jaw pain

[theirmommie72]

i have severe jaw pain.  was diagnosed with TMJ a few months back but i think i have had it for awhile longer.  i grind my teeth severely at night.  my pain is getting worse.  what type of doc do i see for this?  

[lindahand]

I am sorry to hear you are in so much pain and don't have insurance to get things fixed. Unfortunately jaw joint problems are expensive. Grinding your teeth at night is a big problem because it wears down the joints. For about $300 (dentist) - $600 (orthodontist) you can get a bite splint (retainer) made. It covers your teeth so it prevents damage to the teeth themselves. But it also keeps the jaw joints slighly open at night so you aren't doing as much damage to the jaw joints. It should also help some with the pain.

I would be tempted to take something like Aleve each day to keep the swelling down as well. Vicodin are good for pain relief but don't do anything about the cause of the pain.

The type of doctor you see is a maxioliofacial surgeon or perhaps a highly qualified orthodontist who specializes in TMJ. Quite often the surgeon and orthodontist work as a closely knit team having meeting together to decide on the treatment plans.

[theirmommie72]

thank you so much.  sorry you have been through all of this.  i went to the ER and they didnt seem to concerned but it still hurts.  i got vicodins but they don't even touch the pain hardly.  i dont have insurance yet but as soon as i do i am going to get this taken care of.  i can't be in pain like this.  i hope you feel better.  and i will let you know if i have any questions.  

[kaygirl1986]

That sounds alot like what I am going through. At first I was having alot of pain, and every time I opend my mouth I was getting really bad pain. In april of 2011 I woke up and my jaw was locked shut. So I called my PCP and she told me to go right to the ER. I got there and they took me right in. At first theytried to put it back with out a xray but I almost hit the doctor, so needless to say they did a xray and saw that the right side of my jaw was dislocated. So they did iv sedation and go it back in place. This happend atleast 10 times till finaly they sent me to see a specialist in Boston, Ma at Mass General Hospital. At first they tried something called a arthenrosentesis under iv sedaction. That seemed to work for a month and then it went back to the way it was months ago. So they got me a mouthpiece to were at night. That did not last long at all, so a mri was done and they found out that I was having something called disc displacement. So a Oral surgeon made a small cut in front of my ear and put the disc back in its place. That worked for about a week. So I found a new oral surgeon in boston and he wanted to starts from the beginning and he did another arthrocentesis on 12/30/2011 I came out of surgery just fine with a little discomfert so they put some pain medication in the iv. I fell asleep and woke up about a half hour later and my jaw was once again dislocted. By this time the oral surgeon was in his next surgery and he came right out of that surgery. They did a emergency xray and low and behold it had dislocated. So he cancled 3 of his surgeries for 1/6/2012 and he is going to do something called a discectomy and articulareminence recontouring. So If I were you I would go to a Oral surgeon and start from there, cuse the longer you wait the worse the peoblem is going to get. I wish you the best, if you have any questions feel free to send me a message.

Kay