I’ve been having headaches for the past 6 months - I’m thinking they may be related to the fact that I often have jaw aches as well. Plus I know that I grind my teeth at night. (I"m a very stressed out chick!)
So, yes, I’ll be seeing my doctor, but I’m curious if any Dopers out there suffer from TMJ (temporomandibular joint) pain, and how they deal?
Thank you,
S.
Yup. Have had it for years. My dentist (don’t know what a doctor can do for it) gave me a plastic retainer for my top teeth that I wear only at night. Haven’t ground my teeth since the night I got it, maybe 6 years ago. I would recommend you visiting your dentist.
Does your jaw click when you open it wide? Has it ever stuck open?
jeevwoman yes, I have a mouthguard but from my understanding it’s only to actually protect my teeth ( I have very noticeable - to my dentist anyway - marks in my bottom teeth from grinding, and my molars are almost smooth because of it).
Does the mouthguard actually reduce the grinding, or just minimize the damage?
I haven’t worn it very often because I was waking up a lot with it - and ended up just taking it out in the middle of the night anyway. However, my brother ground (grinded?) through his in less than a year.
Yes. But my mouth doesn’t get stuck open. It gets stuck closed. Several times a night. One of the days, when I have insurance, I’m going to the doctor…
Oh my dear yes, I do have TMJ. I started a thread on it a while back.
It used to pop regularly and give me headaches.
I wore braces and headgear for two years (hooray mom’s insurance!) and now it is quite a lot better. I got one horrible headache, which is why I started the thread, and IIRC people said ‘It’s not likely to get any better.’
One thing which helps me a lot is to really relax my jaw. When you’re going to sleep, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and press gently, relaxing your jaw. It will divert your muscular energy out of the jaw - it’s impossible to clench it when your tongue is doing this.
I find myself clenching my jaw sometimes when stressed (it’s also a symptom of a certain club drug), and this tongue trick helps immensely.
It may not stop you grinding after you sleep, but it’s very relaxing, and it can’t hurt !
Hmm, I tried this sitting here, and I can easily clench my jaw while doing it. YMMV, of course.
I have it as well; I don’t get headaches or anything, and my jaw’s never gotten stuck, but I get some impressive clicking if I open it wide. It’s not enough of a problem for me to do anything about it; if it were, I might think about it, but maybe not. I had a friend who had surgery for it, and said surgery didn’t help at all.
Hm. You’re right, whiterabbit. I guess I was referring to the way the compulsion to clench is diverted by the tongue. For me, at least.
For me, it pretty much ended the grinding (it’s smooth so my bottom teeth can’t really get a good enough grip on the top ones to grind). My TMJ virtually disappeared with the mouth guard.
If you are gridning your teeth that much, my guess is that you have too much stress that you manage to hold in until you go to bed. So try to clear your head before you get into bed (take some time before bedtime to write down what is bothering you so you don’t think about it at night) and that might ease the stress and therefore damage to your jaw and teeth.
Thanks all.
No, I don’t find it gets stuck open (or shut) and it doesn’t click. When I’m at the dentist though, it gets very sore and achey from being in one position for too long.
I also find that if I’m reading or watching tv or playing on the computer, basically doing anything that doesn’t involve speaking, I clench it a lot.
So I vow to try to get used to the mouthguard and wear it nightly (the concept of the smoothness of the guard reducing the strain of grinding makes sense to me - thanks jeevwoman!).
Leaving my stress behind is a different thread altogether… 
Thanks again,
S.
Humm - maybe not TMJ then - but another side effect of clenching.
Funny story:
A friend of mine (yes, a friend, it really wasn’t me, but if you guys want to pertend it was me, that’s ok) was rushed to a hospital in the middle of the night because her jaw got stuck open from eating an apple and opening to wide. In the middle of the night. In bed. With her boyfriend. Who was oddly pleased with himself…
Are you me?