Jaw pain and teeth feeling misaligned

[AgnosticBaker]

Is there a dentist out there who can give me some free advice?
Or anyone else with this problem? for the past day or so my teeth have been feeling misaligned. It's difficult to eat anything hard, like a carrot, and it's uncomfortable the rest of the time.

I have a slight underbite and have always been a teeth grinder. I feel a need to crack my jaws a couiple of times a day. My dentist even sent me to a dental physio for a while. He told me my jaw muscles were overdeveloped from clenching and grinding, not just at night but all the time. It's never really bothered me until now.

Will this go away or should I see a dentist soon? Can I do something to get rid of it on my own?

I think it's giving me a headache as well. I don't feel particularly stressed, in fact I'm much less tense than usual.

[AgnosticBaker]

I've read that stress can cause clenching and grinding, but I'm more relaxed than I have been for ages.

[Punxsutawney]

I suffer from chronic jaw pain too. My dentist referred me to the hospital a few years ago but they said they couldn't really do anything and sent me away with some handouts on soft food and exercises.

Mine had been fine and had not caused too many issues up until the start of this year. We have had a very stressful year with our youngest child which is still ongoing and I think this has really made things much worse. I now have pain down into my neck too. I have the dentist next month and I'm going to mention it but I'm not sure what if anything they will be able to do.

I think it is probably worth seeing your dentist, they might be able to do a referral again. I can sympathise with you, the pain is there all the time and it seems to cause even more pain in the head and neck region. I think some exercises can help, I do try and it sometimes can give a bit of relief. I just googled for some information on jaw exercises as I have lost the handouts they gave me at the hospital.

[Punxsutawney]

I also find that I get no relief from paracetamol or ibuprofen so I don't tend to take them.

[ladyflower23]

I'm a teeth clenched too and have had this sensation of misaligned teeth a few times where it is difficult to chew/bite. For me it's only ever lasted a few days at a time and then gone away by itself. Never seems to be a reason why it happens and actually had never thought that it could be linked to my clenching till I saw your post! Makes sense though.

[dudsville]

Has your jaw come out of its socket? I have tmj and i describe it like the way you have.

[dudsville]

Ps, i manage it well and rarely doors this happen to me anymore but when i do get stuck a good physio or massage helps realign me.

[alltheeastereggs]

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I have a nighttime mouthguard but not very good at using it.? I wore my nighttime mouthguard in the daytime for a day or two & it helped it relax.

Def see your dentist

[Witchend]

I had what sounds similar.

I had a day with bad nausea, and was clenching my jaw to try and prevent myself from being sick. The next morning I woke up and found that my lower jaw was about 1/4" away from the normal place and I couldn't move it. I also couldn't open it further than a small amount.

I couldn't bit anything at the front, and couldn't open my mouth wide enough to get anything in to bite at the back.


I went to the GP who sent me for x-rays at the local Macio facial (I think that's what it's called), and they concluded I just had swelling round the jaw joints and gave me a strong version of ibroprofen (in liquid form ) o help the swelling. It went away after a couple of days and I've never had it since.


I do have a slightly weak jaw though, and occasionally (more common in pregnancy) I wake up with my jaw feeling out of position, on one side, main sign is I can't open my jaw fully. If I roll over onto my other side it always rights itself fairly quickly.

[AgnosticBaker]

Thanks to everyone for answering. It's getting better to the point I hardly think about it. I'nm going to check out the jaw exercises though.