November 3rd, 2009
Author: Admin
I have not officially been diagnosed with TMJ, but am almost certain I have it. I talked to my dentist (who I trust completely) over the phone and even said it sounded like TMJ. Anyways, my question is this: I can’t afford to see a dentist right now. What are some things I can do on my own to help reduce clenching? What are some things I can do about headaches/jaw pain associated with TMJ?
Is this a major problem that should be handled promptly or is it possible to deal with alone?
And, are there any ways of curing or lessening the symptoms or is it something I will have to live with forever?
Any help is much appreciated!! I will choose a best answer!
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TMJ disorders are usually of a chronic nature, meaning they rarely cause an emergency, instead they cause this kind of mild to moderate discomfort that will interfere with your life routine, but not severe enough to make you go to emergency room, TMJ disorders are not easy to treat, but they can be treated by a dentist, some patients report the symptoms to occur at one stage in their life, or to come back and forth. So I doubt that you have to live with this all you life. Once you see a dentist he will be able to get you some relief.
There are few things you can do on your own without seeing a dentist, if you already have clicking and muscle soreness, switch to a soft diet for the next 2 weeks, stay away from things like steak and bread, and go more for soups, that will put less stress on your joints and will help your muscles relax, applying heat to the area is extremely helpful, the easiest way is a towel with warm water (you can re-microwave that easily to get it hot again), spot major stress sources in your life and try to eliminate them, this is not that easy but you need to find a way to overcome your stress eventually.
One thing that might help is a prefabricated night guard, you can find it in any pharmacy for around $25, you simply follow the instructions with the package to use it, a lot of my patients reported that they got some relief when they used it.
If that doesn’t help, the next step certainly would be to see a dentist, he can make you a professional night guard, which is fitted to your teeth specifically, he may prescribe some muscle relaxants to help your jaw muscles relax, and as a last step he may prescribe NSAIDs (non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs) .
Hope that helped
avoid over using your jaw to give the tmj muscles a rest, eat soft foods, try not to yawn too wide, try to avoid clenching your teeth def avoid chewing gum!!
as for pain relief Ibuprofen will be best pain killer as this is an anti inflammatory, as long as your not asthmatic or have any stomach probs you should be ok to take this for a few days to relieve pain, just make sure you follow instructions on the packet.
i used to suffer tmj probs when tired and stress so try not to be stressed!!
dentist can make you a gum shield or some kind of night guard to try help too
You might ask a doctor to help you with pain issues until you can see a dentist. If not get something over the counter. Some kind of teeth guard might even help. I have it too and I feel for you. I don’t even know if there is much that can be done about it.
I am so sorry you are going thru this.i’ll give you my own personal experience.I’ve had TMD/TMJ for 3 years now.When i started getting signs of this my jaw would just pop and feel very unconfortable.Then months after my jaw started getting lock,basically i couldnt move it at all when this happened so i had to unlock it myself,right after that the pain became so intense that they had to send me to a maxilofacial surgeon.He was going to do surgery on me,but it cost 15,000 dollars and my insurance didnt cover this.Desperate i started looking for other doctors that did treatments without surgery and well i found a doctor.He has done miracles for me! Im on a 2 year treatment now with appliances,1 for the day and night.Before you go wear a night guard go find a dentist,not just any dentist but one that specializes on this type of disorders because most dentists wont cure this.Sometimes nightguards will worsen the problem,this is why i tell you to go visit the doctor before you get a night guard.The dentist i was with before sent me a night guard and that would only make my pain worse.Of course if you just started with TMJ and you grind your teeth at night this could help but you dont know that yourself.They will do an x-ray and tell you what’s going on.In my case they sent me an MRI because they had to see the tissue instead of just the bone.Trust me what i went thru i wouldnt want anyone else to go thru so go get help before it’s too late and the pain becomes severe.
*To reduce clenching during the day try to always have your teeth separate even when your mouth is closed,my dentist told me to do this as an excercise and you will get used to it. About the headaches you can drink advil which is antiflammatory.And for the jaw pain what works best is putting on cold for some minutes several times a day.That works very good.Also avoid any type of food in which you have to bite or chew real hard,this will only give you more pain.