posted
Lately I've been having this problem where my left jaw pops when I open or close my mouth. The right jaw is fine. And the area around my ears feels wierd as well. There's no pain, but it's really annoying and it's been going on for a week now. Anybody have this?
Posts: 102 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Sounds like TMJ. I got it when I was hit in the face with a basketball in high school. Ironically, my brother got it the same way several years before. It's annoying and sometimes it can be really painful. Most of the time I'm fine. I've never been treated for it, but it is an option.
posted
No, there are exercises you can do, and if there's pain, moist heat is a good option.
If your problem is caused/exacerbated by nighttime tooth-clenching/grinding, seeing a specialist to be fitted for a mouthguard is a good idea. (I chewed through the rubber ones-- twice-- and so had to be given a hard plastic one.)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Wow. I never knew it was so common. I got hit in the face with a soccer ball, and since then my jaw pops on the right side when I open it really wide. It doesn't hurt, though. My orthodontist took an x-ray when it didn't go away, and said that it wasn't a problem. I don't know anymore than that.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
You grind your teeth. I do that too. Get a mouth guard from your dentist.
My dad also grinds his teeth, and he never got a mouth guard. At 57, he just had braces for a year and $20,000 of orthodontics and dentistry to correct all the problems caused by it.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Try finding a massage therapist trained in Trigger Point Therapy. If you keep your trigger points treated, you'll have less problems. My jaw hasn't bothered me in over a year.
Posts: 161 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I don't grind my teeth, but I did have tmj in highschool. You can get fitted for a mouthpiece that you wear at night that pulls your lower jaw forward. That stretches everything out and relieves the symptoms.
It's expensive though, so I wouldn't do it if your symptoms are just annoying. I did it when I could no longer open my mouth wide enough to eat a hot dog.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I remember reading that TMJ can cause shoulder and other problems. I was diagnosed with TMJ about 10 years ago, but because my children's orthodontia was so expensive, I haven't had any treatment. Now I'm starting to wonder if some chronic neck and shoulder problems I've been having are related to the TMJ...
Goes off to google a bit...
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
It can run in families too - I have it, and an uncle does as well. As long as it doesn't hurt, I wouldn't worry about it that much. If you have the "cool" version of TMJ you can do awesome party tricks as well. My jaw can open wide as a python's! Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Man, I almost saw this thread as having said "Jew problem" at first I got really mad thinking someone had the audaicty to spread hatred in this forum, thenmy vision focused and discovered it said "Jaw" and so I calmed and laughed embarrassed.
Posts: 1567 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I just wanted to make sure that it won't affect my ears, since that jaw bone hits the ear canal....
Posts: 102 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I've been telling people "my jaw pops" for about 8 years now. No one has ever known what I was talking about. My dentist and orthodontist either didn't believe me or didn't seem to care.
It started when I was playing field hockey, and in one of my earliest games, I discovered I could only open my mouth halfway after I removed my mouthguard. I was scared, but I went home and had a nap and when I awoke, I was fine. It happened several times after that. Then came the time period where every time I closed my mouth I had to wait for it to decide to open fully again. Like, every time I took a bite of food. It was terrible. Eventually, I figured out how to "pop" it open. The sensation has always reminded my of one of those adjustible pliers. It only hurts if I try to force the joint or if my mouth is open for long periods of time, like at the dentist's. When I had my wisdom teeth out, something happened, and it took about two months before my jaw recovered enough to open properly again.
Anyway, the point of this long ramble is my complete and utter amazement that I'm not alone, that someone ELSE has to deal with this, that I'm not completely off my rocker.
posted
I missed that. dkw, I know exactly how it feels. It's horrible. All the empathy in the world to anyone who deals or dealt with this.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Eaquae Legit: Anyway, the point of this long ramble is my complete and utter amazement that I'm not alone, that someone ELSE has to deal with this, that I'm not completely off my rocker.
Wow.
Oh, you are completely off your rocker. But not because of this. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Then the patient is precisely positioned on the therapy table with the help of an assistant, including the support of pelvic wedges and sometimes a cranial pillow, for optimal treatment results and greater patient comfort. Then a small "endonasal" balloon is inserted into the nostril, briefly inflated, and quickly removed. Many patients describe the balloon pressure sensation as similar to getting water up their nose when jumping into a pool. Finally a recheck verifies that the treatment results have been achieved for that day.
Sorry for the repeat posts. This is too much for me to handle.
So, steven wedges himself on a table (with the aid of an assistant, of course), and inserts a "small endonasal balloon" into his nose, inflates it, and verfies he got the correct results.
...and that's just the first day.
quote:"Endonasal" balloons in treatment are not new. They have been a valuable tool in practice since the early 1930s. Frequently these treatments, such as Bilateral Nasal Specific therapy, gave relief of symptoms and some long-term results. However these older treatment approaches were generalized and frequently painful.
Let's think realistically here and say that steven probably doesn't have the equipment necessary to make this procedure non-painful. So, he's on his bed with a balloon in his nose, inflating it! With every inflation it gets more and more painful. Can you imagine the self-control it would take to achieve the correct "treatment results." After all, you're realligning every bone in your head with one little balloon.
steven, I think it's safe to say, you need to research things a little more. If this is a new and basically unproven field, what makes you think you can make a do-it-yourself project out of it and assume you got the right results?
Posts: 1660 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Equae Legit, that is exactly how I felt when I diagnosed my coccyx problem based on information I found on Hatrack.
Boy, was I grumpy with all the doctors and nurses who told me, "Oh, that's normal after you have a baby" as I struggled to explain that was not the pain I was talking about. Not that there's really any treatment, but I found some excellent suggestions for relieving pain long enough to let it heal. I even found some exercise suggestions to strengthen muscles that helped take some of the pressure off the coccyx. But because Hatrack helped me find this out instead of my doctor, I wasted 6 months in horrible pain every time I sat, stood, or changed position, when I could have been relieving it at least some of the time.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Do wisdom teeth have anything to do with this? Because the wisdom teeth in the jaw that pops is almost fully developed, whereas on the jaw that's fine it's barely begun to grow.
Posts: 102 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
My TMJ problems come and go. Anything can bring it on, like chewing gum for too long. Sometimes it hurts to close my jaw, sometimes it hurts to open it. Sometimes I can only open it part way--have to force it until it pops. Sometimes it hurts like crazy, sometimes it just clicks. Sometimes I push on the side of my jaw to get it more in alignment. Most of the time, I have no trouble at all.
One thing I notice, though, is that I open my mouth all the way, my mouth opens a little to the side instead of straight down. It's not really noticable, but I attribute it to TMJ.
And yeah... it's common. And it sucks. My brother used to have a clear plastic mouthpiece that fit tightly over his teeth. It hurt him a lot, though, if he put it on after forgetting to for a while. I don't think he ever got fully "cured."
posted
And I don't know if wisdom teeth have anything to do with it. I had mine out and I still have the TMJ problem.
And we only have 1 jaw... with 2 sides. If I'm wrong about that, I'll be surprised. Unless you're some funky 2-headed creature. Now that'd be interesting...
posted
My TMJ is absolutely stress related. I can tell exactly when I'm starting to stress about something, because the headaches and the grinding start.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I was always under the impression that the Frontal Bone was one solid bone that's fused to most other bones in your head. If you misalligned it wouldn't you misallign everything else? The Frontal Bone is a very large "Cranial Bone" not a "Facial Bone" so it would have a huge impact on everyting else. What in the world would make you think you should try something like this?
Posts: 1660 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
I've never read anything to the contrary of the teaching that the cranial bones are in fact fused. The sutures form an interlocking puzzle of zig-zags that form the best natural "fusing" of bones while not becoming one bone. If you look at how the Frontal Bone and the Parietal Bone are fused, it's a much tighter lock than the Frontal Bone to the Sphenoid(sp?) Bone. I could see how a person could "misallign" their Sphenoid Bone. But to say you misaligned your Frontal Bone without misalligning everything else is a bit misleading isn't it?
Posts: 1660 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
yes, it is potentially misleading, scott. I'm just trying to make myself look like I know something. that's the strategy I'm using here, to get people to like me for what I know rather than other things.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
You should learn some great skills. You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills. . . .
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
By the way, I got a new Napoleon shirt for my birthday the other day. It looks just like the gym shirt he wears in the movie (complete with "Napoleon" scrawled across it). Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:when I got up from doing the balloons, could barely move my head and neck, and looked in the mirror and noticed that one eye was MUCH bigger than the other. (I had misaligned my frontal bone, I think)
Yikes!
Kids -- please don't try this at home. Never stick anything up your nose. Nothing good is likely to happen as a result.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
One more thing steven. If you can't argue the points that you yourself brought up in a simple debate. (BTW, I'm nowhere near being a doctor and refreshed my memory with simple Google searches during the arguement) Why would you think you knew enough to do it in the first place, if you really did it at all?
Posts: 1660 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
This thread is getting bookmarked, due to the fact that it includes some of the funniest quotes ever.
Posts: 879 | Registered: Apr 2005
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steven, I in no way want you to leave Hatrack. I was actually a little worried when you didn't post for a while. Please don't think I'm out to get you.
One thing you need to know about those of us here is this: we research the hell out of every little detail and we love debate. Those two combined can be a tough package to deal with, but we usually get to the bottom of things.
So, when I argue with you, argue back! Don't just take it. Nobody is better than anyone else here. Nobody is going to pull some imaginary rank on you. Show me your sources and I'll show you mine.
Posts: 1660 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Not that there's really any treatment, but I found some excellent suggestions for relieving pain long enough to let it heal. I even found some exercise suggestions to strengthen muscles that helped take some of the pressure off the coccyx. But because Hatrack helped me find this out instead of my doctor, I wasted 6 months in horrible pain every time I sat, stood, or changed position, when I could have been relieving it at least some of the time.
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If I'm wrong about that, I'll be surprised. ![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
