Hi anne, yes it is possible for them to hurt your jaw. Mine have changed my bite which is now very uneven causing huge jaw problems. I also consulted a nuerologist as well as an opthalmologist because I was getting headaches and my eyes hurt. Hang in there- make sure you find a good jaw doctor! Get a second or even third opinion- it is so easy for doctors to make mistakes if they just jump into things. My dentist recommended an oral surgeon and I am now scheduled to get mine out- but at first he wanted to get my jaw healed, that is most important! If you have any questions just ask- lots ofluck- amanda

Hi anne,
it's so hard to figure out if it's the molars or not with tmj. When you say 3rd molars, are you meaning your wisdom teeth? (sorry not to know but I had molars pulled when I was a kid and don't know what is normal.)

if your bite is getting messed up because of the wisdom teeth, than i'm for pulling. It is extremely important to have a balanced bite. If not, when stress hits us and we clench or grind our teeth when sleeping, we can mess up our muscles/tendons and the disc(s) will be forced out of position.

Myohio is giving you good advice. Also, an oral surgeon would be more worth your money than a neurologist.

And finally, it is my opinion that you should be using a bite splint at night if you are having pain. I have found out though that it is very important to find a good bite splint maker and adjuster. So, please check out the specialists if you can.

Tmj is "fixable," so don't panic. Work on relaxation and posture (check out www.Nismat.Org/ptcor/tmj for pictures). Use lots of moist heat and/or ice. Physical or massage therapy can be wonderful if you are in lots of pain. Valium or xanax at night for a couple of weeks can be beneficial. But the bite splint is also very important for the bruxism.

I pray that you will get the good help you can. Be care, as myohio said, so many medical specialist just don't seem to be "up" on tmj. We patients almost have to be more knowledgeable than them.

Take care and god bless...
Carol

Thanks myohio and catswolds for the reply. These information is really helpful in my situation right now. Most probably i'll take the advice of my dentist to remove my wisdom tooth. By the way she's a tmj specialist and I am more comfortable with her advices than that of the neurologists or ent. Thanks so much guys. I'm really not aware before that this kind of forum exists until I did a lot of research. I found this site very helpful and i'm hoping and praying that my problem with tmj will be cured. Seriously...This pain really hurts and it goes around my head, face and cheeks. The sad thing is, no matter how good I am at explaining this problem with my family, still I know they couldn't get the feeling of how it's like to have tmj pain. I wish I could live my life again free of pain...