About ten days ago my jaw started to hurt. I thought I had an impacted wisdom tooth, but when I went to the dentist it turns out that I don't have a wisdom tooth on that side at all. He diagnosed it as a slight case of TMJ. Well that slight case has escalated over the past five days to down-right severe. Has anyone ever had this? I can hardly open my mouth and eating is nearly impossible. I am off to an oral surgeon (apparently the specialist to see for TMJ) at 1pm today. I'd love any advice on how to deal with this from anyone out there who has gone through this. Thanks so much.
This is apparently the muscle that is causing all the pain (I'm beyond calling it discomfort).
Ok...on to more exciting business.
All this week,
Swoon Style and Home, will be hosting their Mid-Summer Swoon series. I will be doing a guest post over there on Wednesday. Come check out what some of your favorite bloggers are swooning over this summer. Hope to see you there!
-Judy
Oh, I'm so sorry Judy! I suffer from TMJ also and know how painful it can be. It really contributes to my migraines too so I totally feel for you my friend and pray you get some relief soon!
ReplyDeleteVanessa
I've had the same problem. Mind was caused by stress (I was in college and planning my wedding), which caused me to grind my teeth in my sleep. You can get a mouth guard to help with that. I hope you find the right avenue for relief.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any knowledge of TMJ, Judy, but I hope you are feeling better soon and they can help. I'm curious as to how this comes on ~ is it a stress thing?
ReplyDeleteWhen I had it, the dentist had me eat soft foods only for a month, and I applied hot, moist heat regularly. (A lot of times I would just have a cup of peppermint tea and put the warm cup up where my jaw was.) I also became more conscious of relaxing my jaw and found that I often clenched my teeth.
ReplyDeleteI have not been troubled with it since I started retraining myself to keep a loose jaw, and I would be reluctant to do anything invasive until I had exhausted everything else. (There are even oral devices you can wear at night to keep you from clenching your teeth while asleep.)
Good luck!
=)
I am so sorry to hear it, how absolutely awful.I hope somehow you can get to be pain-free!!Thinking of you and praying this will be a thing of the past soon and will be resolved.
ReplyDeleteXOXO
Bea
Ugh! I'm sorry to hear that about your poor jaw! I hope you feel better soon. Thanks so much for the shout-out to our blog, especially since you're feeling so lousy!
ReplyDelete-Shanna
Judy - I'm so sorry to hear about your tmj. I hope the oral surgeon can provide some relief.
ReplyDeleteI was diagnosed with a mild-ish case at about 18 (I'm 30+ now). At the time, my mom worked for an amazing group of Oral Surgeons in Seattle who did my treatment. I didn't require any surgery (thankfully) however I did have to be sedated once because my jaw had locked shut (finals time in college). I get migraines often - some of which can be attributed to TMJ.
ReplyDeleteI clench at night, so a good night guard is a huge plus (I have one my dentist made me, much better than the drugstore kind). Chewing sugar-free gum is a nice 'excersize' for my jaw. The sugar kind siezes up on me and actually hurts.
The worst for me is going in for any routine dental work - cleanings/fillings. Having my mouth open for any length of time is excruitiating. I find that a general dentist who has Nitrous Oxide is a must for me. It relaxes me and my jaw for the duration of the exam and it hurts less after. If I know I'm getting anything more than a cleaning, I take Tylenol before the visit (I'm allergic to aspirin/ibuprophen).
One tip my mom had for me was to take a decent sip of hot water/diluted tea (as hot as is comfortable to you) and swish it gently around inside your mouth in addition to the moist heat or ice packs on the outside.