Yes its common that a dentist will unwittingly cause tmd. YOu should look into finding a specialist. I would recomment a neuromuscular dentist. If you need help finding one Im here to help---this has sort of become my specialty. There is light at the end of the tunnel---keep your chin up and ill help you find it ---you need anything just let me know and feel free to pm or email me at anytime.

Do you think they can help out with the clicking in the ear? Because that is whats really driving me INSANE!!!! It's not my jaw thats causing the click, i know for a fact it has to be my eustacious tube.I can live the rest of my life with pain in my jaw but, this clicking in my ear is to much...

yes they can help but it has to be a certain kind of doc. most general dentists dont have much knowlege of tmd. go to a neuromuscular dentist. they can help with the pain and the clicking. if you need help finding one just let me know.

Hi I'm cindy the same exact thing happened to me..... a dentist did it to me and i had tmj within a few days.... Now in my case.... that dentist dislocated my jaw out of the socket, by getting at a wisdom tooth.the jaw bone by the ear was dislocated Out sideways. it went on for two years, it was unbearable, until a chiropracter found it and popped it in. i'm not saying this happened to you but dental work is starting to show up as a culprit.the jaw comes out of alignment because of keeping the mouth open to wide or in alot of cases because of the numbness of the novacain.but i always stress STRESS get a GOOD professional.. no matter which way you choose to try. ask around. lots of quacks out there trying to fix tmj.i did the chiro route but alot of professionals would know, but the jaw is tricky so the Key is experienced proferssional. another alternative, file it away in your brain. love cindy

Thanks Ill PM your right now...

Ill definatley keep this in mind, because it's driving me crazy!!! thanks for the advice I really do appreciate it...

Hi Stagnet,
Since your problems started not too long ago (one month), there is a good chance you can "fix" these early symptoms of TMJ. When the dentist held your mouth open too long, he basically stretched or pulled your meniscus out of place. This then causes muscle spasms as the joint(s) try and do their job injured. The spasms are usually what causes the clicking sound in the ear as they do involve the eustachian tube.

You need to treat your jaw like it has been seriously sprained. Rest your muscles is number one. Eat a low/no chew diet for a few to several weeks, talk as little as possible, do not open your mouth wide for some weeks (this includes no yawning), and use ice to reduce swelling and alternate with moist heat for pain reduction. Keep your mouth/jaw relaxed by holding the lips togethers (or slightly apart), teeth apart (never to come together) and tongue resting on the roof of your mouth.

Be patient and give these "treatments" a chance as they have proven to work in many newer cases of early TMJ. You also might want to make sure that the dentist didn't change your bite in any way possible when he did the "deep scaling" (which I have never heard of before, what is it?). Any minor change will cause the spasms.

I hope and pray that something helps. Let us know how you do.
God bless...
Carol

Carol gave a great answer, i agree with everything she said. Now i went back and re read your first post, i'm kind of worried about you because you just got this(tmj), and it has only been a month. so can you explain more to us about this part.. you said the dentist locked up your jaw , Right in the chair? in the dental office? and you put it back in place after it had locked up?. and another question too, like carol said how is your bite feeling to you now? scaling is a deep cleaning right? please explain more and tell me how you put it back in place.????? cindy

Thanks Carol/Cindy, I apprciate all that advice and will start on it right away. As far as How the whole story, it happend like this The dentist put me into the dentist chair that leans back, and did the deep scaling, which is him basically leaning his had on my chin, while my mouth was wide open, with one of those hooks that looks like this,?, and him scraping away all the film and bacterial from my teeth, very bloddy. Anyways, it looked like he was writing on a piece of paper, if that makes sense. I saw him finish my right side and lift his hand away from my chin to get another one of those hook things and I tried to close my mouth for a sec and felt it stuck. I freaked for about 2 seconds and actually had to reach up and kinda nudge it back so it would close. about a day after that, all these symptoms started happening...Im going to see a so called TMJ specialist on wednsday, the 18th. Hopefully he can do something....ill keep you updated...

Stagnet. keep us posted. Ok , that dentist did something.!!! Good luck with your new tmj dentist. I worry!!! because almost the same exact thing happened to me. NEVER had any jaw pain... or anything until i went to that dentist. mine started like within two days after, and I never expected to be This messed up for so long. it has cost me thousands. if i could do it all over i would go back after him. Sometimes they will dislocate the bone just enough(by the ear) out sideways and it will start the ball rolling.Or sprain the jaw like carol said. make sure you ask that tmj dentist if your jaw is dislocated. have him check it carefully. then if it is ok that would be great. but the fact that it locked up tells me the bone and the disc in there is out of place somehow.i will cross my fingers for you!!!!love cindy

Thanks...oh I will definatley keep you guys posted. And any new info I get that can help out the next person, the better. BTW, Cindy,How are you doing now after all the treatments youve gone through? You said you had a chiropractor actually pop the bone back into place right...

Pretty good... the only thing is that i have to keep going... i have like a very bad neck, which oddly shifts both my jaws...its a total riot. my neck shifts a bone into my jaw and ears... but the jaw is pretty good. But you see when this happened to me i was so bad, i couldnt stand, see, walk, hear... i was foaming... that is how bad the dentist hurt me... so when i see a post like yours, i worry....,get concerned , i dont want anyone to go thru years of torture like i have, or let it go to long...... my chiropracter always told me if i had got to him right away it would have been no big deal... but the jaw was right out of the socket for two years and alot of damage got done.... love cindy

Well I went to 2 TMJ specialist and they both narrowed it down to a combination of they Disc/jaw misligniment and muscular spasms within the jaw, neck and side of the face. Which is what you guys were suggesting. They both recommened Physical therapy, so im gonna give that a try and hopefully EVERYTHING will be back to normal soon. Thanks for the advice and Ill will give you guys updates...

do keep us informed---sounds like you are on the right road.

that sounds good, but sometimes a PT doesnt realign things. If the pt doesnt work, try a Hands on chiro with experience. Mine just popped my disc-jaw right back in. it depends you know. a good Pt might help alot. but a good pt should know my feel too, i would imagine. Keep us posted as you go.... Good luck cindy

if the pt knows what he is doing it will realign things. You have to remember that artho is basically pt under sedation. pt will get that disc back up. it sure worked for me.

Hi Dyan, it's cindy, i was just wondering about that????????????? so a good pt would know and get everything re aligned where it should be? I used a chiro just because i ran into one first. But i have read about Pt's that move necks jaws muscles everything. what about an osetopath? do they know? cindy

an osteo path is more for bone health. pt helps maintain function and put things back where they belong. and yes chiro does that to but pt strengthens it as well. I could be wrong but that is what my doc led me to understand.

Physical Therapy by a GOOD therapist can be great! Sometimes it is difficult to find a really good one that has been trained in TMJ. Really do your research before allowing them to do anything to you. Personally I felt what they did the best for me was massage (face & neck basically), heat rap around neck, ultrasound on the joints and certain exercises.

I pray you will find the perfect PT
God bless...
Carol