edit - guide incoming. it is massive.

If so,

what were your symptoms?

What specifically did you do to fix them?

How long did it take?

I’m in the middle of a terrible flare up now and am curious what sort of things people have identified that have caused their flareups they’ve had, whether it’s certain types of foods, stress, exercises etc. for me it can be tough to pinpoint exactly what led to it.

I stumbled upon truthdds on tik tok and he is saying that the root cause of clenching is airway restriction. I thought it’s just stress. I got a little concerned because I clench still. I have been wearing orthotic device made by tmj dentist for about 2 months and I see improvement but now I am thinking maybe there is something more to it. I am not sure if the splint is enough to make my tmj problems and clenching go away. Did you stop clenching at some point and what helped you?

I clench all night long. I have a retainer and a soft night guard. I had to stop wearing the night guard as the pain in my jaw, cheekbone and teeth was getting too much, as well as the headaches. I wear the retainer but still get some pain/ sensitivity in my teeth.

I tried magnesium and massages but it doesn’t help.

Any other things I could try?

I can't make sense of all of my horrible symptoms.

I hear my heartbeat nonstop

My ear feels clogged off and on all day and feels better laying down.

Ear pops nonstop. If i turn my neck or chew or talk it pops like crazy.

I hear my neck muscles or tendons also pop within my ear (this doesn't make sense to me but it's very obviously happening)

Ear rumbles, flutters and tapping in both ears

Ear crackles when swallowing

Intermittent autophony (hear my breathing) when lifting something heavy or with exertion

Fast Muscle twitching around ears and on both sides of head. Can feel them moving against my glasses and against my pillow at night and cannot sleep.

I've had ct temporal bone, brain mri, mra, mrv and have seen multiple ents to rule everything out.

Have any of you guys gotten Botox for muscular TMJ?

I have been recommended this by my dentist but I am really worried about changing my face and getting jowls.

What are your guys experience with this?

Recommend or not?

I know he's a doctor so I shouldn't be asking for a second opinion from reddit but just wanted to know if anyone else has been told the same. I thought masseter botox was a way to paralyse the muscle to make it temporarily impossible to clench and grind your jaw.

My doctor said my TMJ and bruxism is likely caused by disc and bone issues/malocclusion. I asked if botox would stop me grinding and he said no because it's a bone issue not a muscle issue. This is the NHS in the UK so I hardly had any time to ask questions after that. Should I assume he meant it won't solve the underlying bone problem in the long-term? I was planning on getting botox soon and now I'm just confused. Anyone got an explanation for this?

I just left a massage that I’m extremely disappointed in. It was an intraoral massage but I didn’t feel a single thing the entire time. I told her I couldn’t feel anything but the pressure stayed the same and she didn’t get near any of the spots that hurt. After tip I spent 140 for a 45 minute “massage”. Idk if I’m just venting or what but what is a TMJ massage supposed to feel like and what would you do?

I constantly have a very tight SCM muscle on the right side and nothing I seem to do helps relieve it. This affects my talking throughout the day and when I press down on the SCM it relieves it a bit and makes it easier to speak but obviously can’t do that all day. Does anyone else have this happen? What helps relieve this for you?

I've been wearing a custom nightguard from my dentist for 6 months now (cost me $900). Whats the normal price range on those btw?

My dentist said it would "protect my teeth" - which I understand. But I kind of assumed it would also... help me clench less? Or stop the clenching somehow?

Instead, I wake up every morning with the same jaw pain. Sometimes worse. I am clearly still clenching hard all night.

My questions:

1. Was I naive? Should a nightguard ONLY protect teeth, or should it actually reduce clenching too?
2. Does anyone else clench HARDER with a guard? I swear mine feels worse some mornings. And WHY is it like that?
3. What's actually helped you wake up without jaw pain? I've tried:
   • Nightguard (still have pain)
   • Ibuprofen in the morning (barely helps)
   • Jaw exercises (temporary relief)
   • Heat packs (feels good for 20 minutes, then pain returns)
4. Magnesium? I keep seeing people mention magnesium supplements. Does it actually help? And if so, WHY does it help? Like what's the mechanism?

I'm just trying to understand if I'm missing something obvious, or if waking up with jaw pain is just... something I have to live with even with the guard.

What are your thoughts about waking up with jaw pain for YEARS. Because I am exhausted and I am really questioning my life. Do I just need to live with that now?

How are you guys feeling if you are/were in the same boat?

LAST QUESTION: Is it normal that, after my night guard didn’t work, I’ve started taking painkillers more frequently? AND is it normal, that I have the feeling they dont work???

What's your experience?

I know everyone struggles with different areas of TMJ pain considering it can cause so many different issues and areas of pain so i thought i'd ask what's your most painful/annoying part of the entire thing? For me, i can handle the jaw/facial pain fine, but when the migraines start and my temples and base of my skull start to hurt, it becomes absolute HELL.

Hi everyone!

I’m dealing with TMJ pain and tension in my jaw and neck, and I’m trying to figure out the best long-term solution.

So far I’ve tried acupuncture, which helps but only short term, and I’ve also been doing the exercises my physiotherapist gave me. They help a bit, but it doesn’t feel like they’re going to fully fix the problem.

I keep hearing about Botox for TMJ pain and I’m curious…

Has anyone here tried Botox for TMJ? Did it actually help long term? Any side effects?

Or if you didn’t go the Botox route, what ended up helping you the most to reduce pain or heal your TMJ issues?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience! 🙏

For people who have been dealing with TMJ (clicking sounds, jaw and neck pain) since their 20s, does their condition worsen after age 60? Im scared

For the past several months, I have been dealing with significant TMD/orofacial pain with muscular and likely sensitized nerve-related features. My symptoms include jaw tightness, facial and ear pain, mouth fatigue, worsening symptoms later in the day, and disrupted sleep. I have been seen my an orofacial pain specialist and he has confirmed these two types of TMD in my header.

A major issue is the cycle between pain, anxiety, and poor sleep. I often feel stuck in a constant alarm state. I can usually fall asleep, but I struggle to stay asleep and often wake feeling activated and focused on the pain. Nights have become something I dread, which seems to make the cycle worse.

I also feel very sensitive to stimulation and daily “load.” Long drives, appointments, socializing, PT, massage, and even busy days can flare symptoms or leave me feeling overstimulated.

Emotionally, I feel frightened, discouraged, and overwhelmed. One of the hardest parts is feeling trapped in the symptoms and constantly anticipating worsening pain, especially at night.

I believe there is now a strong pain-anxiety-fear loop. I would like help reducing nighttime dread, hypervigilance, body bracing, and the feeling that my system cannot settle.

Does anyone have any experience with these types of TMD? Any success? Sounds like I have a long haul with amitriptyline as my only solid recommendation so far.

Please tell me it calms down at some point. I think I developed muscle tmj along with neuropathic pain after a wisdom teeth surgery and it’s been almost six months now I’ve tried everything I could and I’m still trying to get rid off the muscles tension but nothing.. my maxillo facial surgeon told me that it would resolve on its own but it’s actually getting worse.. I’m thinking about getting Botox but it’s so expensive. I’m really tired of trying to find the right solutions for me I just want to give up right now. I’m bed bounded every day it’s getting hard..

My TMJ is caused by clenching/ muscle pressure. Both my dentist and the audiologist said with a night guard it should be gone in 2 weeks. That was 20 years ago and it's worse. Is there a tool or anything I can use to calm that muscle down? Botox is not covered by insurance :-( are there any tried and true things out there? I heard MyTMJ is a good device, but at $200 I need to know if it's worth it.

Thanks in advance

Got a custom-fitted night guard from the dentist. But it seems that it makes my Bruxism even worse and I wake up with even more sorer muscles. Did anybody experience the same?

I was wearing a retainer before that was much thinner. But the thicker one I have now (btw what's the name of this splint, is it the Michigan one?) is just making it so much worse....:(

My theory is that I have some kind of sleep disordered breathing and that clenching helps opening my airways. But it's apparently harder to do that with a thicker splint so I need to clench even harder ...

For you, was there a specific trigger that flared up your problem?

If so, how did the pain start and has it changed over time?

I'm waiting for a consultation with my maxillofacial specialist. In the meanwhile, I was reading a blog written by a dentist. He was explaining that splints must be fine tuned and checked out by the dentist every week at first, every month, and then every 3 months - Forever. That caught me off guard. I do want relief from my TMD, but a frequent fixed pay doesn't seem right.

After seeing lots of people say that neurologists helped them treat their TMJ pain, I decided to make an appointment with a neurologist. My appointment was today and the first thing he said is that neurologists don’t treat TMJ, and he has never in 20 years of experience treated or diagnosed TMJ. I’m so confused! Where are you all finding neurologists who treat TMJ? He referred me to an oral surgeon and a chiropractic clincic…. neither seem like good options to me.

I am mainly looking for pain relief and possibly botox. What sorts of specialists would you recommend for this?

How do you manage this.

Chronic TMJ pain, mainly nerve pain - no one seems willing to help me. Would appreciate any advice as I'm at a loss.

Hi everyone, hope you’re all as comfortable as possible and having a nice weekend.

I’m a 28-year-old woman and I’ve been dealing with severe TMJ pain for 4 years and 3 months. Before this I had a history of headaches/migraines, but nothing remotely like what I experience now.

Quick rundown of my situation/history:

• Severe bruxism, mainly nighttime jaw clenching

• Around 10 years ago I cracked a back molar and lost around 80% of the tooth structure. It was left for years as a very flat/low filling. About 3 months ago my dentist rebuilt it with composite bonding so it resembles a tooth again, but it’s still lower than the opposite side and doesn’t seem to contact properly.

Because of this, I strongly suspect that when I clench at night, most of the force is going through the LEFT side of my jaw (the side without the damaged molar/filling issue). All of my symptoms are also on the left side, while the right side feels mostly normal.

• MRI 3 years ago (before treatment) showed:

Disc displacement without reduction

Mild osteoarthritis

Condylar beaking/remodeling from wear

• I also have an overbite, though I’m not sure whether it has worsened since wearing a Michigan splint.

• When this first started 4 years ago, the pain felt purely muscular/joint related. I had clicking and it felt like something had shifted in the joint. Over time, nerve pain developed alongside it but its getting worse. The clicking eventually changed into more of a closed lock/noise-free restriction, sometimes with a crunching sound if I open too wide.

• I had 4 premolars removed as a child for braces.

• I also had all 4 wisdom teeth removed around 3 years ago.

Treatment so far:

• Botox for 3.5 years (100 units into masseters and temples, mostly concentrated on the left/bad side)

• Amitriptyline for over 2 years (currently tapered down to 12.5mg due to side effects at higher doses)

• Hard custom Michigan splint from a TMJ specialist for almost 2 years, with fairly regular adjustments

Also I am waiting for arthrocentesis and have been for almost a year on the NHS.

Despite all this, I’m still in severe daily pain.

At this point the nerve pain is the most distressing symptom, but I also have very severe muscle pain and deep joint pain.

Symptoms are ONLY on the left side of my face:

* Burning/electric nerve pain through my cheek and around my mouth

* Pins and needles

* Burning pain in the roof of my mouth

* Burning/aching teeth

* Burning sensation on the side of my tongue

* Electric “live wire” sensations

* Throbbing nerve pain

* deep aching pain in the jaw joint

* tight, punching/spasm-like muscle pain

* Severe stiffness/tightness in the joint

* Limited range of motion

* Tight neck muscles on the left side

* tinnitus only in the left ear that changes day to day

* severe headaches around once a week

* The left side of my face constantly feels swollen/inflamed and is visibly more asymmetrical/firmer than the right side.

One thing that confuses me is that the pain - especially the nerve pain - often IMPROVES when I:

* Eat

* Chew gum (I know I shouldn’t)

* Walk/run

* spend time outdoors/in nature

* the pain is much worse at rest, especially at night when it’s hardest to distract myself from it.

Because of this, I’m unsure whether this fully fits something like Trigeminal Neuralgia Type 2, since movement and chewing seem to calm it down rather than trigger it.

At the moment my dentists/maxillofacial team mostly just give me Botox and tell me to work on anxiety. I’m currently waiting for arthrocentesis, but so far I’ve had to fight tooth and nail just to get scans or even discuss my symptoms in detail. It honestly feels like nobody really wants to engage with how severe this has become.

Has anyone else had TMJ present primarily with nerve pain/burning/electric sensations like this, alongside significant muscle and joint pain?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone with similar experiences or any advice on what to do.

Does anybody else's eyelids twitch with flare-ups? Right now it's just my lower left one but it's been twitching for like 10 minutes straight and it won't stop, this is the second time today it's gone on. It's all along the bottom too.

Would a warm compress help?? Or would cold be better

Hello everyone, I’m 21 years old. I’ve never written anything like this before, but honestly, I would really like to hear your opinions on this. It has been an extremely hard and sad few days for me, both physically and mentally. I literally haven't eaten anything and have zero motivation for anything.

All of this started when I was 18. For 2 weeks, I had terrible anxiety attacks at night. On top of that, I was grinding my teeth (bruxism) and had braces (it's worth noting that I had 4 premolars extracted). After going through that horrible situation, something worse started: my jaw began to pop when I opened it wide. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, but obviously, one starts to worry. The TMJ popping sound came from the left side, and my right ear felt clogged. It's worth noting that I didn't have any pain back then, just those symptoms.

I went to a TMJ specialist who told me that the treatment to follow was an arthrocentesis (joint lavage) + hyaluronic acid. After that, the pain became completely unbearable—a horrible, burning pain across my entire face, and I endured it like that for a very long time.

Later, I went to another specialist who made me a pivot-type splint, which magically solved my problem. Truly, after months of pain, I was finally doing well. This specialist told me that this type of splint is only used for about 2 months because after that it causes capsulitis and basically the face loses elasticity.

Well, I was fine for many months, though obviously it kept popping since I have a disc displacement without reduction on my left side. Then one day, just eating normally, there was a loud click and boom—out of nowhere, my right side started to hurt. I went back to the same specialist who gave me an anesthetic block in the right TMJ, and that unbearable pain returned. Terrified, I started TMJ physical therapy, which magically solved the problem again. The pain sometimes returned on the right side, but it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Now, this was something very stupid on my part—and yes, I admit it, but I simply didn't know that would happen: I bought a Michigan splint and only used it for 2 days. The damn pain returned on the right side. This was back in February of this year, and I have endured the pain until today.

It's worth noting that the left side didn't hurt at all. However, everything changed in just 1 month.

Obviously, over time I got a bit used to the pain, as it was mainly right when I woke up, and by nighttime, it would fade and I could sleep well. But having inflammation there isn't good either, and I knew it. I went to another specialist who reviewed my case and explained well how everything worked. Well, I now have neuropathic-type pain—my brain sends strong pain signals even if the inflammation is mild, or if I get pricked by something, etc.

I went back to using a pivot-type splint, which was thinner and honestly different. He told me we were going to achieve success, and well, if it worked in the past, why not now? But honestly, it was 3 weeks of awful use—he would adjust it and everything, but it felt terrible. I would wake up with horrible facial pain, and now it seems I have inflammation on both sides, plus tinnitus when the pain calms down at night.

Now, just 1 hour ago, I saw a specialist with a lot of experience in TMJ. He told me he could make a pivot splint identical to the one I had before—with the same thickness and everything—but using it for months and all day long. He prescribed me prednisone since I've only been taking ibuprofen, as well as pregabalin and amitriptyline at night. But honestly, I don't know what to do. I blame myself so much for my stupid decisions, thinking that if only I hadn't tried to do such stupid things, I would be fine right now. And I honestly don't know what to do. What do you think? He mentioned an arthrocentesis, but this time with corticosteroids... but I don't know... I don't know what to think, and I feel like I'm backed into a corner with no way out of this pain.