jaw and eyes

[Lindahole25]

Hi my name is John and I am twenty four years old, and for the last 10 years or so I have struggled with a problem and I dont know if its just stress or what but I either have constant lower jaw tension where its hard for me to talk or even make facial expressions and I always feel like I half to move my jaw so I chew alot of gum, or if my jaw feels fine then my left eye feels constantley dull and heavy pressure and I cant stare at anything for more then a couple of seconds without looking down could someone tell me what could be the reason for this?  Thanks-

[ggreg]

Might be TMJ.  That's short for a tempero-mandibular joint problem, I think is the spelling.  What that is, your jaw attaches to the skull on either side of your head about where the ear is, and just forward of there, you can feel it by touching your cheek and moving your jaw.  Thus the words "temple" and "mandible (jaw)" and "joint," or TMJ.  

If that joint gets jarred, or anything disturbs the way that joint operates, like arthritis or a ligament strain, you can get the symptoms you have.  The jaw can even come out of the socket, so to speak, and make it real hard to move parts of your face and even make the surrounding area hurt.  Me, I have it.  I was socked in the jaw, and ever since then, my mouth doesn't open all the way up, so it's hard to get a forkful of food in there so I use a spoon for smaller bites, and also I can't play a wind instrument I used to play anymore, and people sometimes have a hard time understanding what I am saying because I forget to enunciate more slowly, on account of my jaw is off-center.

If you will look in the mirror and start talking, you might notice your jaw is a little off center, it's not opening and closing vertical, instead it's kind of moving off to one side.  If you have this TMJ, you should see either a dentist or head/neck/throat surgeon or an orthopedist, maybe get a scan of your jaw, all sorts of ways and people can diagnose this for you, including a family doctor, and they can also suggest ways to improve it, including the surgery route.  Mine is not all that bad, so I just live with it, but I don't chew anymore gum.  I used to love gum.  But every time I chewed bubble gum especially, my jaw at that joint would hurt and even lock up sometimes.  Hope this helps.