I was put on a liquid/soft food diet for over a year. So I got very creative.
I drank slim fast shakes. I cooked real boneless chicken breast and rice with cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup and then blended and pureed it while adding plenty of chicken bouion (boiled) and spices to taste. I also ate oatmeal (flavored). If I wanted a hamburger or meat I got those romain noodles that had the beef flavor that I could slurp down without chewing or whatever flavor I wanted. For my chocolate fix--i would put a piece of hersheys chocolate bar in my mouth and let it melt. One bar of chocolate would take at least 30 minutes for me to eat that way. I ate yogart, cottage cheese, puddings, (all low fat), mashed potatos, a milk shake every once in a while, soups that were like tomato, split pea and bacon, veggie and beef, etc. I drank lots of water to help flush out the toxins that were building up in my system from all the pain pills and other medications that I was having to take for the tmj. I ended up getting all 4 basic food groups believe it or not. And I ended up loosing weight! Which I was elated about.

I hope some of these ideas help you. :idea:

Did the liquid diet work for the TMJ? I've been prescribe a liquid diet for 8 weeks, and after 2 weeks, have not found relief. In the past, phyisical therapy has actually been quite effective, but I have a new Oral Surgeon now (the previous one having retired). I'm a little discouraged that it's not working yet.

When I removed my wisdom teeth (all four at once) my face became swollen to the size of a beach ball. I only ate blended food through a straw for a week, because my mouth would not open enough to fit anything other than the tip of a straw. And then several years ago a friend broke her tooth and I took care of her for a couple of days before she had it restored and I suggested that she blends food, and she told me later that it was a brilliant idea. You can literally blend anything in it's own juice (like making chicken and then blending it, cutting fruits up and blending them, or blending them in yogurt, etc). You should be open to the fact that it is going to look like baby food, but who cares, you aren't depriving yourself of anything and if you had chewed it, it would have looked blended in your stomach anyway!

I have a severe case of TMJ and was just put on a soft food diet until the oral surgeon can do the surgery..bad news is though, the earliest they will do the surgery is January (it's August now) because I am pregnant and am not due until Christmas day. The doctor gave me a list of restrictions for the TMJ..no excessive talking, no gum or crunching hard candy and ice, soft food diet, etc. But, he did not tell me what a soft food diet consists of..I can figure out the obvious, of course my steak cravings are a big fat no..lol But, what all can I eat that will still give the baby all the nourishment it needs? The slim fast shakes sound like a good idea too..but I can't do that right now..lol

Thank you,

Maria

I have TMJ with limited opening in addition to a, what the oral surgeon said, "huge" liquid filled cyst in my left maxillary sinus, which is also the side affected with TMJ. I recently had a few teeth extracted and the pain is worse than ever. My ENT said that he would not operate on my sinuses without dealing with the TMJ, but the oral surgeon says that we must deal with the sinus problem too. I have also had a gastric bypass done and have lost 11 lbs. in 3 weeks with my TMJ diet. I cannot afford to lose anymore weight. I have been nearly passing out because I am so weak and need nourishment. I just wanted to tell you all that I have been drinking Ensure and it is helping greatly. Just wanted to know if others of you have been having a co-morbidity with your TMJ with feelings of other disorders such as fibromyalgia. I have been feeling this way for a long time but the TMJ has only been an issue for a few months. I feel slighted knowing that TMJ research is only in its infancy, but I feel like it is a condition that leads to more conditions and have found that it is quite devastating to a normal life. Funny thing is, I don't and have never been a teeth grinder. I bite down in tense situations to deal with stress I suppose, so a night time bite guard isn't necessary. The oral surgeon said it might make me worse considering that I might start grinding if there was to be a foreign object inside my mouth. This has all been very interesting information since I finally found a doctor that took more than ten minutes with me to sit down and dig through my history and my options for treatment and the future. Currently I am on a two week no chew diet and then go back for an appointment to check on the progress. If no change, he suggested that I try a steroid injection, but was careful to advise against surgery this early on because one surgery leads to many over a lifetime. I hope my info. has been helpful to someone. This has certainly been a very difficult past couple of months. It has been hard not to become very depressed, not to mention the possibility of developing addictions for the pain pills and muscle relaxers. I need them, but don't really want them. I want relief. I hope you all find relief soon. I'll keep an update at my next appt.

I have had TMJ and locked jaw for a year. I have tried Physio, massage, chiro, liquid diets, a splint, and a variety of other things, Nothing worked. I finally went to my Dr. Baker in the hospital of Mt. Sinai, and he agreed that I need surgery. I am getting arthroscopy, getting my 4 wisdom teeth pulled out, getting injections into my jaw and also physically stretching all my jaw muscles that have cramped up!

So far for my liquid diet this is what I have thought of:
Ensure High Protein
Apple juice
Baby food
Apple sauce
liquid yogurt
pudding (
jello
potato soup
pea soup
Chicken Soup - pure soup
mashed potatoes

Any other ideas?