Temporomandibular joint

[Choccymumma]

Hi all,
I'm looking for experiences with TMJ. The GP thinks I may have it and I'm have an ultrasound referral.
My jaw joint on one side is tender, painful, not agony but enough if that makes sense. I clench my teeth at night which i have recently got a mouth guard from the dentist for. I also have Ankylosing spondylitis so I'm wondering if it's all linked. The GP said she could feel a fullness there but nothing obvious causing it.
I'd like to hear your symptoms of it please and what you have done to help it.

Bumping for a later crowd.

One more bump for luck!

I have this, dentist diagnosed it via loads of different mouth/jaw movements. Mine was made worse through clenching at night too, sometimes I couldn't open my jaw in the morning I'd clenched it that much and it clicked constantly 😔

There was talk of trying botox injections, but she said it was worth trying a mouth guard for a few months. It's made such a difference. Cost me £250 but it was well worth it!

I have this. It did improve massively when a quietly disintegrating wisdom tooth was removed but it still spasms quite frequently. My physio uses some sort of ultrasound thing on my neck and jaw when it's really sore and that's the best thing I have found for it. I also clench at night and can't get on with the mouthguard, sadly.

I've had this for years. I got a mouth guard I'm supposed to wear in bed but just can't! It makes me gag.
It doesn't bother me most of the time but flares up if I've been stressed or even just busy. I think I subconsciously clench my jaw when busy or stressed. This then leads to a horrible three day headache where the entire right side of my head, neck, shoulders, and back are very sore and painful. I just take strong painkillers.
There are exercises you can do. To be honest, I don't think there's any ideal solution to it so I just rely on painkillers when needed.

I had it from clenching. It's stress was stress when Dts weee small. Went private and got offered diazepam which wasn't going to work with two small babies. Dentist wanted to charge £800 for a gum shield which also wasn't an option at the time.

I bought a teeth whitening kit and used the shield from that.

I literally couldn't open my mouth more than a cm, and it was better within a week.

Oh hi all!
Thanks so much for replying, it's all really helpful.
I've found one side is worse and feels tender to touch.

I only get it in one side

What does it feel like? When I touch it, there's a feeling of tenderness and swollen. But it doesn't look swollen or have a any lumps. It's not agony either but painful.

My DH has been suffering with TMJ for about a year. He had various tests by ENT at the hospital and also seen by the dentist. Both of whom said it was TMJ.
He has tried mouth guards from the dentist as they thought teeth grinding might be a big factor but he hasn't noticed much of a difference yet (but it's only been a couple of months so probably needs more time). Another suggestion made to him was to take a low dose antidepressant drug but he hasn't tried that yet, he's been told to try the mouth guards for longer first.

Yes, it feels very tender and sore. When it really flares up, I can get pain on the entire right side of my head. It feels like all the nerves become inflamed, so my right ear hurts, my right eye, the teeth on my right side, the neck, shoulder etc. The whole area is so tender. It's awful! Always lasts three whole days. When it's not flaring up, it's only the jaw area that's tender.

I also only have it on one side. It's a problem of misalignment so I think that's fairly normal. The points where the pain concentrates most are the point where my jaw hinges on the left (the sore side) and the bottom of my jaw - the bottom corner if you see what I mean, the edge that goes round to the bottom of your chin - on the same side.

I got a mouth guard for that. It made it worse I chewed the guard. I now use a hotwater bottle on my jaw when it is bad and ibuprofen, if its really bad my jaw locks slightly but the ibuprofen helps.

The swollen feeling you mention is probably the masseter muscle inside your cheek, mine felt like that on the affected side.
When I first had it, I kept going to the doctors thinking I had an ear infection, also had tinnitus on the affected side. Doctor told me to go to the dentist and he said I was grinding my teeth at night and probably clenching the jaw muscles in the day. I had 2 lots of botox injections to immobilise the muscle and although that helped, it isn't a good idea to have it done too much. I was in absolute agony though! Then I got a mouth guard to wear at night and was also prescribed amytriptiline and naproxen, but the naproxen relaxed my whole body (was told to take maximum dose) and I felt zombie like so stopped taking it!

Thankfully it is stable at the moment. It flares up from.time to time but not as bad as the first occasion. Hope you get it sorted.