Hello all,
A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed with TMJ, due largely to the fact that my teeth are all crooked and crowded. (I'm a 20 year old male, by the way.) At first, my only symptom was a small popping of my jaw, whenever I yawned or opened my mouth wide (which I tried to avoid, at all costs, of course). But since then, the popping has grown very severe, to the point where if I close my mouth, I can feel my jaw pretty much lock up, and I have to open my mouth sort of wide again to pop it back to normal. Is this really considered TMJ disorder? Because most of the symptoms I've seen for TMJ are headaches, pain, facial swelling, etc. I have none of these...just this real annoying pop that occurs whenever I clamp my mouth shut, or open my mouth too wide. It's real loud, too, and it causes people to look at me funny every time I go to talk. But there's never been any pain connected with the popping, or any other symptoms in general. Just the popping. I went to my dentist about four months ago for a cleaning, and I told him that I was diagnosed with TMJ. I explained the popping I felt in my jaw. All he had to say were these "helpful" little words: "With your teeth, and the crowded state of your mouth, I would be shocked if you didn't have TMJ." He offered no solutions that could help me, either.
My main question, and the reason I'm posting this, is to ask if there is any form of treatment that would generally help the popping go away? Of course I never open my mouth wide anymore...but I obviously can't help closing my mouth, when eating and sleeping! As soon I do this, my jaw gets all tight, and stays that way until I open my mouth again, and it pops. Also, will this get even worse as time goes on? I've always had this irrational fear of someday my jaw just popping and then coming apart or something.
If anybody could help answer my questions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much...
-Jim