Does anyone know of any treatments for TMJ?

Question

my duaghter is 23 and suffers from TMJ. She says if the pain spikes in her ear would let up she could live with the rest of it. She sees a physical therapist and a chiropractor. She has a mouth gard to wear at night, doesn't eat anything hard or chewy.. and still things aren't any better now than they were 3 yrs ago. She also had all her wisdom teeth removed.. Is there anything else?
any home treatments or meds that work or anything? Anything at all.

Answer 1

Be careful with who you go to and who you believe. What she's doing now sounds like you’re on the right path but not necessarily for her. I've done all the jaw stuff there is to do, when I took my problem to a chiropractor it only made it worse. I ended up finding a really great orthodontist and oral surgeon team. They worked together to fix my problem. My joints were not even together, my orthodontist who specializes in TMJ worked on me with something called "bite-splint therapy" It took a few years but it was worth it. My jaw was locking shut and very painful, that's just about gone now. After the bite splint I had my surgery with an excellent oral surging. If you listen to one thing that I'm saying listen to this: DO NOT LET AN ORAL SURGIN DO SURGERY ON HER JAW JOINTS THEMSELVES! The jaw joint is to small to endure a surgery like this, when someone does that they will continue to have problems and more surgery for there entire lives. The point of the bite splint is to get the joints where they need to be and then fix the problem that causes in the mouth. For example: my joints were not in place, when they were my teeth did not bite and I had almost half an inch between my top and bottom teeth. They did break my jaw to fix that problem but they didn't touch my joints. Just be really careful. There are a lot of new methods out there, make sure you choose the right doctor with the right system. If by any chance you live in Michigan: Dr. Keith Beaver, and Dr. Joseph Mauro, look em up.

Answer 2

Biofeedback. It works. I, too, have an occlusal guard but I have to wear it day and night to keep from clenching. I went into biofeedback and it is working wonders. Remember this:

1. A stimulus is a trigger to a thought.
2. The thought seques into an emotion.
3. The emotion causes the behavior.

For example, your daughter is afraid of math tests. One is coming up in a pop quiz in class. She felt she didn't study enough. This is a stimulus. The stimulus triggers thoughts about the test that are likely negative thoughts about how she knows she'll fail. The emotion is that she feels like a loser or bad student. Subsequently, the behaviot is grinding the teeth or clenching.

Biofeedback is marvelous. If you can't afford it, get her into a pattern of relaxation via deep breathing exercises and working the neck muscles (there are very good books on the subject ot WEB MD has a TMJ section). If you want to know what type of neck exercise, write me and I'll go into it more. Also, meditation exercises are wonderful curatives for TMJ. I was diagnosed in 1993. P.S. I saw a mouth guard in a magazine that looked superior to what I have. They are $70.00 and I am getting one. The thing I already have is pitiful. Look in the mags and see if you can spot the one I am referring to. It's adjustable, the works. Also, what about a kinesthesiologist?

Good luck.

Answer 3

7 years ago I've been involved in a car wreck and even since suffered with severe on and off facial and jaw pain. I've tried almost everything western medicine had to offer and had visited countless of specialist, had done ct scans, and therapies but to no avail. The doctors I have been to had persisted that there wasn't anything wrong with me and that almost drove me crazy as I was going through hell from this condition. According to all my symptoms I was diagnosed by a holistic doctor as having TMJ and he had recommended this book to me. After following the recommendation in the book for several weeks, it had changed my life. I got immediate relief after following the unique set of exercises in the book and after 2 weeks the jaw and face pain had completely gone. I only wish I would have ordered this program years ago. It would have saved me a lot of pain and anguish.

Answer 4

TMJ occurs when the jaws bones are closing too much. Do not lean with your face on your hands, chew ice or hard candy. They make an appliance costing anywhere from $300-400, but you can purchase an athletic mouthgard at Wal-mart for less than $5 which will help also. Ibuprofens also muscles relaxants if you can get prescription.

Answer 5

I have a similar situation, Takin the supplement glucosamine condritin helps. It helps replace some on the fluid that is missing between the joint. Hope this helps

Answer 6

maybe try another chiropractor; my chiro was able to give me and my daughter relief; I've also found that taking 2 Aleve before going to sleep at night is enough to relax me so that I don't grind my teeth; good luck; I know how painful it can be

Answer 7

U should take her to a TMJ specialist..its the only thing i can suggest.

Answer 8

My dad got braces and that fixed it. There's a serious misalignment, so meds won't work.

Answer 9

There is a surgery that can be done. She could talk to her doctor about it.