To Be At Crisis Point With TMJ Pain

@Borracha rud you have teeth pain with tmj

@BeeDaisy did your pain go

@BeeDaisy how are? Im suffering c

Thanks I will try that.

You basically use your thumb to massage the inside of your cheeks, near the back. You press hard at points where the most pain is and it releases the tension. I went to a physio who specialises in TMJ and it sorted out my issue, I only needed a couple of sessions and she taught me how to massage my own cheeks.

@clickyteeclickI would be interested in the details please, three years into jaw pain and it’s driving me nuts.

Ironically I have found chewing gum relaxes my jaw so it’s clearly more muscular and less of a joint issue.

You don't seem to have had some of the very basics of treatment ie jaw exercises, relaxation techniques, physiotherapy, or if you have you've skirted over that side of things. Maybe revisit that for starters. You can always use UK treatment guidelines to support your discussion with your GP

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/temporomandibular-disorders-tmds/management/management/

OP I don’t know if you’re near wilmslow near Manchester at all but I see a physio who specialises in this jaw massage technique.

I have suffered from TMJ, but not as badly as you. I couldn’t open my mouth very wide and would have constant headaches.

My NHS dentist also suffered similar and showed me a wonderful technique for it, although it’s harder to self administer.

He would basically massage/stretch the inside of my cheeks, as mentioned by another poster. If you feel into the inside of your mouth behind your upper and lower back teeth you will feel a hard, strong like band of muscle/ligament/tendon? It feels a bit like a leather hinge. It’s further forward than your actual jaw joint and is in the check muscle.

He would push hard on this band backwards and outwards. The more tight the band the more it hurts when it gets stretched. But the relief is fairly instant and stays for a while. He would do this regularly for me on my checkups, or I would make a specific appointment for this. It would always allow me to open my mouth wider after. I also grind my teeth at night. He also gave me mouth exercises to do.

Unfortunately my dentist retired and I’ve never found another dentist who knows about this. I think it’s to do with Trigger Point Therapy.

I also think it’s helps to do strong massage on the outside of your jaw, below the cheek bones as suggested by another poster.

If you try this, please read up on it first. Because by dentist showed me, I sort of know how to do it to myself. But I do not know if it could cause damage if you do it wrongly.

But please do have a look at this. It makes so much sense that if it’s due to this band of muscle/ligament/tendon being too tight, then the best way to treat it is to treat the source of the problem, rather than ways that indirectly may help.

It’s so miserable suffering in pain, I do hope you find something that helps you soon.

OP I've just started a course of acupuncture and it's not a miracle pain relief but every week it is getting better (I'm on week 3). It's the only thing that's working (not tried botox and have a ridiculously expensive appointment with a private dentist in a few weeks).

Oh just read Botox made is worse for you sorry :(

I have Botox, booked in for next week as I have started grinding again but the last treatment was over a year ago. It took two treatments a few months apart to work properly and now yearly treatments does the trick.
Mine costs £170 you don’t have to pay £800 that is just too much someone is making massive profit on that. Man who does mine is an eye surgeon.

I did go private but unfortunately for me that wasn’t a success either. You could try though. Dr Paul Ager at a practice in Gatley.

Can I hazard a guess that you’ve been reared to dental hospital in Manchester? If so go private. They’re useless! I’ve been waiting side 2018 for a fix and each appointment is a waste of time!

I'm another one who found the exercises really helpful, but I guess it all depends on the underlying cause. For me though, I woke up one day and was unable to close my mouth - it was just stuck open. Fun times. I started doing the exercises several times a day, and it gradually got better. Since then, I have been very careful with my jaw, and haven't had any issues.

try the heat treatment op

The splint helped me a lot. I'd recommend Botox though - that's pretty much fixed it.

I had 6 months of terrible TMJ pain 15yrs ago, then it went away. Now I just have to be careful eating things like baguettes.

I had this for months and could barely open my mouth to eat. The doctor just emailed me some exercises, but I ended up finding a private physio who specialised in TMJ. She showed me some exercises but also spent the session massaging the insides of my cheeks and my neck. My muscles were ridiculously tight and causing all the issues.

The pain relief was instant and I could open my mouth wider. I only had a couple of sessions, but she showed me how to massage my own mouth and that really sorted it out. I'm completely pain free now, so that's just another avenue you could try.