Tmj? - Carthage,MO

TMJ stands for Temporomandibular Joint (Disorder or Syndrome)'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporomandibular_joint_diso...

I have it. I grind my teeth at night, and clench my jaw during the day. The dentist made me a night guard, and it helps. Symptoms are clicking, locking, jaw pain, headaches, and wearing of my teeth.

I do. Cracking jaw, sometimes it gets stuck, and I have to pry it apart, can make eating difficult. The weird thing is that part seems to come and go. Headaches, some upper back pain, gum loss which causes sensitive teeth, wearing down on some teeth, sore jaws, clicking/locking at the jaw joint... all symptoms. My dentist wants me to get an occlusal gaurd (night guard) that should help to stop night grinding/clenching. My bone is already deteriorating, I'm a likely candidate for jaw surgery in the next 15 years or so. Which is a horrible experience, my relative went through it.

Great info here, including how you can help alleviate it:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tmj-disorders/DS00355

I have had this some before but it became way worse after I had a whip lash, which throws your jaw forward. That plus arthritis, etc. has made it way worse. I have tenderness and soreness in front of my ear at the joint and sometimes it makes me hear sounds in my ear. I have dizziness off and on which they think is caused from this somewhat. My jaws lock some, I have to push my jaw back at times to make it 'click' in the 'right' place. My bite feels off with my teeth more so at times than others. I can't yawn too well without popping. I notice on days when I'm more tense or when my arthritis is worse the TMJ is much worse. It is not fun but you can live with it. I just find it worse when it causes headaches. I hope you don't have it but if you do you can try to relax more and not clench your jaws, get in a warm shower that may or may not help at times, take ibuprophen ( maybe not spelled right ). Don't chew gum at all. It make the joint tired and sore and you will have worse pain.

I suffer from it. I have all of the same symptoms others have listed. I wore a night guard for years that my dentist made me, it helped for several years. I'm not sure what happened but it suddenly quit working, my symptoms got more severe, I felt like I had ear infections all the time but it was from the TMJ. The symptoms were all on my left side. Dentist sent me to an orhtodontist who made me an appliance that fixed my bite because it was all out of whack, from there I got Invisalign braces which straightened out my teeth the rest of the way. The ortho also sent me to a physical therapist who I worked with for a couple of months. Everything was fine for a while but symptoms have been coming back for the last couple of months. This time they are on my right side. I have been seeing the PT twice a week and it has helped tremendously, but not completely. She is finding that the soreness I have is related to my spine and my pelvis and my right leg being ever so slightly shorter than my left leg - we're talking millimeters here. So I don't think it ever goes away, you just deal with it! Good luck!

me too lots of grinding an clenching. so far no locking. so maybe i don' t have true tmj. i have a night guard it probably helps but doesn't fix it.

Same as below, clicking, headaches, jaw pain, locking. Chiropractic helped me.

I suffered from it. My syptoms are excruciating earache pain, tightness in my jaw, barely being able to open my mouth to eat, jaw popping and headaches. My chiropractor helped me tremendously. I went from not being able to open my mouth more than an inch or so, to healed in 3 visits. I do go into the chiro every once in a while if I'm feeling tense, as I hold my tension in my jaws when I'm stressed, and he works all the pain right out. All my regular doctor and dentist wanted me to do was take Ibuprofen and get a $300 mouth guard.This is a more natural (and cheaper for me) remedy. My chiro is Dr. Kirk Iodice at Advanced Chiropractic and Rehab in Olathe. He is amazing!