also ask her what is her position when she sleeps----her complaints are right side!
hi doc: i hope this may be of some use to you. I had one client who kept grinding her teeth at night and hated the mouthpiece her doc gave her to try. She was pretty open and willing to try some "creative" techniques. I asked her to keep a nerf ball about the size of a tennis ball (the tennis ball is too hard to work well) by her bed and as she was going to sleep to start squeezing it nice and slow with her breath in rhythm. Well she was a good "placebo" believer and the stress transferred to the ball and not her teeth and..,.....!!!May work for Nikki's situation or begin to help? OM
Hi!
Pain in jaw and neck that aggravates on chewing can be due to TMJ. To get relief, you have to press on muscles of your face to look for sore points. To get some relief you can try massaging the sore muscles. Then massage these points with short strokes. To massage the masseter muscles on each side of your jaw, place your thumb inside your mouth and squeeze the thick muscle in your cheek with your fingers. To massage the jaw muscles inside your mouth, use your index finger to probe and massage these spots. Massaging the muscles does not help every one. Also if the procedure is not correct, then it can further aggravate the problem.
Moist heat or cold packs on the face, vitamin supplements, or biofeedback are useful for some people. Usually people find a method that brings relief by trial and error. Consult an ENT specialist.
Other problems can be due to some other cause, and it is difficult to ascertain that on net. But probably you need to get assessments for bone density, parathyroid and thyroid gland function. Take care!