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Can TMJ cause dull temple pain 24/7 for 2+ months?

I have a had a dull pain in my right temple for about 2 months now, every now and then it will switch to the left side or both. The more and more i read I feel like it is tmj, especially last night I could feel my temple muscle spasm every 30-50 seconds. However the dentist (who is not a TMJ expert) said he didnt see anything on my pano-xray that screams TMJ. Can TMJ leave a lingering effect all day, or is this something more serious that I should start to worry about (brain tumor, cyst, something else)?

I have seen an eye dr. he said my vision was good.

My PC dr. thought it was sinus related and has been treating me with anti-biotics, finally referred me to an ENT about 2 weeks ago. The ENT has no ordered a MRI with contrast after about a 15 min exam. When this first started I had been flying a lot and had some allergy issues, also at my first dr's visit, he noted a large amount of post nasal drip.
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Avatar universal
I do feel for you it so hard to have Pain and a Doctor can't find out what is te hell is wrong with you. You need to keep on doing then test and hopefully then find out what is wrong. I really hope it's not TMJ but a nightgraud migth help. You can wear it all the time and find out what time you bit the harderst. Just right to breath in and ot to calm you. I know I had TMJ now for 20 years. And you do know what. GOOD LUCK, BUT KEEP ON GOING.      
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746512 tn?1388807580
I'm assuming the pain would be the worse whenever the TMJ acts up.  I clench and grind very bad at night (bite through my first bite guard in 3 nights and it was made of "flexible" plastic.  So originally it was the worse in the morning for me.  

Once I had the bite guard, it somewhat relaxed my jaw overnight so the pain got worse through the day because I didn't have the bite guard in (couldn't wear it during the day, otherwise I would have drool running down my face).

Now it's dull achey all the time and flares up sometimes for no reasons, but mainly when I am stressed.  It's not too bad right now because to move one of my back teeth, they had to increase the height of my bite so I only rest on 2 teeth.  It's annoying to eat with but almost puts me at where my bite guard would sit (since I can't wear it with the braces).  I might ask them to leave it there until I get jaw surgery because I would rather not have pain then be able to eat normally.  

Sometimes it takes weeks to get results back.  I'm still waiting for the results of my TMJ/jaw CT scan they did in october.  The problem is they have wanted to send it to a special radiologist in Texas to take a look.  

Keep plugging away, it sometimes takes a while to get everything settled and diagnosised but it's worth it.  It took 3 months for me to finally be diagnosised with asthma and only because I kept harassing the doctor that there was something else besides allergies, and then not sleeping for 4 nights because I was coughing so much.  Keep making appointments and calling to find out what is going on.  And the most important (also the hardest) is to relax and try not to get stressed out.   Stress makes everything worse.  :-)
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Avatar universal
I am sorry to hear about your pain and problems with TMJ. But I am glad you have shared your knowledge and history with me. I went in for an MRI on Tuesday because of the pain I have been having, spent all of Tuesday freaking out assuming I have a tumor or some horrible problem, still no news weds from my Dr. who ordered my MRI, still a little freaked out but calmed a little bit, using the logic of no news is good news.Had some pain flare up today after eating some chex mix. Now after reading your last post I really do feel like this is TMJ. The only part I don't get is there is really no pain when I wake up, just a dull ache in my temple. I would figure if I had TMJ the morning would be the worst, not mid day.

When is your pain the worst? Or does it strike without cause or warning?
Helpful - 0
746512 tn?1388807580
Depends.  There is a very minor ache 100% of the time, but I've had it for so many years that I barely notice it.

When my jaw is flaring up, it goes back and forth between sharp, horrible pain to dull ache and then either back to sharp pain or settles down more and the ache slowly decreases (can take months for me though to fully settle down, until I get another flare-up).
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Avatar universal
Was the dull ache all the time? OR from time to time?
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746512 tn?1388807580
I have dull aches all over my head from my tight jaw/facial muscles.  As far as I understand, you don't have to have damage to the TMJ joint to have the disorder.  TMJ/TMD is basically your jaws/nerves firing because all the components of your muscles, tendons, ligaments aren't fitting together properly and causing pain.  

The best thing you can do is find a TMJ dentist.  I tried the night guard with my family dentist which helped somewhat, but when it started to steadly get worse, he didn't have any other suggestions of what to do expect "go get jaw surgery", which yes I am doing now but my family dentist couldn't (or wouldn't) explain how the surgery could help.  I found an awesome TMJ dentist who was honest and said nothing he could do would be long-term and found a nucca chiropactor (specializes in gently C1 correction - awesome, but no improvement on jaw yet but they say it takes time and has only been 2 weeks) and a functional orthodonist that looks at conformation of muscles, nerves in head and neck compared to where the teeth align together.

Clarification: the surgery is to fix my open bite and receeding chin (lower jaw too far back), it is not the scary surgeries that touch the TMJ joint itself.  
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