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TMJ dysfunction or arthritis?
I had a popping of my jaw for many years. Worse on the right side of the jaw then the left. It was slowly getting worse, loader popping, more pain. Had difficulty eating certain things like chocolate and dense breads. It started popping while biting slowly onto things like chocolate...very unpleasant.
So last June, my life got extra stressful. A death in the family, job loss, and I have Gastritis and had a scope procedure to check on my gastritis. Before the scope procedure my jaw was giving my grief in its self. The popping was its worse ever, yawning was terrible and I thought my jaw was going to dislocate it was getting so bad. So my mom told me to try to not open my jaw to that point and don't let it pop. That is what I did, and at some point my jaw quit popping all together....but now I cant open my jaw past a certain point. im not sure if the procedure worsened it even more. They put a bite block in my mouth and It was forced to be open farther that it wanted to befor a period of time while I was unconscious.
I had an incident shortly after where I was trying to open my mouth to eat a cheese burger (tall homemade) when I got terrible pain in my jaw, like a dentist needle in my jaw.
Since that incident, I have had pain everyday. I cant even eat right. The pain is worsening daily, yawning is extreamly painful. Swallowing has even been painful at times. I am now getting pain inside my throat, in my neck, my right side is the worst so my right ear goes muffled. Headaches are already common for me so that is just as bad.
I finally told my doctor about it, ( my other doctor told my to go to a dentist).She actually gave my a x-ray referral and it showed that something was wrong and they needed to do an MRI to find out what is causing my jaw to not open properly on the right side. Something about forward condylar excursion wasn't happening for some reason. So my insurance doesn't cover the MRI unless there is a diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis (I have arthritis in other joints so I wouldn't be surprised). Even then, who do I get the Mri to for treatment? If it is arthritis I might get lucky to find a doctor instead of a dentist to treat it somehow? If not, dental insurances are hard to find with coverage of tmj treatment.
So I guess Im not sure what to do other than save up some cash for a mri and treatment of my TMJ, I will be lucky If I am not on a liquid diet by then!
I have done some research, but what diseases of the joint can cause this? What other possible diseases could there be that would be causing my TMJ pain and dysfunction?
So last June, my life got extra stressful. A death in the family, job loss, and I have Gastritis and had a scope procedure to check on my gastritis. Before the scope procedure my jaw was giving my grief in its self. The popping was its worse ever, yawning was terrible and I thought my jaw was going to dislocate it was getting so bad. So my mom told me to try to not open my jaw to that point and don't let it pop. That is what I did, and at some point my jaw quit popping all together....but now I cant open my jaw past a certain point. im not sure if the procedure worsened it even more. They put a bite block in my mouth and It was forced to be open farther that it wanted to befor a period of time while I was unconscious.
I had an incident shortly after where I was trying to open my mouth to eat a cheese burger (tall homemade) when I got terrible pain in my jaw, like a dentist needle in my jaw.
Since that incident, I have had pain everyday. I cant even eat right. The pain is worsening daily, yawning is extreamly painful. Swallowing has even been painful at times. I am now getting pain inside my throat, in my neck, my right side is the worst so my right ear goes muffled. Headaches are already common for me so that is just as bad.
I finally told my doctor about it, ( my other doctor told my to go to a dentist).She actually gave my a x-ray referral and it showed that something was wrong and they needed to do an MRI to find out what is causing my jaw to not open properly on the right side. Something about forward condylar excursion wasn't happening for some reason. So my insurance doesn't cover the MRI unless there is a diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis (I have arthritis in other joints so I wouldn't be surprised). Even then, who do I get the Mri to for treatment? If it is arthritis I might get lucky to find a doctor instead of a dentist to treat it somehow? If not, dental insurances are hard to find with coverage of tmj treatment.
So I guess Im not sure what to do other than save up some cash for a mri and treatment of my TMJ, I will be lucky If I am not on a liquid diet by then!
I have done some research, but what diseases of the joint can cause this? What other possible diseases could there be that would be causing my TMJ pain and dysfunction?
Come on dude, Thats all you have to say? I know I need to see a specialist, does anyone have similar issues they would like to share? Any tips to prevent pain?
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If you suffer from frequent headaches, jaw clicking and popping ear pain, you may have TMJ. Top dentist Hamidreza Nassery, DMD, has the best TMJ treatments for you.
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