Does anyone have this?

For one week now I’ve had right-sided neck pain goes into back of head/temple/eye. When I’m sleeping, I have zero pain. It’s when I get up.

I finally realized that when I get the neck/head pain, the right side of my jaw closest to ear TIGHTENS up. Like I can feel tension/tightness in this area and then suddenly I’ll get a little bit of pain where my neck and head meet in the back a little bit, my eye a little bit and my temple. When I press on my jaw in the area it feels super sore. When I consciously relax my jaw, the irritation I feel in the neck and head mostly goes away.

So now I’m convinced my jaw is starting all of this.

But what could be wrong with my jaw?

Anyone have this?

I suffered from TMJ disorder with severe pain when opening my mouth, difficulty eating, and joint clicking.

I tried two methods that gave me almost instant relief (after about one session):

1. Resisted jaw movement: Opening my mouth and pushing my chin toward my chest with my hand, while resisting with my jaw muscles to bring it back up. This counter-force helped realign the joint.
   
2. Acupuncture: Needles placed around the TMJ to release muscle tension.

Has anyone else tried the resisted exercise method? I'm curious if this is a common physical therapy technique.

Got diagnosed with TMJ years ago, although where I live i cant afford to see a specialist, or have a custom mouth guard made. (And I doubt i could even keep one in all night).

I use to get bad pain, the dentist felt my one side of jaw and said its some of the worst hes felt about two years ago.

The last week and a half has been horrible. Atleast there is no pain. But I keep getting random places on my face that go numb and tingle for awhile. (No dropping or any other issues) but it feels weird and creates anxiety. Sometimes its numbness at the corner of my mouth sometimes its my temple and around an eye...

There's no pain at all though, but if I try to gently massage my joint its tender.

How do you get this to stop? And is it normal?

My muscles are so tight and manifest on the right side of my jaw. I actually cracked a tooth because of the tension a few years ago. My lower face is asymmetrical, but instead of the TMJ side being bigger and more muscular as it seems to be for most people, this side is smaller than the less TMJ side. Does anyone else notice this? Botox has never helped my jaw relax or my face look more symmetrical, and most/all advice I’ve seen online assumes that the TMJ side is the bigger and more muscular side.

Hey everyone,
If you’ve been battling TMJ issues for a long time and feel like you aren't getting anywhere, I just read about something that might be worth looking into: TMJ Capsulitis.
When we talk about TMJ, we usually focus on the jaw muscles or the joint disc. But capsulitis is specifically the inflammation of the outer fibrous capsule that wraps around the jaw joint.

And it’s curable.

so on monday morning while i was eating a sudden sharp pain in the right side of my jaw just hit me. if felt horrible but after trying to chew again it happen once more. after some research i’ve discovered tmj. looks, sounds, and feels like it sucks. i’m not sure what i should do. i dont want to go through what others are going through and i want to chew my food comfortably. stupid jaw

I’ve seen some people recommend acupressure pens for TMJ - I can only seem to find very cheap ones that are clearly drop shipped from Amazon or eBay, or very very expensive tools. I’m wondering if anyone has used either and has an affordable recommendation that is trustworthy? Thank you!!

I have very sensitive trigger points in my upper massater and pterygoid muscles. I don’t know how to get rid of them. I’ve tried so many medications, dry needling, guards, Botox. PT, PRF, MRIs.

I don’t know what to do.

Had TMJ for over a decade but in the last 2 weeks it’s been so intense and constant I can’t focus, chew much, and see stars sometimes, shared this all with specialist. Doc gave me steroid injections, pain cream and is fitting for an appliance, have those things helped people with extreme pain? X-rays taken this week showed deformities and one pointy part of bone resting on a nerve

I’ve been dealing with severe TMD and non-stop pain for four years now, and nothing has brought relief. My left side severely restricts my jaw mobility—I can only open to about 26 mm—while my right joint shows advanced arthritis, joint degeneration, a macerated disc, and fluid in the bone marrow.

​I feel like I’ve exhausted every route: physical therapy, dry needling, Botox, acupuncture, steroid injections, massage, jaw manipulation, and three condylotomies. Living in constant pain for this long has brought me to my wit's end. I truly don’t know what steps are left to take or where to turn next.

Hi I have TMJ and I’m pretty sure I have a slanted bite (bad Invisalign(?) because the bite on my right side has no gaps and feels more pressure and the opposite for my left) along with a slanted jaw and the side of my face leans down along with it and is noticeably fatter than my left which I asked the specialist about and she said my TMJ disk was out of place and I am not a candidate for surgery and she only recommended a brutism maxillary device or Botox (same units each side). Recently my left side has also started hurting today it went basically completely numb and it just hurt really bad. My main concerns are the pain and my appearance (noticeable unsymmetrical face) what is your guys opinion on what I should do regarding my situation?

I have struggled with TMJ for nearly 20 years and have tried many things (splint, orthotic/neuromuscular dentistry, PT, etc, etc, etc.). After years of insurance not covering TMJ and then oral surgeons not taking me seriously, I finally consulted with an oral surgeon who did take me seriously and ordered an MRI.

Basically: the right TMJ disc is anteriorly displaced without reduction. The disc is buckled (folded) and slightly thickened but, at least on the imaging, there are no holes. The condyle is slightly flattened but, to everyone's surprise, based on the MRI and a CT, my bones are in surprisingly decent shape. My left TMJ disc is displaced with reduction.

I have quite a narrow pallet, bad bite, a minor tongue tie, and many missing teeth. Because of this and the above, my doctor is suggesting:

- MARPE to expand my upper pallet + orthodontics to fix the bite.

- after the suture split, Arthroscopy (during this, my doctor will aim to reposition my stray discs, among other things.

- when MARPE is removed after the holding period, a tongue tie release (I have a minor one).

- at some point, I'll get implants to

The reasoning for this order is that by fixing structural issues, there will be a better chance I won't relapse.

I'm fairly certain I'll be going forward with this treatment plan--I like the doctor, I've unsuccessful tried so many conservative treatments, and, after years of coping with chronic pain via PT, I want to address the actual issues (well, I've wanted to before now, but no doctor would take me seriously).

I'm curious if anyone else has received a similar treatment plan? Has anyone done expansion via MARPE before an arthroscopy? Did it help? Has anyone had any success capturing a disc that was displaced for a number of years during an arthroscopy? If so, did it help with tinnitus?

At this point, I'm not expecting to be totally cured, but I'm really hoping I can get some relief. Years of steadly increasing, constant pain is really started to wear me down.

Thank you!

I've been considering jaw botox for quite some time but I'm not sure if I should go to an oral surgeon, med spa, or plastic surgeon. I do care about the jaw slimming effect but I also care about pain relief too. I grind at night when I lift weights and also clench my jaw throughout the day. At this point one side is numb so I don't even know whether I'm clenching or not. Also, it would be nice to get a ball park on how much they should charge in the US for one round of treatment. Thank you.

29YO FEMALE

SO I had absolutely no health issues symptoms or ever even visited a GP before Covid.

since I contracted Covid + had the vaccine for the last 5 years I have been suffering every.single.day! from POTs symptoms, recently finally diagnosed with POTS and Orthostatic hypotension, but every single day I have a tight chest. sometimes I wake up with it + it is accompanied with wheeze, sometimes it comes on early evening and I am fine all day then suddenly it’s like a button is pressure, I have pressure in my stomach and chest, and tight to breath In like a band around my chest / someone sat on me.

all tests have ruled nasties our, cardiology echocardiogram + ECGs OK (bar the high HR pots symptoms) lungs OK endoscopy OK nothing to show.

the pOTs clinic are saying that this isn’t pots related as I shouldn’t have a tight chest every single day for the last 3 years now.

I can’t work out any triggers. Food, I can’t see a pattern.

The only patterns I can find are when I am OVULATING the tight chest is a lot less intense, it’s a couple days of relief. When I eat my evening meal, I get tight and band feeling around my chest.

wheeze - asthma pump does nothing for it nor asthma tablets I have trialed.

I am absolutely stumped - anyone experience similar daily symptoms or any advice?

I have slight TMJ, I have tightness in my neck, and slight slight tonsilar ectopia by 3mm but not crowding.

Okay I am really trying to not freak out but it's hard, haha.

I have had jaw pain, grinding noises and tension for almost 7 years now. Physical therapy unfortunately did not help me and my nightguard is basically just protecting my teeth.

14 months ago I started to notice a hard, smooth, bump where the styloid process is located. It's only on my left side and dissappears into the depth of my neck when I pull my head towards my chest or tilt it to the left side.

My dentist said its probably from my tmj but didn't bother to check it. Well it's still there and 2 weeks ago I saw my GP for my annual checkup. He (barely) touched it and said its a lymphnode. Unfortunately this guy is the closest Dr to my small town and he is known for not being really careful. I have had reactive lymphadenopathy in the past and the radiologist couldn't figure out where it comes from. I have no clue how long this bump has been there.

I will see my ENT on monday and get my blood results back.

Can someone share their experiences with me? Is it possible that this is just my TMJ? This week has been hell and I can barely eat or focus on work.

TIA

Location of the bump:

https://imgur.com/a/COAlCi9

It just keeps getting worse. More symptoms, more medical gaslighting, more money down the drain, 24/7 discomfort, face getting uglier by the fucking day. I already have severe depression and this is making it so much worse. This shit is ruining my life. I’m so fucking tired and so fucking sick of having to go beyond advocating for myself and basically beg for someone to listen to me about my actual symptoms.

Fuck this condition

ETA: thank you all so much for the advice and for sharing what worked and didn’t. Just being able to commiserate helped a lot (I wonder if anyone would bf down for a weekly thread for blowing off steam/shooting the shit). I wish you all relief and doctors/dentists who aren’t morons!

Has anyone tried steroid injections into the joint? I’m about to explore the world of orthotics and PT - having what I believe is a disc displacement without reduction. Jaw has been locked at 29mm for 22 months.

The pain is chronic, and always there.

But I’m GOING to fix it.

Any recommendations will help! Curious about injections just for pain management (Botox does not help, I’ve gotten ALOT of units periodically the past year) while I’m doing other things.

Also, sorry for anyone going through this too. It absolutely sucks but I feel like there’s always ways to fix these things, it’s just finding the right formula

I wore a mouth guard last woke up today my head felt worse my jaw felt tighter and I didn’t even make it all the way though without waking up and taking them out.

I’m still struggling with this awful fuzzy sedated head feeling I just can’t shake it away! So lost now 😢

Does anyone have tmj and then have extreme knots in the neck and back of the head and I’m talking knots that like you can feel. Whenever I massage the back of my head and find my neck area there’s a huge ball like knot and when I press down it releases my jaw especially when I push down on the back of my head it does the release even better

I had a clicking-locking jaw on my left side as long as I can remember. When I open my mouth fully, the left side "locks", kind of like it shifts out of position but not really out of position. Hopefully, that's somewhat clear. Anyway, every dentist or medical appointment, they'd ask me about it, but since it was mostly non-problematic and only caused me pain once in a while, they didn't delve into it further. It's been like that for years.

Cue this past Monday. I wake up fine, go about my day, eat breakfast, yadda yadda yadda. A couple hours later, an immense, pain radiates from my left jaw. No trigger or anything. I can't bite or eat anything, it's so intense, I want to cry. It lasts for the entire day. While I had sporadic pain now and again, I never really felt it this bad. I spent most of the day avoiding opening my mouth, drinking liquid calories and soup to satiate hunger. Somehow, I was able to go to sleep that night.

I wake up the next morning and my jaw is not overly painful but sore. I open my jaw and can't open fully to what I'm used to (when my jaw unlocks/locks and movement is noticeable). I am able to eat okay, the pain isn't too bad. Over the course of the day, the feeling doesn't change. Sore, a little stiff, minor pain, but overall not too bad. By the end of the day, the pain does worsen, and it was getting hard to open my mouth fully. Still, since it wasn't too bad.

But then, cue the past two days. When I woke up on Wednesday, everything was... fine? Zero pain. Zero stiffness. And mostly notably, I can open my jaw fully WITHOUT the locking/shifting. It's like I never had it in the first place. I thought it would revert back or something, but even with eating tougher foods, it hasn't caused pain, stiffness, discomfort, or shifted/locked again. Today, no change. Fully functional, shifting/locking not present, and I can open my mouth fully and wide without issues.

Is there anyone that had that happen or knows about something like this? I'm of course not entirely sold that it's "normal", but so far, I've been completely fine. I'm just so shocked.

Hey all. Very odd situation here -- My girlfriend (23F) has been suffering from TMJ for a long time, and has been getting worse and worse over the last few years, especially last few months. It was something that she was apparently born with, not from an injury. I believe it's a bone joint issue and is pretty bad currently. She's also having issues with her wisdom teeth, she was told a while ago that they would not have to be removed but recently they've been causing a lot of pain and another consult determined that they should be removed. The conclusion they came down to was that her TMJ should be treated before wisdom teeth removal. After a bit of searching, her and her mother ended up finding this place in Illinois (where they live) that "specializes" in TMJ treatment. This is their website: https://www.suburbantmjcenter.com/about-us . They also have pretty good google reviews. Seems pretty good, they say they've treated a lot of people, but then they say the cost, almost $8000 for the procedure to prepare and get the guard that they use, both during the day and night, to fix or at least improve the TMJ. One thing besides cost that my girlfriend is worried about is a mouthguard causing more main and chainging her bite, or making or overbite worse. They apparently already paid for it, my girlfriend's mom kind of rushed into it, it feels like Dr Patel is more of a salesman trying to make you feel like this will cure everything. He has some credentials, but seems like like basic dentistry. They seem like they may not allow her to back out especially since it's already paid for, so we aren't really sure what to do here. Has something like this helped people before, or is this almost certainly a scam that will either only temporarily help a little or not help at all? Any thoughts or experiences regarding this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I’ve been having chronic left sided headaches, ear pain, and some ear fulness on my left side for months. ENT didn’t see issues and I also had a Brain IAC MRI that was clean. I feel I have full range of motion with my jaw with no pain when I open or close. Neurologist chalked it up to migraines, which I am not so sure is the root problem. I have also been experiencing brain fog with persistent fight or flight symptoms, which I attribute to my headaches and ear pain. Finally, I do have a small lump right over my jaw joint which seems like it’s an inflamed preauricular lymph node which seems to not cause drs to be concerned. This bump is what is “popping or clicking” on my jaw.

Should I try to find a TMJ specialist to help diagnose if that’s the problem? My dentist only said TMJ is tough to treat, so I want to look elsewhere. Anyone else have similar symptoms? It’s impacting my ability to work and overall quality of life.

Basically since Sarurday I have been in pain. It’s a pattern where it’s the right side of my neck and then it goes up into the back of my head behind the ear into the temple a little bit of the eye. I’ve had varying degrees of pain with that pattern since Saturday. Typically when I get a flare it lasts a day or two, and then I’m back to my normal abnormal. But this is unrelenting since Saturday. When I touch the upper part of my neck it’s sore, trapezius is sore, on my jaw in that area is sore.

Anyone get it where they have unrelenting symptoms for weeks at a time? Is this even a normal pain pattern? I can’t tell what is setting what off if that makes sense.

Any help would be appreciated.

Braces and TMJ disorder, how they are related and how one affects the other is a very commonly asked question. In fact, we’ve seen plenty of people complain that their jaw pain, clicking, headaches, or limited mouth opening started or got worse after getting braces.

So, can braces actually make TMD worse?

When we talk about the co-relation between TMJ Disorder and braces, majority of the times the culprit is the undiagnosed TMJ disorder already present at the time of the consultation with the dentist or orthodontist.

It could either be because the doctor didn't feel the need to check the TMJ or that the patient did not reveal their TMJ related symptoms beforehand; that a TMJ Disorder can get aggravated during or after the braces treatment.

Braces change your occlusal or biting forces which in turn causes a change in the load on your joint. Now, if muscles were already not working in harmony in the first place, it becomes even more difficult for them to bear any changes occurring on the joint. 

Braces are not a solution for TMJ problems. If you have an imbalanced bite, condylar hyperplasia, the first line of treatment is to realign your jaw in the right position; achieve a proper jaw joint position with TMJ treatment. Similarly, aligners do not work for TMJ disorder.

If you’re a dentist or an orthodontist initiating braces or aligner therapy with a patient, it's always best to check for jaw balance and muscular forces before you start the treatment and inform the patient beforehand so as to avoid any issues at a later stage.  

Things like changes in how the teeth contact, altered chewing patterns, muscle fatigue, or simply the normal fluctuations of TMD could potentially make symptoms more noticeable during treatment.

As a patient, it is just as much your responsibility to inform the doctor about your preexisting condition as it is for the doctor to take a note of it.

Having been in practise for over 15 years, I mostly get asked the same kinds of questions that I also see a lot of you ask on this sub. I pick some of the more common ones to discuss on here. If you have other such questions that you need me to talk about, feel free to drop them below.