Thank you for your advice! I was asymptomatic before and never have grinded my teeth.
Time-it has been 3 weeks with this horrible situation. The thumbing continues in right ear.
I was even put on a 6 day round of Prednisone-which should of helped with the inflamed joint. I have been off of Pednisone now for 1 1/2 weeks.............
getting a root canal does not cause TMD... chances are all these issues were there prior to the proceedure, however, when you go through rpoceedures that require for the aptient to keep theri mouth open for prolonged period of time it could exacerbate the issues and bring to surface the symptoms..
As far as what to do .. just like any other inflamed joint.. you want to take it easy on it, stay on soft diet, do not open your mouth too big, no chewing gum , anti inflamatory meds like advil if you are not allergic.. and just plain old time.. things should go back to normal.. if they don't then seek the help of a TMD trained dentist.. chances are that if ou were asymptomatic before you will go back there again..but that doesn't mean there is no problem there..or that there was no problem there before.
hope this helps.