How do you live with TMJ disorder? (AKA, help me out with mine)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Note: I’m not looking for medical advice or anything like that. I already know what I have, the causes, what it entails, what kind of treatments there are, all that.

I’m just asking for support and suggestions/stories from others who have this as bad as I do.

I’ve had TMJ disorder almost all my life. Since age ten my jaw would snap and pop and crack when opened my mouth. Just on the left side though, mind you.

It didn’t hurt and up until only a few months ago it was fine (hell, it still is; the left side that is). But then, about seven months ago, the RIGHT side started up almost overnight. This side actually tends to lock up on me to where I can’t even open my mouth fully without it cracking very loudly and snapping back into place. It doesn’t hurt per se…but for one, it certainly seems like it has the potential to hurt. And very, very badly. I’m just waiting for one of these times when immense, mind-blowing pain shoots through my mouth. So it scares me. For two, it’s very, very annoying.

Anyway, this last day it finally locked and won’t open easily. Sure I can force it open and have that loud crack and all, but then it locks again as soon as I close my mouth. And each time I snap it open, it’s hurting more and more. I’m afraid I’ll wear the tendons down on that side of the mandible and that it’ll be shot for good.

So I’m leaving in an hour to the emergency room. Although I don’t know exactly what they’ll be able to do for me.

I know that most wear mouth guards when they sleep. Would this help? I don’t know where mine came from as I don’t grind my teeth and I live a relatively stress-free life.

But have it I do. And the last day it’s just been unbearable having a locked jaw.
So anyway, here’s the point of the topic. What do you all do, those of you who have it? Any folk remedies? Any good suggestions on what to do or not do to cause it to go into retreat and keep it away? How do you handle it when it acts up? Tell and share with me your stories please, because I feel like I’m the only person in the world with this right now and the last few days have been tough to go through.

2

My jaw started to pop about six years ago. At first it did it on both sides, then eventually it went away on the left side. For the moment I’m not doing anything medical about it, but it’s been causing some tingling and pain around my right ear for a while. This goes away if I relax my jaw, so I have been practicing letting my jaw hang loose, and have become aware of how often I grind and clench my teeth. I will probably see a doctor about it as soon as I get health insurance!

3

I had surgery on mine 11 years ago. It improved, but it still is not perfect. I avoid chewing gum and stuff like that because it aggravates my TMJ disorder.

4

Have you never been to a doctor about this??

I’ve had TMJD since I was 18. Noticed it the first week of college, which was a bad time to notice it because I could not keep my stress down. It got to the point where I could not open my mouth but to slurp down some protein shakes for dinner. I spent a good bit of time lying with my head on the (cold) floor, and getting stoned.

I was referred by my dentist to a wonderful orthodontist who specialized in TMJD. He did a bunch of work with retainers, palate stretchers and braces to correct me. That kind of stuff doesn’t cure TMJD (I don’t think anything does) but it fixes the problem at hand.

About 5 years later, some things shifted and I had pain in the other side of my jaw. I went through retainers and braces again, under the care of the same doctor. I still see him today (I’ve been his patient for 10 years) and I still wear a custom-made night mouth guard.

Surgery is also an option for TMJD but not always the best option. I did not have the locking and the popping that the OP does. That’s caused by a little piece of cartilage between your Temporal bone and Mandible (T and M) that slips out of place. Surgery can help in that they can clean that area up for you, but the overall problem can probably be better relieved by re-alignment of the teeth and jaw and re-training of the jaw muscles to keep them from pushing that cartilage out of place.

I did a lot of study about TMJD when I was in college, and wrote a feature article on it for my journalism class. I spoke to a bunch of people around the country who had TMJD due to various reasons - car accident, joint disorders, just bad luck (like me), etc. No one experienced the exact same treatment and no one was really cured. Some people were worse off from surgery, some better. Some rarely had problems in the future, some still struggled with it.

The main thing that everyone had in common is that TMJD treatment was not fully covered by any medical insurance. Even me, under my dad’s health insurance which is one of the country’s best - from Ford - I was not covered. The fact that I could not open my mouth at one point still did not qualify as a medical necessity. It cost about $4k for the first round of treatment (retainers, braces, etc) and $3k for the second (retainers, braces, followups).

**WF Tomba **: If it really hampers your life, don’t wait for medical insurance. You will probably be disappointed. But do keep practicing your relaxation because that’s the best and cheapest way to get it under control.

Idle Thoughts: You really need medical treatment, from an orthodontist who specializes in TMJD. Jaw locking and pain is the extreme of TMJD and it can only get worse. From what I’ve learned, treatment is not taught as a regular part of dental school, so do not rely on your regular dentist. You need to find someone who has done self study on the topic. Your dentist might be able to refer you to someone, however. But you are way beyond needing just a simple mouthguard. You can get help, don’t make yourself live with it!

5

My dentist got me fitted with a customized bite guard to wear at night. I don’t grind my teeth; I clench my jaw.
It has helped me a lot.

6

Mine got progressively worse until my dentist said I was going to have to wear an ‘appliance’ at night. That skeeved me out a bit, so I decided to try to improve upon my habits. Not only do I remind myself throughout the day to relax my jaw, I also gently stretch it by making yawning-type faces (no wonder everyone thinks I’m nuts) a few times a day. I am well pleased with the results - the pain has not flared up in about 3 years and I stopped having TMJ-related headaches. :slight_smile:

7

I’ve always had a bit of a cross bite, but after being in a car accident a few years ago, my jaw pops, locks, and gets really, really sore. Really, really painful stuff. Heck, my jaw pops everytime I open my mouth.

Everytime I’ve gone to a doctor for it or anything else, they just go, “Yup, you’ve got some TMJ for sure.” That’s it.

I have a friend that went down to UCLA for hers, where they injected some liquid into the joint then did a bunch of weird stretches, making her jaw get much, much better. I had another friend who had surgery and wasn’t really all that better.

Personally, while I have absolute faith in medicine, I always feel bad knowing that I’m relying on chemicals to take care of my body. For instance, when I used to get awful, terrible migraines, I never went on Imitrex (sp) because it made me feel awful when I did take it; instead, I’d do natural things like smell an apple (suggested to me by a hippy chemist, but seriously, it works) or take some feverfew. So, when it came to my TMJ, I wanted to do something similar. I figured that what’s the worst that could happen? It’s a natural thing so if it doesn’t work, I’ll go after real, more heavy duty medical options.

After some research, I found lots of websites that touted two important “cures” for TMJ (nothing cures it, of course, but they supposedly give relief): vitamin K and lots of extra antioxidants. I don’t quite remember the reasoning, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

I switched up my multivitamin to one that contains vitamin k and I actively started drinking antioxidant-filled juices, blueberries, etc. I was completely shocked when within a few days my jaw stopped hurting and a few days later it stopped popping almost entirely (sometimes when the weather changes it comes back for a few days or if I’m like, SUPER stressed). Did the stuff really help or have I just given myself a lil’ placebo effect? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter much to me since I feel better.

For what it’s worth, I do notice things get back to how they were before if I stop taking the vitamins or let my slightly healthier diet slide for a few days.

So you might want to try it; I mean, what’s the worst that will happen? You’ll get to eat a delicious bowl of blueberries, that’s what. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Magnesium! Magnesium!

TMJ is one of those things that isn’t covered under our glorious Canadian socialized health insurance system because it’s a DENTIST thing, not a doctor thing. So I left it alone until the migranes started and I was facing a lifetime of painkiller addiction. I went to the doctor and dentist and ultimately oral surgeon, and was so dejected by the lack of treatment options I came home and googled it. The first hit I saw (this one) recommended magnesium. So I started taking cal-mag supplements with every meal and now, I swear to you, it is all better.

If I forget to take my magnesium, it starts hurting again. If I take it, it stops. It’s like magic.

Please try it.

I also do yoga, which probably helps too. But the magnesium is so cheap and easy and effective, there’s no reason not to.

9

My friend and I are arguing right now about your post here. I’m telling him that “this guy says that he found out TMJ treatment is not fully covered by any medical insurance”. He’s saying to me that you couldn’t possibly know that because you don’t have MY insurance. Me, I’m apt to believe you and take you at your word that you know what you’re talking about. Him, he’s not.

So I have a few questions for you (or rather he does and I’m typing them coming from him). First, what medical insurance, specifically, is not covered? I’m on Access/Medicare…specifically Arizona Advantage Abrazo plan, or rather that in some order.

Really, that’s the only question. He wants to know what insurance is not covered. Because he “insists” that your insurance and my insurance are two different things and telling him that you actually did research and found out that most all insurances weren’t/aren’t covered isn’t getting through to him.
But other than that, thank you so much for your suggestions and help. :slight_smile: You and everyone in this topic who replied.

Feel free to keep replying too if anyone else has stories.

10

I do believe it was Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield at the time - in my lifetime under my dad’s insurance we had two different carriers, that one being the most recent.

And yes, I did much more research than just what my insurance covered.

Specifically:

  • My insurance, which I will reiterate, was under the UAW and considered top-notch
  • About a dozen women across the country (for my article) who had both surgical and non-invasive treatments. Some of the surgical patients did get parts covered but not all. One woman told a story of fighting on the phone with her carrier from her hospital bed.
  • The paperwork from my orthodontist, who specializes in TMJD treatment, which states flat out that while his office does submit all claims to insurance they are most likely denied.
  • Lots of research online (2000’s version of online) for my article, which included hanging around the http://www.tmj.org site, on which one would find this TMJ FAQ Question about insurance

Now, I am not saying that TMJD treatments are never ever covered under anyone’s insurance ever. A good Doper would not make such a claim. But in general, TMJD treatments are not covered by insurance as I have found by the above-listed research.

You are, of course, free to submit any treatment claims to your insurance company and see if they will be covered. It’s the only way to find out, innit?

I was just giving a heads-up to WF Tomba so he/she doesn’t put off treatment because of lack of insurance and is then surprised when he/she finds out there is no coverage.

BTW I’m a girl…TMJD is mostly found in female patients but, once again, not 100% of cases are female. I think the stat, at the time of my research, was 77% female with the caveat that men most likely don’t seek treatment for jaw pain as much as women might so the numbers might be skewed. I can provide cites if your friend insists :wink:

11

Wow, **every ** meal? How many mg per dose? Which product do you use? My TMJ can be painful as well and surgery is unappealing.

12

Mine goes “sproing” sometimes, and then I can’t eat or chew. The dentist gave me a combo muscle-relaxer/pain pill to take when it happens, but it hasn’t happened in a long time now.

13

I work for a dentist, and I’ve never seen any medical insurance cover a night guard for TMJ. Some dental plans will cover it, usually at 50%.

A night guard does wonderful things for most sufferers. If you get one and it doesn’t help, ask your dentist if there is a nearby university hospital with a specialist. We just referred a patient to Case Western in Cleveland, and are really hoping she’ll get help there. She has the worst TMJ the dentist has ever seen. Poor woman.

14

Ditto and ditto.

The biggest problem caused by my TMJ is that if I sleep on my left side, I get INCREDIBLE pains in my left ear, right under the joint. (I thought it was an ear infection at first.) The bite guard helps a lot, but I really hate it anyway.

I also take prescription muscle relaxants for my TMJ. Because I clench, not grind, it does help a lot. If I miss taking it for a couple nights in a row, I can really feel it - I get headaches and my jaw hurts something awful.

15

333 mg calcium, 167 mg magnesium, 133 IU Vitamin D. Jamieson Natural Sources.

I don’t eat dairy so I need the calcium anyway. I shoot for three a day but can only reliably manage two, if I dip below that I hurt.

I used to grind my teeth in my sleep and sometimes while awake but have taught myself to stop. I don’t do it at all any more, which surprises the heck out of me because I used to do it constantly. Here’s how I learned to stop:

Whenever you feel yourself grinding your teeth, relax your jaw and push your tongue gently against the roof of your mouth. Channel your jaw-grinding energy into your tongue and hold it there until the temptation to grind passes. I did this every time I caught myself grinding my teeth and eventually (after a couple of years) I noticed I wasn’t grinding at all any more.