no its not dislocating--its just doing what you would do when you crack you knuckles---but whatever you do dont do it--it makes things much worse

I'm not so sure it's not dislocating - I can only do it on the "bad" side - the side with the crepitus and ear pain..... the good side doesn't budge...thanks for your replies - this board has been very helpful to me

very often its only on one side. if it was dislocating you wouldnt be able to pop it in----im sorry but you have to listen or i cant really help you fully ---you understand?

yes - thanks, Dyan..... this is so frustrating and just seems to rule my life with some good days - or at least manageable - and others so hard. The pain and symptoms always seem to move around, and the muscle pain in my back and posterior neck just seem to get worse as the day progresses. This, in turn, starts the ball rolling for more painin the face and under the jaw... as I've said, no pain in the morning when I wake up; then it starts. Again, thanks so much - this board is a godsend!

I do understand how frustrating it is---ive been doing it all my life ---do you go to a doctor for it at all? (sorry i cant remember--i deal with a lot of people)

Hi, Dyan - thanks - I'm going to start w/ a chiropractor the week school gets out in June - I'm a teacher..... I don't know how you've done this for sop long - it's also rather scary, as I hope in a way that is IS TMJ and not something really bad..... today I'm having a good day - a "1" on a scale of 1-10..... I haven't messed with the tmj at all, haven't clicked it or prodded it in any way. My back and neck are almost always in some kind of pain, tho... but the interesting thing is, is that as I've stated, there's NO pain after a good night's sleep- it only starts an hour or so after I've been up, which leads me to believe it's muscles and poor posture, so I'm trying to be conscious of sitting up and standing straight. Lots of time it's the "strap" muscles in my neck that hurt and the scalenes get tender throughout the day.....Anyway, thanks so much

I, myself, have had this problem. I got it a year after I had braces and it lasted about a year. Although I experienced no pain, my jaw would seriously "pop" and dislocate every time I yawned, chewed something tough, talked for a long time, opened my mouth for a long time, etc.

It worried me that I would get "lockjaw," but my orthodontist kept playing it off as a casual thing, even though the pops were really loud.

I started forcing myself not to open my mouth wide, chew anything hard, or do anything that would strain my jaw. Basically, I tried to do nothing that would cause my jaw to pop.

It's been a year since my jaw stopped popping!

Maybe this will work for you

yes this works but it doenst help the opening--you can lose opening and you dont want that either

my jaw only pops on my left side. would this be caused because of wisdom teeth coming in.