Which exercises do you feel like helped you? I just started some recently too and I feel like it’s helped but also is pretty sore now.

Brilliant information. Thank you so much Do you take any pain medication and do you do any swimming. I was swimming daily before I was diagnosed with TMJ 8 months ago and I’ve gone into real depression since which of course is not good. I want to go back to swimming as it helped with fitness and anxiety and my anxiety now is thru the roof

Sorry but a lot of info to take in. What is the TMJ exercise you do every three days.

I can absolutely agree with all of this! For supplements, magnesium glycinate has helped my jaw relax during sleep a lot. I need to try the turmeric you suggested! Plus some Botox injections in my masseter and temporalis muscles on both sides helped a lot as well. I went that route due to consistent muscle spasms in my temples daily, and the spasms stopped almost instantly.

Question - can you elaborate on the TMJ exercise you mentioned? Thanks for sharing everything!

For magnesium- magnesium oil/liquid for topical use on neck and jaw also helps.

Just a thought, I was wondering if anyone has tried muscle relaxers at bedtime. I know they are not all natural but muscle relaxers can't hurt anything if a person is as miserable and in pain as some people say they are with TMJ. Also if your at your wits end with this pain and you've tried everything else I'd definately look at a muscle relaxer or some THC, or gabapentin. THC definately relaxes my muscles just like a muscle relaxer does. Gabapentin helps calm the nerves in your body. They prescribe Gabapentin for neuropathy nerve pain in diabetes with diabetic neuropathy. I'd say the jaw pain is just like a neuropathy in the jaw. Please no mean rude comment. I'm just trying to help give people with TMJ a little food for thought. Maybe go talk to your doctor about the Gabapentin and muscle relaxers. You can go buy your own THC without a prescription. Good luck to all TMJers.

Link to TMJ exercise I do every couple days. I found it most effective doing it at night before bed; it significantly reduced jaw tension throughout the night and kept jaw “stable”

https://youtu.be/EM18snVgV_c?si=EJi2FMviu96Dj2bj

Randone exercises some time make it worse, by experience. Unless a specialist show you how to do it

What excersises did you do

i do exercising all the time

For those with disk displacement without reduction this can do more harm than good. Just laying it out as an ultimate fix can be deceiving.

"For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken. No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God." (Leviticus 21:18-21)

Over the years I have noticed that I clench my jaw when I'm very angry. I usually don't get angry, but I'm very self-conscious about the damage I do to my teeth ever since I've hit that riper age group where my teeth are brittle.

​

It makes me madder that I clench my jaw when I'm angry, but somehow don't stop clenching it, like more pressure will somehow make me feel better even though I know it will destroy my face in the end.

​

So I practice the 'Do Re ME Fa So La Ti Do' with my mouth to make the sounds correctly (silently of coarse). Usually the practice of moving my mouth like its supposed to gets me back on track of being normal skull again; even it if were off pitch.

It might be worth trying to get more magnesium in your diet, or take a supplement. The body uses it to maintain nerve function and manage muscle contractions, and it can serve as a kind of muscle relaxer for people with issues like this.

I'd really recommend mentioning this to your dentist. If it's happening overnight that sounds like something beyond a bad habit. They might have some suggestions (bit guard or similar) to help train you out of that.

Try "jogging" with your jaw a bit (just move it up and down). Clench parts of your face intensely for 15 seconds (eyelids, forehead, jaw, purse lips, one area at a time, and then relax that one area until you do the whole face, and learn what a totally relaxed face feels like. Repeat daily, until you can clench your face just a little, or not at all, to find that relaxed face state.)
Breathing exercises to ease overall tension. Sleeping with a mouth guard might help, if you clench at night.

Perhaps not the healthiest suggestion, but an adult beverage or two loosens my jaw up when I can’t get it to unclench.

I had this problem, too. I found out it was just one of the symptoms of my anxiety. I started taking antidepressants and doing therapy, and the pain in my jaw was just gone.

For now, you can take a pain killer and something for inflammation, but it is a good idea to investigate and find out what the cause is, otherwise it can get really worse and affect your entire jaw and sometimes even your ears.

A mouth appliance can help. Also try to be aware of clenching and learn to let your lower jaw relax, hang, and not make contact with your upper jaw. Only ice ever helped the pain in my experience. I also developed trigeminal neuralgia and earaches in my left ear. It was three months of pain, but finally got things under control. Good luck. I mean that.

No promises, but try this:

Press the tip of your tongue to the back of your front teeth, and slowly open your mouth. Make sure your jaw moves straight down. Keep going until your mouth is all the way open, continuing to push up with your tongue. Hold for a second then let it go.

Read this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/s/nMu6eMdVP4

What kind of dr or specialist did you see for it

My PT did it! He specialized in tmj. That stuff huuuuurt tho

I once had a massage where the therapist put on rubber gloves and actually had her hand in my mouth to release my masseter. It was painful at the time, then my jaw felt so relaxed.

She left the practice and I've tried to find her again to no avail. When I ask other massage therapists to do it, they say they aren't allowed. I'm not sure if it's a legal or insurance thing. 

I've also mentioned it at the dentist. They're messing around in your mouth anyway, how great would it be to get your jaw released too? Wouldn't it make it easier for them to do their work if people could open their mouths wider?

the buccal massage isn’t expensive at all - costs £17 each time.

Just wondering if anyone has had this...what qualifications should the person doing the massage have?? If any? Thanks!

Why is it so expensive?

I do this video every day lmao! I literally did it an hour ago. It really is wonderful.

Thank you! Already off caffeine and will definitely try the massages.

Jaw Exercises is what actually helped me a lot as well.

Would be amazing if you could share your experience regarding this as well in our survey. Thanks in Advance ! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeEsK3ygIQKmDqL7qVYRl4xF7jq3mcOfG3SezOB5oE5-Yd_YA/viewform?usp=header

Stress and anxiety. I got relief from a PT who specializes in TMJD and he did dry needling and I got instant relief. It got expensive so I ended up getting Botox fully covered as a migraine treatment. I also wear a bitter guard. Things that helped in the past were klonopin and muscle relaxers but I was on them so long I had memory loss. So I had to go off them and that was how I found the PT.

I clench at night. Whilw it doesn't cure it, botox injections can significantly help with the pain and other symptoms.

Have a mouth guard that doesn’t allow my lower jaw to slide too far back. Have deviated septum outpatient surgery scheduled. Have breathing training scheduled, don’t asked me more specifics about this right now. Have PRF in my joints, but that is more due to the damage already done

Had done dry needling, Botox and PT. None these were long term

Constant checking of my jaw placement till I’m asleep. Then it’s mouth guard time to shine

Bruxism is a known side effect of SSRIs and SNRIs.

No. It has two discounted parts. The upper has bumpers sticking out the side. The lower has what looks like long fangs pointing up. When my mouth slide too far back the fangs are stopped by the bumper. The rest of the time they don’t make contact or connected

Mine was a combination of not having proper airflow through my nose (deviated septum and nasal valve collapse) plus I was on SSRIs and SNRIs which made it worse. Then a mouth guard was made for me by my last dentist to protect my teeth from it but it caused open bite syndrome so my tongue can’t rest at the roof of my mouth properly.

I now am going through a 6 month TMJ splint treatment with a MORA appliance on my lower teeth to stabilize my joints and relax muscles, then a year of Invisalign to close the open bite, septoplasty and vivaer to address nasal breathing, and I see a myofascial therapist to help with retraining my tongue. I feel like I’m finally on the right path. I already feel the splint working despite it being a pain in the butt to wear and talk with.

I saw a specialist for TMJ and I’ve had a specialized mouth guard made for a year now, within weeks I had no pain. I wear it every night or every time I sleep, forever. The mouth guards at the store or even your dentist offers are not TMJ guards. You need a specialist who makes a custom mouth guard so your teeth don’t even touch at night. I’ve been in zero pain for about 4 months now.

Yes. Physical therapy got rid of mine completely.

you need to see a doctor. an oral surgeon, more specifically. don’t go to a dentist, they have no idea what they’re talking about and will just recommend expensive mouth guards and botox without even bothering to figure out the root of the problem via mri

My doctor prescribed me 2 rounds of an oral steroid that helped a lot it took away most of the pain. Now I can go most days without pain as long as I avoid triggers like chewy foods, drinking from a straw, certain intimate things with my partner, and sleeping on my right side. Days I do have pain I manage with CBD gummies.

I had TMJ issue for more than 5 years, recently i went for acupuncture, after 3 sessions, my mouth was able to fully open and no more feeling of jaw locking or barely minimum jaw clicking