If anyone had a similar story to mine or any advice, especially since I’m seeing my surgeon later today

I did get an expensive hard mouth guard later on but that didn’t seem to help.

I’ve always done off and on teeth grinding but I never had trouble with pain until about 2.5 years ago when I bought a crappy CVS mouth guard. I woke up with lock jaw and couple times. Stopped using it but ever since then my jaw has been messed up.
I did get an expensive hard mouth guard later on but that didn’t seem to help.
I’m looking to arthrocentesis but I’m very nervous and think I should wait until I learn more. I actually have a consult with my surgeon in a couple hours but no surgery date yet. My pain isn’t too bad and if I get a good night sleep and eat soft/low inflammatory foods my pain isn’t too bad but it is constant. I know form an MRI that my cartilage is out of place on my left side. I don’t know if there is any way to fix that without surgery.
Just wondered if anyone had a similar story to mine or any advice, especially since I’m seeing my surgeon later today. Thanks!


Discussion


Klaudia Ostrouch
Have you seen a tmjd dentist? Soft mouth guards make grinding and clenching worse. Surgery should be the last option x

Nathalie McClune
I went to an oral surgeon 2 years ago who made me a hard mouth guard. it seems to work well for a month but then i started waking up with lockjaw. I didn’t get the chance to have it adjusted and have been putting off seeing a new dentist because of cost but I think I’m going to try and get a new mouth guard.

Nathalie McClune
I know surgery should be the last option but how else can the cartilage be moved back into place?

Jennifer Nicole
Nathalie McClune my guard is adjusted every few months – makes a huge difference!

Nathalie McClune
Jennifer Nicole That’s good to know. My first guard stopped working after a month and I wasn’t able to get it re adjusted because I was busy moving and my dentist was an hour drive away. I just assumed I couldn’t wear a guard but this time I’ll try and get it adjusted as much as needed. Thanks!

Jennifer Nicole
Nathalie McClune i may have a different cause of tmj than you, but an MRI helped visualize what’s happening. i now wear the mouth guard 24-7 (not just at night) and experience less pain. It’s been trial and error. i wish you the best!!!

Nathalie McClune
Mine is caused by the left disk being slightly displaced. I also seem to have very tight neck and shoulder muscles. I think I can fix the tense neck and shoulder with yoga and physical therapy but not sure what can be done about the disk. either way looking into a new guard seems like a good idea

Lisa Berner-Schmidt
arthrocentisis doesnt work and it can actually displace the disc more than it is. Try conservative options that dont change the bite. There is no science or research on most TMD treatments.

Nathalie McClune
Did you have a bad experience with arthrocentisis?

Lisa Berner-Schmidt
Yes…and I have talked to many who have as well. Sarah Reed had this done.

Heather Bowersox
I agree. I wouldn’t do the arthrocentisis procedure

Nathalie McClune
my surgeon agreed I don’t surgery any time soon but I probably would need it at some point. Did you have a bad experience with it?

Suz Brill
I had the arthrocentisis and it didn’t help at all I’m afraid. The procedure itself wasn’t too bad – pretty simple and quick recovery but just not helpful. I’m actually worse now but I couldn’t say that it was definitely the surgery as I was getting worse before anyway.

Nathalie McClune
Do you have displaced disks and scar tissue? I’m probably not getting surgery any time soon but I’m surprised that so many people are against arthrocentisis. Of course I completely trust everyone’s personal experience. I wish I could find people who it has worked for but I feel like people who have have successful surgeries are less likely to be in forums. Either way this is making my choice very difficult.

Suz Brill
I’m sure it must work sometimes – I have seen a few comments here and there saying it helped. You’d think they wouldn’t keep doing them if they never work (I’d hope so anyway!!) I’m not really for or againgst – you have to try something and depending on where you are and if you have lots of money to spend you do what you can. Yeah my discs are displaced and the joint is damaged. Only had the awful pain for about 3 years but had clickìng and locking since I was a kid.

Nathalie McClune
Suz Brill Its weird but the fact that my pain isn’t awful makes it a harder choice because right now I can manage, but if it got worse from surgery I’d never forgive myself. Also somedays my pain is awful. My brother had horrible trigeminal neuralgia so he had to do surgery and it saved his life, but I’m sure many people have terrible experiences with TN surgery so I’m keeping that in mind. Thankful I don’t need surgery soon so I’ll try physical therapy for now and continue doing research. Thanks for the advice!

Hany Zaklama
I advice you to use soft night guard with muscle relaxant and analgesic for 2 weeks

Nathalie McClune
A soft guard is what messed my jaw up in the first place but I am looking into a new guard. Muscle relaxants didn’t help, they just made me tired. I am going to try massage therapy though to help with muscle relaxation

Kerry Dorsett
I had arthrocentesis last year on one side. It didn’t help at all unfortunately and I had to eat a soft diet for weeks. Only positive thing for me was I lost quite a bit of weight due to the soft diet.

Nathalie McClune

Did the arthrocentesis make it any worse and what was your issue before surgery? was it a displaced disk?

Kerry Dorsett
It was displaced disk yes.. Both sides are an issue now but it was just one sided at the time. I think my condition probably got a bit worse after the surgery. Not sure if that was coincidence though. I started to take Nortyriptaline and I get by a lot better now although I am having increasingly bad tinnitus now which started on side jaw was bad and is now on both sides as both joints are bad. The maxillo facial doctor claimed its nothing to do with TMD but I know that’s not true.

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