How can I relieve TMJ?!
Question: Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. I was diagnosed with it after having a tooth pulled. It gets so bad I wanna bang my head on the wall! I have been talking Ibuprofen for weeks but there has to be a solution to the problem where I can stop taking meds. The pain I have includes the entire left side of my head. Lower and upper jaw, throat glands, ears. It wakes me from a dead sleep and I have to sleep with an ice pack on my face half the night and a heating pad on for the other half of the night. HELP!
Answers: Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. I was diagnosed with it after having a tooth pulled. It gets so bad I wanna bang my head on the wall! I have been talking Ibuprofen for weeks but there has to be a solution to the problem where I can stop taking meds. The pain I have includes the entire left side of my head. Lower and upper jaw, throat glands, ears. It wakes me from a dead sleep and I have to sleep with an ice pack on my face half the night and a heating pad on for the other half of the night. HELP!
If professional treatment is simply out of the question, you can nurse this along at home for some degree of relief. I am not a huge advocate of drug store appliances, but I recognize their place for individuals such as you who just can't afford proper treatment.
If you twist your ankle, you might decide to take it easy for a few days and you might even use a set of crutches that you happen to have from a previous injury. You have to rest the joint and allow it time to heal. That's common sense. If you try this for a few days and nothing gets better, you give up the idea and go to the doctor.
With that introduction, let me say that I have never seen you and I have not diagnosed your condition. I am not telling you that this is the proper solution for your problem. I am simply giving you an overview of what might work in many cases as a temporary home measure. If you attempt this and find that things get worse instead of better, discontinue it immediately and seek professional help. If you find that this helps a little, but it is necessary for you to continue this home treatment for an extended period of time, you should also consider that you have more than a simple soft tissue injury and seek professional help.
Okay, my disclaimer and the background information are complete.
Go to the drug store and look for the TMJ appliance or bite guard that has a pad on the left and right for you to bite on. In short term, emergency care, this design will be much more effective and less likely to cause damage than the kind that fits over all of your teeth. Buy this appliance and read the label directions and follow those directions.
Here is a home therapy routine that is good to use in conjunction with wearing the above appliance, but it might give you some relief even without the appliance.
1. Run some fairly hot water into your bathroom sink.
2. Soak TWO washcloths in the water.
3. Squeeze most of the water out of the washcloths and apply them to your face in the area of your TMJ just in front of your ears.
4. Every minute or two, wet the washcloths again, squeeze them out and apply to your face as above.
5. After about 15-20 minutes of this routine, you need to stretch out your joints so they don't "freeze up" on you.
6. Look in the mirror and make funny faces. Yes, that's what I said. Move your chin to the left and then to the right, about as far as you can. Repeat this several times, for about 5-10 seconds. Open and close your mouth several times. Jut your chin forward and plop it back where it belongs repeatedly.
7. Start the face-making all over again and repeat this for several minutes until the skin over youth TMJ's is back to normal temperature.
8. After you have done this therapy, wear the TMJ appliance for at least half an hour, if not all night for sleep.
Repeat that routine 3 times a day, evenly spaced through out the day. Your morning session could be done using warm water in the shower, for instance.
If you have had popping for more than about 6 weeks, you are not going to make it go away. You might get the pain to go away, but you will not get the noise to go away.
As with any other joint injury, you need to take it easy on your TMJ. You would do this by being careful about what you eat. Avoid tough, chewy foods or hard things, like hard candy or pretzels. Avoid opening your mouth to any excessive opening. Before you bite a sandwich, for instance, smash it down so that you will not have to open any more than about one inch to get it into your mouth. Consider cutting a sandwich or any other food into small bites.
Continue all of this with care and caution for at least 3 or 4 weeks. If you do not have considerable relief by then, you may have actual damage to the structures of your TMJ and you will need professional help. If you feel like your teeth don't come together properly after completing a home therapy session, you need to have your bite evaluated by a competent dentist.
Good luck and please, use good sense.
Hi, I read your question and am here to help. Well, I'll try to help. Put it that way. Anyway, my daughter has the same problem. She had pain in her ear. It would be so bad she would almost scream in pain. So anyway, after a million and one phone calls, we came across a dentist who specailizes in TMJ. He used to do regualr dentistry but can't anymore because of pinced nerve in his hand.
What he did was to build a bite brace for my daughter. It is called "Appliance Therapy"
She had one previoulsy but it was small and not much good. The dentist we see now built her a new one. It is built up, it is thicker and much better. It has only been like 7 months now and the pain is sooooooooo much better than it was. Now I want to make sure you understand it is not 100% complety gone. She will need to wear the bite brace the rest of her life. Well, she only wears it at bed time now, and will only need it at bed time ever but will always need it.
I don't know where you live but we live in Central Maine. If you'd like to e-mail me at MrsJ28@verizon.net if you live in Maine and I can give you his name. I do hope I've helped some.
We were told not to go back to the Chiropractor. Not that it did any good anyway but you know Drs.
I am a Dental Assistant, and had TMJ. I also opted for surgery, so ...here goes. You need to see an Oral Surgeon, who is a dental specialist. He will make you an appliance, called a Bite Splint. It will take the pressure off the inflammed joint. Meanwhile, for some relief, get a football mouthpiece to wear to bed, use moist heat before bed, and ask the Dr. for a good anti-inflammatory. You could take a pain pill also. Discuss that also with the Dr. Also, for two or three weeks, eat only soft foods, no gum, and do not open your mouth wide. NO sandwiches!!! As you mentioned, ice packs are good for inflammation also. Keep doing that. Just for info,a Chiropractor can give you some relief. I've sent many patients there. Ask around, find a good one. Sorry for you, been there. The nights are long, and there's no easy answer. Praying for you for relief, and the right Doctor.