I'm so sorry to hear that you are having this problem. Have you seen a tmj specialist and if so, what is he doing for you? I can give you my personal opinion but i'm not a doctor, just a tmj patient of 25 years going through a good phase right now, thank god.

No surgery. No surgery. It **might** work initially but the statistics are against surgery. All types of surgery for tmj, i'm sorry to say. And it usually makes matters worse.

Next - are you on a heavy dose of muscle relaxants? Anti-depressants? Valium or zanax? After all these years I have found that zanaflex works the best for me. I also take prozac for the tmj pain and very small dose of buspar to stop any night-time bruxism. Many people are against taking pills and I didn't for me years because of that attitude, but I finally said this was ridiculous and sought out a pain doctor. They are very difficult to find for tmj and thankfully the above 3 meds do not need a special doctor to prescribe them. The pain doc did help me find the zanaflex but now my doc can take over.

What is your quality of life like at this moment? That's what you have to ask yourself when it comes to medications. If it's barely functional, then do anything and everything you can to find the resources to help you. The medications will make you feel different at first - sleepy, not-all-there, etc., but give yourself time and take them at the best time. I take zanaflex only when i'm at home and only when needed. I take the others at bedtime rather than in the morning (they can make you tired).

My next advice is to go to a different physical therapist. Any pt who gives up after 5 sessions and mentions surgery is not the type of pt I would want to be seeing. Check around and see if you can find someone more familiar with tmj. It does help. Also therapeutic massage therapy helps a lot. I am currently seeing a cranial sacral mt semi-regularly. It's true that insurance won't pay for mt, but it's worth scraping the piggy bank to see her. Again check around for someone educated in tmj and especially someone who can do intra-oral massage.

Have you had any trigger point shots or anesthetic shot directly into the jaw joint? They might help you. Use lots of moist ice and/or ice. Ibuprofen or vicoprofen tends to work better than other pain medications, but you have to be careful with your stomach and usually eat something around the same time that you take the pills.

What is your posture like? Surprisingly, it took me this many years to really understand the importance of good postures especially at the computer and a desk. Check out posture pics at nismat.Org/ptcor/tmj the site also has some good exercises for tmj sufferers.

I've bombarded you with a lot of information. Check it out and if you have any questions, please ask. I have more resources. I will hope and pray that something here helps. One thing - it can be very difficult to find the right kind of medical help. Do not give up. No surgery and no braces until the pain is taken care of. You may have to have a team of doctors (primary doc, tmj dentist, pain doc and pt/mt). It can be a frustrating journey trying to find good help, but it can be done.

Praying that you will feel better soon,
carol

I actually had a similar problem about 15 years ago. My jaw out of the blue started clicking when I chewed anything, and then a couple of days later it just locked. Beacuse of my age (i was 18 at the time) the doctors were afraid to try anything drastic. I spent a good deal of time trying splint therapy, which did nothing. An mri showed that the cartilage between my top and bottom jaw was displaced.

I went to an oral surgeon who performed an outpatient proceedure, in which he simply went in and pulled the cartilage back into place.

Within a month or two, the cartilage slippled back out of place; this time because they waited so long to do the surgery, the tendon attached to the cartilage had been stretched out of shape and was no longer able to hold anything in place. Think of a rubber band which has lost it's elasticity.

So.... I had to go back again, this time for a more invasive surgery, in which he literally sewed the cartilage down to my bone to prevent it from popping out again. After the surgery, I also had to spend several months in physical therapy to make sure my jaw didn't fuse shut.

Before the surgery, I could barely open my mouth and was having daily migraines. Since the final surgery, my headaches almost immediately disappeared (i had migraines before I ever had tmj though), and can open my mouth well enough.

The downside? I still have a very limited jaw opening compared to most people. Going to the dentist is nearly always an ordeal. Eating a triple decker hamburger would be pretty much impossible if I actually wanted to. I've also been told that i'm at risk for developing arthritis in my jaw because of the operation.

So, in the end it depends on what exactly is causing your particular tmj problem (is it strictly muscular, or is there a skeletal problem?). For me, surgery was definitely a good decision. At the time I also had differing second and third opions from doctors. In the end, I had to pretty much use my own intuition as to what I think would really work.

Much luck to you!

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hope this helps you :d

Hi
my disc was also dislocated for a while causing my jaw to lock but a maxillo-facial surgeon was able to manipulate my jaw and get the disc to move back into position. It is possible but sometimes they need to put you to sleep first if you aren't able to relax your jaw.

In my case it has drasticaaly reduced the pain and symptoms. I can now eat whatever I want, but the only problem now is spasm and pain in the muscles which is much better than pain in the joint and muscles.