I had TMJ for years and found the best relief came from physical therapy, night guard and excercise. You need to first discover the activity causing your TMJ. Night grinding is only one cause. Mine began from a car accident (a year prior to any symptoms of TMJ) combined with a job at the computer (neck tension).
There are definately things that help, like no or less caffine, gum chewing. There is also a PT trick that helped me a great deal. I realized that I clenched my teeth when I entered the winter air (originally from TX, these New England winters are hard to take). My PT told me to curl my tounge and place it behind my top front teeth. It sounds weird, but works great. You can't clinch when you do this.
TMJ means tight muscles around your jaw joint. The popping soud is caused by the "ball" of the joint popping out of position (not a good thing). The way to relieve this problem is to stretch these muscles. Since muscle tension is a "snowballing" effect, it will also be felt in the neck, shoulders and upper back. A good PT will work on stretching these areas...something a chiropractor or sugeon cannot do.
I cringe to read someone suggesting surgery. They haven't been treating TMJ with surgery for years. Please try alternative methods, as they work.
Boston has a great TMJ center. Try googling TMJ Boston and see what they have for advice.
Good luck, |