Hi karen,
swallowing difficulties is a very unfortunate problem of tmj. I recently went through a bad spell of not being able to swallow even my own saliva. I thankfully got over this problem by making some changes. I made so many changes that i'm not sure which one or ones solved the problem though.
I think the main one, though, was changing my posture. As I sit here at the computer, I have to be very careful to keep my back reasonably straight, shoulders back and down, head held up straight and definitely do not thrust the chin forward to the computer monitor. It's almost like being pulled up.
The other thing that might have helped is by keeping my lower jaw relaxed as much as possible, tongue kept on roof of my mouth (i can't keep it in my deep palate part so I hope between the deep palate and teeth is considered correct), and lips together (relaxed though).
When I was having swallowing problems, if I couldn't swallow I would purposely put my head back and chin down and then be able to swallow. I think after practicing my better habits above, my swallowing problems finally just went away. I can make it come back though if I thrust my chin forward.
Check these points out if you are interested and see if they help.
The dry mouth tends to be from breathing through the mouth when sleeping or else a medication. I've not found a "fix" for dry mouth except water and a saliva spray (not as gross as it sounds).
Take care and god bless...
Carol
