Jaw Pain

[Carrie]

I've had my top braces since February, I had such an overbite that we are doing my bottoms in a couple weeks as we had to wait until my top teeth were in a bit better shape to prevent them from knocking off the bottom brackets.

I've had horrible 6-7/10 (pain scale) jaw pain on my left side for a while. I took my 5 year old into my dentist (who is also my ortho) for her first exam and cleaning and mentioned it at that time. He told me to buy a guard and just walked off. I had to ask the office manager what he ment and it was a (American) Football Mouth guard to see if the pain was caused by biting down at night. I have a history of TMJ but never painful TMJ or a problem with my jaw locking. My next appt. with him is in a couple weeks and I just feel that his lack of concern (he didn't ask any questions or even look at me) honestly turned me off of him a bit. I'm supposed to be getting my bottom braces put on at my next visit.

Any thoughts? I'm not a typical take a couple Advil type person. I've had weight loss surgery and they (NSAID's) do horrible things to my stomach so Advil, Aleve and Asprin is out and I'm on a different type of long term pain med for my Fibromyalgia that makes most opiates not work for me so I dunno what to do. I have a pain management doc that treats my Fibro with Cymbalta and Suboxone (NO I'm NOT A DRUG ADDICT, before it's said) but the Suboxone works by making other opiates not work so well. I'm just tired of hurting. Anyone?

[Carrie]

I called his office and he called me back. Said give it 3 more days of heat on my jaw to increase blood flow and see if that makes the pain lessen.

[leannaaker]

Carrie!!!

I came here to this forum, today, to post the same exact question! I got braced 5 days ago and woke up this morning to horrible right jaw joint pain. Hurts to open and to chew. It has worked itself out during the day, but I dread tomorrow morning. I was hoping it was due to me speaking and eating differently (and I too, have a large overjet, so my bite is all messed up).

Hang in there.

[Sunny]

Carrie I'm saddened to read about your jaw pain and the behaviour of your dentist. Do you find your jaw feels better when you move it certain ways? Could some of this pain be due to stress? We often clench and hold the muscles in our face/jaw tight when we're upset and/or stressed and the best ways to treat this is massage, muscle relaxants, meditation etc. Of course the main issue is sorting out what's upsetting/stressing us and sorting that out.

Heat does help some people and cold helps others ... this will be a case of finding if either help you.

Chewing is the best way to increase blood flow in your jaw area ... but do it gently and carefully ... more like a baby chews on a soft chewy when they're teething.

Leanne please give your orthodontist a call and explain how you're feeling. Hopefully your professional will help you with this.

Good luck to you both!