Well, if you feel that something is wrong, YES! Go see a doctor or a dentist. What kind of treatment have you received for TMJ disorder? Any? Or just a diagnosis?

yes you should see a doctor--however it doesnt mean that someting is necessarily broken--it could be that somting is out of alignment--a disc could have slipped it could be any number of things that you will only be able to tell with an x ray or an mri

Your talking about the terible pain up by the ears (top of the jaws). I know those all to well. The grinding, popping and pain with a wide open mouth. I got mine fixed. My dentist sent me to another one. I can't remember the name of his area in dentistry, sorry. Anyway he made me a retainer looking thing. I was told my lower jaw bit down to much forward. The retainer is supposed to "retrain" the jaw to close properly. I wore that thing for about three months. That was the end of my TMJ problems. Hopefully your fix is as easy as mine was. Talk to your dentist about it.

-Del

papillon76, the anxiety can really increase your nighttime clenching/bruxing. Consider a gettting a positioning splint (aka bionator) that prevents your molars from touching. And get a real splint, not an NTI device, because those are okay for daytime, but at night, your lower jaw can slip down or sideways (depending on your sleeping position) off the NTI device. I tried one and it was useless for night-time.

Don't let things get worse and worse, cuz I did that for years, and it took a lot of (expensive) splint therapy to get everything fixed. But it's better than being in pain or ending up needing surgery.