Tense muscles and jaw clinching?

Question

I can't seem to get rid of these frequent clinching feelings in my jaw muscles and throughout my body. I seem to be yawning more often than normal, and when I yawn I experience that shaky, tense, clinching, feeling. Any idea what might be causing this, and if it is a sign of something serious?

Answer 1

Stress could be the culpret. You could develop a condition called TMJ "which is tension throughout the facial muscles and jaw" and more often than not clenching is associated with this condition. If you visit your family doctor or dentist they can make a diagnosis rather quickly and offer you some advise on reducing your stress level. I developed this conditon when my parents seperated and where horible to each other. My dentist told me to do what ever I could to reduce my stress, and offered a prescription of a muscle relaxer to take at bed time. good luck

Answer 2

It sounds like you may be experiencing a lot of anxiety. Actually yawning often times is used by your body in stressful situations, it supplies more oxygen to your body. Also, clinching teeth/jaws can be caused by stress. (of course it can also be from TMJ temporal mandibular joint disease...basically you teeth/jaw don't line up..thus causing grinding...achey jaws). My first action would be to see a doctor/then psychologist to address the potential anxiety issue.

Answer 3

Any drugs? When I took Lexapro, I yawned alot and had jaw clinching.

Answer 4

I found the website below and i thought that this might be a reason why.

Answer 5

Although there should be no great threat, it is indeed a problem.

A great resource to check out is here:
http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/health/health_jaw-tension.shtml

Answer 6

when in doubt, have it checked out. Physicians are trained to take care of these problems, us laymen are just guesing.