Tension in jaw

[driedapricots101]

Lately experiencing a feeling of tension in my jaw.. as if I'm always unconsciously clenching it & pretty sure am grinding teeth at night. Has anyone else experienced this and found a treatment to relieve it.. ? Thanks

I suffer from this dreadfully from jaw tension and teeth grinding due to stress.

I find that neck stretches really help, if you look at neck, shoulder and upper back yoga on youtube that will give you some ideas. Also a firm jaw massage if you have someone willing to give you one. You could roll a spikey massage ball against your jaw as well.

Also cutting out caffeine as much as possible.

Google TMJ - I BBC suffer with this and the same as you I don't realise I'm clenching my jaw or grinding my teeth. The dentist made me a mouthguard to wear during the night which I find helps

I’ve just had a mouth guard made to stop me grinding my teeth at night. 🤦‍♀️

I, not BBC 🤣

Absolutely the same, and it’s started to cause me headaches. When I was pregnant (a long time ago!) the dentist made me a mouth guard type thing to stop the grinding. I wish I’d taken it more seriously and stuck with it as the pain in my temples (the bones there if that makes sense) and my jaw is awful.

Definitely a mouth guard to protect your tooth enamel.

I hold all my tension in my jaw/face, I tend to massage the inside of my mouth, up towards the cheeks (rather than outside) which I learned from a chiropractor.

Wow didn't realise it was so common! I've been getting dreadful headaches too. Will def check out the you tube vids & look into massaging etc. mouth guards.. do dentists just make them for you if you ask? thank you!

You aren’t on any new medication are you? It’s a side effect of some anti depressants for example

Interesting. I am on anti depressants. Yes my dentist made them for me.

This is the NHS advice.

It’s worth trying out exercises like these - but going very gently as you’re not being taught them by a physio.

A mouthguard is a gamechanger for most people. Your dentist can make a custom one, but if you have issues accessing dental care there are generic ones available. (I’ve only ever had custom made ones so can’t speak to what those might be like).

There are specialist TMJD clinics that run out of dental hospitals but they tend to focus on people who have limited mouth opening & other issues, but they offer medications, physio, acupuncture, botox, surgery & sometimes have a pain psychologist on the team as well. Hopefully you’re not needing that, but there are lots of options for managing TM[J]D & I hope you feel better soon.