Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) occur as a result of problems with the jaw, jaw joint and surrounding facial muscles that control chewing and moving the jaw. These disorders are often incorrectly called TMJ, which stands for temporomandibular joint.
I have it and it keeps getting worse, basically I need my jaw to pop (by stretching it) before I can eat foods. Usually once in the morning does the trick. I’m just wondering if someone has gotten over this or has a solution to it. Going to try and get in to the doctor soon.
Depending on the criticality of it, it may never go away…
I’ve had it and will have it for the rest of my life, same with my wife (2 different reasons though).
I may get this wrong, but I’ve been told that I’m a Class 2 who acts like a Class 3; I clench my teeth at night and attempt to grind, but my teeth interlock so tightly it’s physically impossible to grind. Gets worse when I’m stressed, but happens all the time, my wife tells me she hears me clicking my teeth at night constantly. I wear a night-guard when it gets really really bad, but I haven’t needed one of those in years.
Clicks, pops, aches, slight lockups, cramping; all part of my “normal” and has been for 20 some odd years (since I was a teenager).
My wife claims I click my teeth too. I snore, and I know I clinch my teeth. I also need to have my wisdom teeth taken out. Luckily, they are partially “in” so I’m thinking it would be a little easier to remove. For a while, it was just pop my jaw and I could open my mouth all the way and eat normally. Now it’s very painful to do this, and I gotta break off food to eat. Really sucks.
Never prescribed for me. My wife and Mom were both fitted and had custom night guards made at one time. My wife doesn’t use one right now, and my mom switched over to “customized” normal sports guards. Essentially just took a sports one and cut it down/trimmed it. All you need to do is get a small gap between your back teeth so they can’t grind/clench.
I had “generic” air-filled ones given to me by a dentist at one time that helped, but it was the same basic concept as above. My mom has done what I described for YEARS and it’s a lot cheaper than custom ones, and works great for her.
Mine started when I was a freshman in college. I was clinching and grinding my teeth at night my guess is that it was due to stress. Got to a point where I couldn’t open my mouth in the mornings. I talked to my dentist about it and got a night guard. I only where it from time to time now when I notice my jaw getting a little sore or stiff.
I saw a specialist and it started to get better, but then lost my retainer but it hasn’t gotten worse.
My problem is I am a “night grinder” so I can’t really control it but I noticed stress was a big variable in how bad it bothered me. It was the worst when I was working night shift and couldn’t sleep. Now I’m working day shift and its been better.
I’d say figure out what the trigger is and try to control it. The retainer I had was a hard plastic that when I closed my jaw was cut for proper jaw alignment to pull it back into place and help stop me from grinding.
Bought a night gaurd from Wegmans yesterday and user it overnight. It seems to have helped a bit and I can definitely open my mouth a bit wider this morning. Not really thrilled with the feel of the night guard however.
