TMJ question

[Grace&Violets]

Does anyone know of a way to treat TMJ or TMD? I first experienced problems with this about 10 years ago, but in the last few weeks, the problem is getting really bad. It is starting to affect my hearing in my right ear and I feel so much pain in my right jaw, side of face and up into my head and ear. I found a dentist in my area that claims to be able to treat it by correcting your bite without surgery. His website says that they can give you mouth guard type things and do other non-invasive procedures to straighten it out. It is a 3-4 step process and I'm sure is very costly. I plan on trying to get a quote this week.

 

But, if there is a way to treat this naturally or without having special mouth pieces made to straighten out my bite, I would try it first. I've been doing mouth exercises that a chiropractor gave me a year ago, and it helps a little temporarily. But only very temporarily. The worse this gets, the less I can eat or even talk.

 

TIA!!

G&V

[Violet]

I have been through the TMJ problem. You need to get your bite adjusted by either the mouth guard or braces, depending upon the source of your problem. Surgery is not usually needed, or used as a last resort.

It took me several years of treatment to get it pretty much resolved. I still have problems if I am under stress.

It can affect your hearing. I have constant ringing in my ear and some hearing loss from it. Plus, it can hurt your neck, shoulders, and spine if you don't have it treated properly.

I know of no other natural thing that is permanent. It can only give you some temporary relief. Most often it is caused my your bite not being aligned right.

Good luck. I do sympathize with you as I know how terrible the pain can be.

Also, if you are in pain, take a pencil and hold it between your teeth for about 20 min. to help take some of the pressure off your jaw. You may drool a bit, but that is OK.

[JCK88]

Some years back, my dentist showed me a trick to train myself from clenching my teeth and to take the pressure off the TMJ muscles. It has helped me avoid other measures thus far. What you do is when you catch yourself clenching your jaw, you instead take the tip of your tongue and press it as hard as you can on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. It's strange, but doing that help me retrain my mouth from grinding the teeth.

However yours sounds like it is very advanced. It's true that the tongue pressure thing is a temporary relief, but it does provide some.

I hope you can get some relief--or if needed, surgery to end that pain. Good luck.

[BasketLady]

My dentist also recommended pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. It's almost impossible to clench in this position.

 

I'm in braces right now to correct my bite. I've been grinding and clenching for years and it was causing me headaches, early TMJ symptoms and wearing down my molars, making me more susceptible to tooth decay and loss. By the time I started braces I'd had three molar root canals. Those three procedures plus the crowns cost more than my braces.

 

Another trick recommended by the orthodontist was to use a timer set for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, I check the tension in my jaw and push my tongue to the roof of my mouth. Keep resetting the timer - after a few days it will help you become aware of your jaw tension.

 

Best wishes for a good resolution.

[Grace&Violets]

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

BasketLady: Now that you mention it, my molars are really bad. I am getting crowns on two of them in the near future.

 

I'm definitely going to try that tongue on the roof of the mouth thing. Just sitting here trying it seems like it will work to make me stop clenching. Wednesdays seem to be the worst for me, because I am in college and my day on Wednesdays is from 8:00 am until 8:30 pm, with just a small break in the middle. It's such a stressful day for me. I just got home a few minutes ago and my TMJ is so painful.

 

I had an appointment with a dentist who specializes in TMJ problems and got an estimate of around $4250.00. Ouch. I have an appointment with another dentist next week for another estimate. If I'm going to pay that kind of money, I'm getting more that just one opinion!

 

Originally Posted By: Violet

It took me several years of treatment to get it pretty much resolved. I still have problems if I am under stress.

It can affect your hearing. I have constant ringing in my ear and some hearing loss from it. Plus, it can hurt your neck, shoulders, and spine if you don't have it treated properly.

I know of no other natural thing that is permanent. It can only give you some temporary relief. Most often it is caused my your bite not being aligned right.

 

I have the ringing in my ears, pain in the neck, back and shoulders too, plus my right arm falls asleep along with tingling in the right side of my face. The dentist said that those are all common TMJ symptoms. The latter two really freak me out the most.

[Violet]

I had my treatment about 15 years ago. It cost $1,800, but that was cheaper than anyone else since my dentist did it. The orthodontist was more expensive, basically twice that. The price you got would seem about right at todays prices.

You will need to have it done, though, so you can live without all the pain.

Best wishes to you. I do know just how debilitating the pain is.

 

[Grubby]

I had surgery to correct my TMJ when I was a teenager.

 

Try everything before getting the surgery! I now have

TNA and get numbing in different parts of my face.

 

I have had to go to pain management and had shots in

my face for the TNA. Not fun.

 

Good luck with getting some relief.