgery and it has worked ever since. call me if you want me to tell you the procedure. again, it doesnt help against numbness , at least in my case.