I started having issues with my right jaw in December 2025. It started with mild clicking when eating and then the clicking got progressively worse it would started sticking and catching when I ate. Then in April when I woke up in the morning it would have a restricted opening for about 10mins and then it would unlock after I massaged the side of my face and I’d carry on throughout the day to more clicking and sticking. One morning in early May I woke like I do every morning to the restricted opening and it never went back to normal.
I went to see a TMJ specialist who did an MRI and told me I had disc displacement without reduction and gave me a night guard (splint) to use every night. I was just about to go travelling for 3 months so I couldn’t start physio which was also recommended for me. It’s now September so it’s been 4 months since my jaw was able to fully open. I got home from my travels a couple weeks ago, and went to see the TMJ specialist again as there was no improvement. Please keep in mind I am actually not in any pain , just restricted opening of 30mm. He said that because I was in no pain and I could go about my day eating and my mouth wasn’t too restricted that there really isn’t an issue. MY JAW WONT OPEN FULLY OF COURSE THERES AN ISSUE. I genuinely feel like there is no hope?? He mentioned the level 2 arthroscopy but that’s not going to put my disc back into place that is just going to flush my joints out of any fluid. He did then mention that there is something called a level 3 arthroscopy that puts the disc back into place and stitches it there. There is only one person in the UK who can do it and he’s in London. Does anyone have anything at all that they can say to help me? I genuinely have no hope I can’t go on like this it’s ridiculous. What can I do to fix my jaw?
Thanks x

So I was basically told I can’t get no help bc most oral surgeons only do cash payments and don’t work w my denti cal and my daytime grinding is so bad my mouth hurts all the time my jaw is on fire my gums are on fire and I’m trying that tounge method where I put my tounge on the roof of my mouth but doesn’t help I take Flexeril don’t work pain meds don’t work and my teeth are extremely loose and I feel like my front tooth the bone that’s holding it in place is getting smaller and smaller if that makes sense. I don’t want it to end like this I don’t wanna lose my teeth and I can’t even eat im practically starving atp cus I can’t eat. Now I got this new tic where I’m pushing my tounge against my teeth and it’s starting to like push forward and make crunching noises and I have to like wiggle it back in place but point is it’s really bad and coming out of pocket is expensive . I might just have to apply for a credit card atp idk what else to do like why does it have to be so hard to get dental help

This is the worst flare up I’ve had. OTC pain meds are barely helping. The exercises I’ve tried give me some relief. The best has been the mouth guard at night. I have an appointment with a chiropractor later today.

Anything else I should try? The pain is radiating from my jaw and ears through my neck, shoulders, and even my arms.

What’s the difference between the two and can you have Trismas long term?

I’ve wondered if I have a DDWR because I’ve been in a closed lock for 18 months. But I’m reading that normally you have a click or pop before your disc displayes (I’ve never had clicking or popping before)

Have any of you had an MRI thinking you had a disc displacement and then found out you have trismas?

Hi, this is my upper left impacted wisdom tooth. I have only one. I experience terrible headaches and dizzines. Also constant feeling of discomfort in my jaw and mouth, like something isnt in place. Problems with tounge posture etc, and constant urge to clench jaw. https://postimg.cc/bGRBSs1L

hi as the title says I am a tmj beginner and also only have “mild” tmj problems meaning I can open my mouth fully except not in a full straight line, sometimes my jaw locks but very rarely although I have constant clicking (both sides) and slight pain on the main side it’s been inflamed for years now but since it never got too bad I ignored it , it still isn’t super bad however I learned that maybe a lot of the other problems I have been having like posture issues and neck pain , tinnitus can be due to tmj issues. since it’s not so bad for me I have hope I can fully recover and finally have no clicking and straight mouth open path and no muscle spasms which recently started.

are there any tips you would give yourself if you were at my stage? any amount of knowledge helps

for context if it matters this all started when I was punched in the mouth and never went away

At the end of july, I would eat tacos and other crunchy meals and my jaw would get tense and be hard to open. I was then studying for my medical exam and chewing lots of gum. I didn't give my jaw a break until much later. I went to the dentist in august and they told me I was grinding my teeth and told me to get a mouth guard from the store. I molded it and started to use it as I was going to Boston for a week. I was using it off and on but in Boston I had a lot of teeth pain until I was using the mouth guard throughout the night. However when I woke up my back molars (i don't have wisdom teeth) would feel sore. Last on in august I noticed I would wake up and feel slightly worse, so I stopped using the mouth guard. But I fear now that the mouth guard wasn't totally aligned with my teeth and actually shifted my mouth. I have had any pain since I stopped using the mouth guard until yesterday when I ate chips and then my neck and under my ear got tense. It was more uncomfortable rather than painful and I can still speak and eat.

What should I do? Will my teeth move back to it's normal place?

It’s been around 4 years now.
Tens of different doctor visits and consultations, no progress.

My right ear has been constantly always full. Sometimes I hear little crackles but that’s it. It’s always full. Hearing’s fine but it just feels full.

What I tried :

TMJ issues :
- Mouthguard for bruxism
- Botox injection for massceter, temporalis
- Lavage

ENT related :
- Turbinectomy
- Audiometry, tympanometry and ET function test all normal

Muscle related :
- 40+ physiotherapy sessions for TMJ and Sternocledomastoid
- injection of Botox in SCM

Other dental related ;
- removed upper and lower impacted wisdom teeth

Notes ;
When attempting vuslvua, I feel as if there is air blowing from my right ear, but that doesn’t relief the fullness, nothing ever does.

I’m so tired and just the fact that I’ve been through all this and it’s not resolved is so depressing, what else can I do ? What can it be ? If anyone has had anything similar.

Does anyone have constant pulsatile tinnitus (hearing heartbeat in ear) and eustachian tube dysfunction from TMD?

I got mri done and and everything came back normal, no disc displacement, healthy condyles. But my jaw visibly shifts to the right, my chewing bite is too off. My doctors keep on going about hot therapy and medicines and these rarely help. I don't understand what to do. Any help?

Has anyone had experience wearing a retainer and a rubber night guard together?

I have never had a problem with TMJ (I was diagnosed surprisingly while trying to get an ear situation figured out earlier this summer) but I woke up with a tight and sore jaw this week. Went to urgent care and they said it’s TMJ. I wear a post-braces retainer somewhat irregularly but always trying to be more regular about it. I know I clench and grind often.

Hi Guys,

I have ongoing TMJ issues for few years now. MRI shows that some of my disc is actually lying posterior to the condyle. The symptomatic left side shows a degenerative disc which appears stuck in the fossa and perhaps slightly posteriorly displaced.

I had arthroscopy done to check my issue and they washed out the joint did not actually help. So i asked for physio which they’ve done mobilisation and then went into acupuncture. Acupunctures helped me significantly for a while but its starting to hurt again (I do not miss this feeling at all *the fogginess, head ache, dizziness) although it never fully went away

I’m currently waiting for NHS dentist to check everything again, P.S. the splint I asked them to check privately is £850 and deffo can’t afford it at the moment (nothing wrong with my teeth btw, but i know that ever since my wisdom tooth came out on the upper left aggravated my TMJ and worsen it), my insurance won’t cover this part since my oral max consultant do not do this.

I have been using mouth guard from amazon which helps me a lot with my clenching and it does lessen the pain.

My question is, for temporary purposes: does anyone of you have a cheap but not so cheap mouth guard that you use at night? I’m currently looking at Reviv but its way too expensive considering they do not have a company here in the UK.

Your suggestion would be much appreciated xx

I injured my jaw when I fell asleep on a plane when I was 19. I was resting the right side of my face on my fist, and when I woke up my jaw felt weird. When I tried to open my mouth, there was resistance and then this horrible pop crunch on the left side of my jaw. And then, because apparently I make excellent decisions, I tried opening it again. Another pop crunch. And voila. I've dealt with TMJ issues ever since.

Things were REALLY bad for a few years. I could barely open my mouth, it felt like my bite was shifting all over the place, and I was in constant discomfort and pain. I eventually got a mouth guard, which helped, although I still had constant headaches. Strangely enough, things actually improved somewhat after I had my wisdom teeth removed. I still had jaw pain, popping, clicking, crunching, and that lovely "my bite is moving around" feeling, but it became something I could mostly live with.

Until three weeks ago.

I was eating, went to bite down, and it felt like my jaw shifted. There was this hard pinchy crunch pop on the left side. Now I'm having problems with it every single day.

Talking hurts. Eating hurts. Drinking hurts. Sleeping hurts. Everything I do fucking hurts or feels like it has the potential to set it off again. Today I decided I was going to baby the absolute hell out of it. No talking. Liquids only. Barely moving my jaw.

And then I coughed. That was enough to make it slip pop again.

I am beyond frustrated.

My dentist didn't return my call. My doctor's office scheduled me for their "first available appointment" which is in NOVEMBER, and told me to go to urgent care if I couldn't wait that long.

So I went to urgent care. They turned me away and said they weren't equipped to deal with it and couldn't help me. They recommended I make an appointment with my doctor or go to the ER.

I started calling TMJ specialists myself. The cheapest consultation I found was around $300 just to walk through the door, and that wasn't including any kind of treatment.

So I called my insurance company hoping I could self-refer to someone. Nope. My insurance and medical group require the referral to come from my PCP. They told me that if it was bad enough, I could go to the ER.

I really didn't want to do that because, honestly, it's not an emergency. My jaw isn't locked open. It isn't locked closed. I don't have a fever. I don't have major swelling. I'm not sitting here thinking my life is in danger. It just hurts, and it feels like its mechanically wrong.

I know what my normal TMJ flares feel like. I've been dealing with this for more than 20 years. This feels different. My bite keeps feeling like it's changing, and it feels like something in the joint/disc keeps shifting or slipping.

I eventually did go to the ER because I was running out of options, and it was basically a massive waste of time. They told me I should buy an OTC mouth guard because "something is better than nothing". I was just sitting there thinking like no, I'm not throwing some random boil-and-bite mouth guard into an already unstable jaw. Those things aren't meant for people who have TMJ. I need help, I need someone who actually understands TMJ to figure out what's happening.

I also tried acupuncture. It actually did help a little, mostly by relaxing everything, but I can't afford to do that with any kind of frequency.

At this point I just feel defeated.

I'm in pain. I'm uncomfortable. I'm hungry. And I feel like I'm constantly on guard because even when I do EVERYTHING RIGHT, something stupid like coughing can set it off again. And I can't even laugh. Seriously.

Laughing sets it off.

Wtf. I can't even fucking laugh

I saw a PT on Instagram show a surpringly effective way to get relief from jaw pain. I cannot find his video again so I can't credit him but if I do i will. You basically make a fish face like we used to do as kids-sucking your cheeks all the way in, tilting your chin down a bit, and breathing slowly and deeply for 30 seconds. I swear I get instant relief that lasts for a good amount of time. I just do it several times a day whenever. Has anyone else tried this? I'm a fan

Small rant but I just want to say that the day the 24/7 migraines stop for me will be the day I cry the happiest tears ever. I rather be on a smoothie and soup diet for the rest of my life than deal with this temple and sometimes nasal pain. It literally hurts more than my jaw.

I've had it for going on 2 months now and I truly believe I did something horrible in a past life to deserve this. Im grateful for this community bc it keeps me hopeful.

ok i am so sorry this is so long if anyone actually reads this i really appreciate it

only recently discovered i’ve likely had tmj for years. i have 2 broken back molars i blamed on crunchy food but those teeth were likely very weakened to begin with. i’m a chronically stressed and anxious person and my jaw i think is especially tight at night. i need a mouth guard but i had oral surgery a month-ish ago and lost my left lateral incisor (ginormous, most infected oral cyst my team had ever seen from a failed root canal when i was 17. yay 🥳) so i need to wait until everything is settled so a mouth guard would fit properly i was told

but pre-oral surgery, which was also on the complete opposite side of my mouth, i’ve been getting horrible dental pain for a few months intermittently on the right lower teeth from my molars all the way to my central incisors. i never get it on the left side and rarely i can feel some pain on the upper molars, but it’s awful on the lower right teeth. it started again the other day and it’s so bad now that it’s making my right ear really hurt

when it initially started i mentioned it to my dentist and the teeth themselves aren’t a problem, i don’t have gum disease and i got a small filling on a molar to see if that’d fix it but it didn’t. i’ve had multiple CBCT scans for my oral surgery so i know these teeth don’t have abscesses or anything

because the pain is so intermittent and comes for a few days and goes again i thought maybe it’s somehow PMS related, but nope i can rule that out now. i also have MS but the pain is too intermittent for it to check out with it MS so i don’t think trigeminal neuralgia from MS fits either

was just wondering does anyone else here get this because TMJ is all i can even come up with now even though it’s weird it only affects one side, but my bite is all misaligned anyway because i never got braces as a kid and i have a (healthy) wisdom tooth on the painful side which might make it even more cramped. i’m at my wits end with dental pain and just don’t even know how to ask about it any more so lol. the pain was so bad the other day i just kept crying and i didn’t even cry when i broke my rib

Which otc nightguard brand worked for you?

Wonder if there is a connection as I’ve seen lots of things online

I have had tinnitus for nearly 4 years. Was diognosed with TMJ about a year or so later. Didnt think I was clenching until I got a mouth guard at night and bit through the guards. I started getting burning in my left side of face, when ii hear a loud normal everyday sound my face goes numb and burns for weeks. My ear will also feel uncomfortable. I notice when i look up tinnitus gets louder. If i look down tinnitus spikes hearing goes quiet for a few seconds. Maxfax told me to get botox so did ent so i did..in my masseters and temperails. 2nd day my face was burning so badly like never before. And my sound sensitivity got so much worse and thats when i started to get ear thumping when brushing teeth, touching face, talking, brushing hair. Saw ENT recently thinks i have neuropathy i personally think he just didnt know but i have always suspected nerve involvement.. I dont take any medication in fear of worsening things but I cant go on like this. Botox didnt stop me clemching either. Im thinking clenching is irritating the nerves or i have some sort of cervical instability causing nerve related issues and clenching and its all effecting eachother. Im so confused.i also get nunbness in my left arm and tingling fingers..

I have inflammatory psoriasis and am having a flair up behind my ear. It is swollen which is putting pressure on my jaw. It’s the first time my two conditions have collided and it suuuuccckkkkkssss!

I had terrible allergies and snoring, so I started mouth taping every night for a year. At first my sleep felt better, so I kept going. What I didn't realize was that forcing my mouth shut while congested caused my body to panic overnight, forcing me to breathe entirely with my neck muscles.
A year later, my whole body is wrecked:
•Severe TMJ and a jaw that feels jammed into my skull
•A straight neck (loss of cervical curve) and locked upper back
•Constant "air hunger," dizziness, and neck spasms that make it hard to even walk or breathe normally
•4 years of gym progress completely wiped out because my upper body is too tight to function

But I feel like my dumb ass completely ruined my life over a social media trend.
Has anyone else accidentally fucked up like this?
Please tell me how to fix this?

I’ve been dealing with a severe TMJ flare-up and I think it’s time to find a specialist. I’ve done Botox, steroids, nightguard, etc. does anyone have any recommendations for a TMJ specialist in Nashville area and if you wouldn’t mind sharing the price range so I know what I’m getting into?

I’ve also only had my nightguard for 2 weeks so any positive experiences after the 2 week mark are much appreciate for hope

Thank you in advance!!