My jaw seems to be moving.... Help please?

Question

Back in January I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed, around that time I noticed that I was getting an overbite. I had braces and all that jazz when I was in jr high/high school and I am 21 now. The doctor I went to when I had my wisdom teeth out said that I would have to have surgery to correct the overbite. Ok so here is the question, recently I started a new job that requires me to speak a lot more than normal and I, and a few other close relatives, have noticed that I have started ti speak with a lisp and that the overbite has gotten larger. At this point in time I can put my pointer finger in the gap without moving my jaw at all. I do have a problem with grinding my teeth at night. I was just wondering if anyone has this happen to them and what had to happen to correct this. I cant speak like with my new job, and I need help. Since I just started this new job, my insurance hasn't kicked in yet, but as soon as it does I am going to the dentist. In the mean time, anyone have any advice. Thank you

Answer 1

please make sure you get at least 3 opinions before you have any kind of surgery on your jaw. after you have one surgery on your jaw you are likely to have another surgery is 70%.
go to a maxafacial doctor and if your in a large city call the nearest dental college and get their opinion. you don't always need surgery for an over bite, if you get a good oral mxiafacial dr he can make a mouth guard or other methods of correcting this.a mouth guard will also help your grinding at night. do not have anyone grind down your teeth or put braces on you again. you probably have TMJ/TMD as a result of having braces & wisdom teeth out and grinding your teeth. there is alot on the web, (google) there is a great site www.tmj.org and many others.
you need to really watch what you eat, less chewey foods, nothing crunchy, no gum, hard meats (steak) and singing, speaking alot and opening wide to yawn etc...
good luck and if you need to email direct you can

Answer 2

first get a mouth peice for the grinding. i have even seen them at sporting good stores till you get your insurance. Or ask a pharmist where to get one. The other thing is the teeth that were removed and the grinding will make your teeth move. There is all this room now and if you are grinding your teeth to move forward then you really need a mouth guard to help you. When you go to the dentist he may need to put some type of spacers in the wholes and hook them to the teeth next to them so they cant move. You can also ask him about having the gap filled ( making the front teeth thicker) Might be a lot cheaper. so you wont have a lisp or make it much more tolerable. If he right off the bat, says you should get all this work done, then he is just out for the money I think. Go to a few of them to make sure you get the same answer. My neice had this problem. She had her two front teeth thickened and a few side teeth pulled so the teeth would move back. she wore a fitted wire ( not sure what its called) she wore at night and so many hrs a day. then she wore a plastic piece that seemed to really align everything. Her teeth look great and it didnt cost to much. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

It looks like everyone has covered this very well, but here are my 2 cents. I have had an overbite most of my life (I am 23) and it has not become a huge problem like yours has, though I did have to quit playing clarinet back in middle school. I also have a mild case of TMJ which flares up once or twice a year and then seems to go away. It can get worse when I am stressed or fighting some kind of seemingly unrelated infection, so if you feel any of these may be major contributors then the extremity of the condition could be temporary.

My teeth grind at night. My jaw always hurts/clicks more when I wake up knowing that I have been grinding. You and I both need to invest in nighttime mouth guards. They say they can make them for you at the dentist's office, but like someone else mentioned, you can get them at sporting goods stores. Let's do that and give our jaws a chance to relax.

I used to work for an oral surgeon and I learned one major thing from him: JAW SURGERY IS MAJOR AND VERY RISKY. Avoid it if you can!!! The jaw is made up of many small bones (I think it is 14) and it's very tricky to get them aligned correctly. Surgery has a high chance of doing more harm than good. When I told him I chewed gum even though my jaw clicked he just looked at me totally disgusted and told me to stop so I wouldn't end up like his 43 year old patients needing major jaw surgery...

Also, I visited an orthodontist a while ago. I didn't end up using their services, but they can use braces and rubberbands to correct an overbite non-surgically. If I were in your situation, I would definitely try this option after the mouth gard and waay before surgery.

Answer 4

Kinda sounds like it could be the onset of TMJ --- TMJ effects the way your jaw sits and it can be corrected over time with a mouth peice or surgury (My doc told me the surgury only has a 20% success rate where as the mouth peice has 80%)....It might not be TMJ but I wouldnt be surprised

Answer 5

Are you getting any clicking, popping or grating sounds in the jaw joint? There is a condition called TMJ that can sometimes be caused by dental work. You can find more information at the address below.

Answer 6

first - cut the caffeine - it makes everything worse.
second - get a nightguard - just to keep you from busting all your teeth - it's a temporary measure.
third - relax and lower your stress level.
** KEY POINT ** - if you are grinding you have a FUNCTIONAL PROBLEM - your teeth/jaws don't hit right. 'You'll need to get help.