Jaw Clenching Symptoms
TMJ dysfunction and “cracking” my jaw?
I have a habit of popping and cracking my jaw in several ways. One way is that I open my jaw as wide as I can, shift it to the left and close it and it makes a LOUD popping sound. The other is that I clench my jaw and, the only way I can think of describing it is, applying pressure to one side of my jaw until I can feel what I think is my TMJ separating, which also produces a pop. I just read about TMJ dysfunction and some of it’s symptoms and I was wondering if any dentists or ENTs could tell me whether this could lead to TMJ dysfunction. Also I was wondering if there was a good way to stop doing this. Please keep in mind that this is a HABIT, so I do it almost constantly and without thinking about it, especially during stressful times.
I can tell you about personal experience.
I am 35. I suffer tremendously from TMJ. My jaws hurt all the time. I have headaches, shoulder and severe thoracic spine pain. My neck feels like steel if you squeeze it. The base of my skull throbs. Really it affects the quality of my life like you wouldn’t imagine. It has made me miss work. It puts me in a bad mood because of the pain. I have spent thousands of dollars on physical and massage therapy, drugs, doctors, etc.
I do have a misaligned jaw and I was born with it, so I may have developed this anyway, I’m not sure.
BUT when I was a kid and as I grew up, I did exactly what you’re doing. I did it all the time. I even used my fist to really push the side of my jaw sideways while I was sleeping. It would pop very hard and loud and I would do it over and over until I woke up. I still wake myself up doing that sometimes. It is ALL stress related and I probably started when I was about 8.
As an adult, I don’t do it when I’m awake anymore obviously, but I do wake myself up doing the fist-in-the-jaw-thing. It’s awful and it became a life-long habit from about 8 on.
Stop this behavior no matter what it takes. See a psychiatrist. Do bio feedback. I am starting to try to do that now while I’m sleeping. I put wax on my teeth at night. I try to think about not grinding my teeth. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, the wax has not been chewed on. Sometimes it has. I am working on it. I have a mouth guard too. I’m not sure how to stop grinding my fist into my jaw at night, however, unless I just tied my hands down. I mean, I am asleep when I do it!!
Life is stressful for some people. For me it started before I was 10. Maybe try anti-depressants or anti-anxiety meds if you see a psychiatrist. Exercise really hard too. That helps relieve frustration. Before I read this question I was thinking earlier about buying boxing gloves and starting to hit that sand bag thingy at the gym.
Good luck. Stop it at all costs.
Correcting TMJ Dysfunction (TMD) in Eighteen Minutes with Hanna Somatic Education
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Grind Guard – Relieves Symptoms Associated with Teeth Grinding … |
