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My jaw keeps popping

floriflee

floriflee

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Dec 21, 2004
2,707
1
Ever since I got braces about 10 years ago and the orthodontist attempted to realign my jaws--through the use of rubberbands (no jaw-breaking) to get rid of my open bite I've had the occasional jaw pop. I never really thought anything of it since it didn't really pose any problems. However, a couple of weeks ago I was getting out of the shower and not doing anything in particular with my mouth. I think I went to yawn or something (I can't remember, but it was early so yawning seems like the natural thing I'd be doing) when all of the sudden my jaw slipped or something and it suddenly became very painful to open my mouth very wide. It eventually popped back into place and it was fine for a few days until it happened again. Now, if I keep my mouth closed for too long and then try to open it I have to make a conscious effort to re-align my jaw or else it pops (sometimes if I consciously try to realign it it still pops). I swear the people at the Wizards game last night probably thought I was a nut for constantly opening and closing my mouth, but all I'm trying to do is find jaw positions that will keep it from popping on a regular basis--a retraining of my jaw as it were. It doesn't hurt, but I just don't understand why it's doing this now. I'm not THAT old so I can't be falling apart already. I guess my question is, do I go to a doctor or a dentist for this? I'm guessing dentist, but I just wasn't sure. And what will they do? Wire my jaw shut??? Break it?? Is it going to be expensive?????

This is so annoying....
 
Huh.. mine doesn't sound as serious or painful as yours. Occasionally tension builds up in my jaws, right where the jaw bone meets up with your ears. You can feel the spot by putting your index fingers right in front of your ears then opening and closing your mouth. Anyways, sometimes I end up "popping" those right there and if I do it one too many times, my jaw will be sore for about a week. It's probably sinus related because I tend to do it more when I have a cold or sinus issues. :)
 
hmm ive dislocated my jaw before and occasionally it will still pop. but i dont think ive had the pain that youve experienced. you might want to tell your orthodontis and/or doctor.
 
Studawg7 said:
hmm ive dislocated my jaw before and occasionally it will still pop. but i dont think ive had the pain that youve experienced. you might want to tell your orthodontis and/or doctor.
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Well... I already have a dr's appt next week for a routine physical. I will bring it up then, but the orthodontist is a bit tough since he's all the way on the other side of the country.

I mean, it doesn't hurt when it pops now. It just feels like it's almost constantly popping--or at least it pops the first few times after I open my mouth when it's been closed for a while. So right now it's just more of a nuissance. I'd like to get back to chewing tough food jaw-popping-free. Not to mention that I'm just wondering if it keeps up whether I'll end up wearing down some ligaments or something.
 
welcome to my world.

yawned one day 14 months ago when getting out the showe, and POP! left side out.

Thing was swollen for a week, and now its pretty much just stuck where it is.

I used to be able to fit my fist in my mouth, dont ask, and now I can barely put a Charms Blow Pop into the opening between my teeth.

It doesnt "hurt" necessarily to eat, bite or chew, but its not "painless".

Popping is an occasional thing for me.

Went to a Maxofilical (sp?) jaw person who said a Night Guard (nighttime mouthguard) comes first for a few months.

if that doesnt get the popped piece of ligament back into place the next thing is arthroscopy (sp?) where they use fancy needles and stuff to jam a liquid into the joint cavity hopefully dissolving or breaking up any adhesions (tough spots from the joint not being in place on the soft flesh) where upon it might go back.

Surgery is the final option, but not recommended.

No fake jaw can replace the real thing.

They have short lifespans compared to the real thing.

Probably wont ever gain the original range of motion you had before the TMJ.

The jaw is the MOST COMPLEX joint in the human body.

I am surprised it works at all.

But i am sad that I am basically DOOMED for the rest of my life with this problem of not opening my mouth correctly/completely.

And that as time goes by I am slowly wearing the actual bone down.

Since I eat ALOT I think I may have no jaw when Im 50.

I hate it.
 
Sdashiki said:
welcome to my world.

yawned one day 14 months ago when getting out the showe, and POP! left side out.

Thing was swollen for a week, and now its pretty much just stuck where it is.

I used to be able to fit my fist in my mouth, dont ask, and now I can barely put a Charms Blow Pop into the opening between my teeth.

It doesnt "hurt" necessarily to eat, bite or chew, but its not "painless".

Popping is an occasional thing for me.

Went to a Maxofilical (sp?) jaw person who said a Night Guard (nighttime mouthguard) comes first for a few months.

if that doesnt get the popped piece of ligament back into place the next thing is arthroscopy (sp?) where they use fancy needles and stuff to jam a liquid into the joint cavity hopefully dissolving or breaking up any adhesions (tough spots from the joint not being in place on the soft flesh) where upon it might go back.

Surgery is the final option, but not recommended.

No fake jaw can replace the real thing.

They have short lifespans compared to the real thing.

Probably wont ever gain the original range of motion you had before the TMJ.

The jaw is the MOST COMPLEX joint in the human body.

I am surprised it works at all.

But i am sad that I am basically DOOMED for the rest of my life with this problem of not opening my mouth correctly/completely.

And that as time goes by I am slowly wearing the actual bone down.

Since I eat ALOT I think I may have no jaw when Im 50.

I hate it.
Click to expand...

Okay... now I'm a bit scared. :eek: I still have full normal range of motion--just have popping with that motion. Nevertheless... the dentist appointment is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 a.m. And if they can't help, then I have my Dr's appointment next week. Bah! I just want to go back to the beginning before this all happened so I can prevent it. Where was that time machine people were talking about a while ago??? :(
 
i have a slight problem with this as well. i got sucker-punched in TaeKwonDo (wanker guy didn't appreciate a girl winning a little sparring match i imagine) and it dislocated my jaw. he was thrown out for life and i have a weird jaw for life. *******. i never got a major 'gloom and doom' prognosis but maybe they were being kind, i was only 16. honestly though, 12 years later it's not better or worse really. <shrugs>
i'd go to an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor) for consult. (an orthopedic specialist too perhaps) they aren't as likely to recommend something like braces or some other such long term annoyance to help. orthodontists sort of worry me.
just my $.02 anyway
 
iBlue said:
i have a slight problem with this as well. i got sucker-punched in TaeKwonDo (wanker guy didn't appreciate a girl winning a little sparring match i imagine) and it dislocated my jaw. he was thrown out for life and i have a weird jaw for life. *******. i never got a major 'gloom and doom' prognosis but maybe they were being kind, i was only 16. honestly though, 12 years later it's not better or worse really. <shrugs>
i'd go to an ENT (ear nose and throat doctor) for consult. (an orthopedic specialist too perhaps) they aren't as likely to recommend something like braces or some other such long term annoyance to help. orthodontists sort of worry me.
just my $.02 anyway
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I really wish I could say that I at least had a cool story as to why I now have this problem. Yawning while hopping out of the shower just doesn't have the glamour or coolness of a TaeKwonDo sucker punch. Maybe if I had been yawning while getting out and the medicine cabinet door had swung open and whacked me that would have been a small step towards cool. I swear our bathroom is small enough for it. Nasty, spiteful medicine cabinets.....

I'll take your $.02 with me tomorrow when the dentist recommends thousands of dollars of reconstructive surgery and stuff. I really don't want braces or any form of orthodontia again.
 
mine always does a slight pop if I bend my head backwards and move my jaw sideways. i tell you it makes stunt kiting difficult! its like my head says "why would you need to move your jaw sideways?" but I do it anyways.
 
floriflee said:
I really wish I could say that I at least had a cool story as to why I now have this problem. Yawning while hopping out of the shower just doesn't have the glamour or coolness of a TaeKwonDo sucker punch. Maybe if I had been yawning while getting out and the medicine cabinet door had swung open and whacked me that would have been a small step towards cool. I swear our bathroom is small enough for it. Nasty, spiteful medicine cabinets.....

I'll take your $.02 with me tomorrow when the dentist recommends thousands of dollars of reconstructive surgery and stuff. I really don't want braces or any form of orthodontia again.
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i don't blame you there. i'd prefer surgery over orthodontia any day really. (neither is better but of course if we are talking choice) i hope there's a semi-simple solution for you.

i've chosen to do pretty much nothing about mine, it doesn't bother me that much (knock on wood) but i do have neck/head aches and a popping sound if i open my mouth really wide.
the story might sound glamorous but it really sucked. honestly i wanted to pummel him for that but that would make no better than him and i'd never have been allowed to further myself in martial arts. that took some self-restraint, but it's a good thing i guess because that sort of thing is pretty frowned upon. friggin bully. i got hit while looking the other direction from the side and literally dropped like a stone. think scene from "million dollar baby" but i didn't hit a chair and break my neck or anything. just BAM, there's the floor. i was furious once the room stopped spinning and displaying cartoon stars around my field of vision. it still pisses me off to this day.

so there's the story of my jaw. :p

lets hope your story remains relatively "uneventful". lets us know what they say tomorrow. good luck! :)
 
iBlue said:
the story might sound glamorous but it really sucked....
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Okay... so I'll be happy with my lame-o story, but if anyone outside of MR asks I got whacked in the jaw while fighting 10...no... 20 Kung Fu thugs who were trying to steal the original version of the U.S. Constitution AND Bill of Rights. The security guards were on break and I had to do my citizenly duty and protect those sacred documents. :cool:
 
floriflee said:
Okay... so I'll be happy with my lame-o story, but if anyone outside of MR asks I got whacked in the jaw while fighting 10...no... 20 Kung Fu thugs who were trying to steal the original version of the U.S. Constitution AND Bill of Rights. The security guards were on break and I had to do my citizenly duty and protect those sacred documents. :cool:
Click to expand...

now THAT's a cool story! :cool: :D
 
So I went to the dentist today, and it is as expected... TMJ. It's not terribly bad right now. I just need to stay away from tough foods, gum-chewing, ice crunching, and opening wide until the joints can heal a bit. So the good news is that I'm not at a stage where surgery or any serious medical remedies are necessary. I just hope it stays that way. I'm sure that this was caused by a series of factors throughout my life, namely the orthodontics, wisdom teeth extraction, avid gum chewing while in middle school and high school (that's what caused my dentist's TMJ), taffy and sticky/hard candy chewing and ice crunching (all this time I just thought it just mainly hurt your enamel--silly me).

While there's no guarantee at full prevention from this, I'm definitely advocating to my kids (when I have some) proper jaw maintenance, and hopefully, they won't end up like me.
 
Recently, I have been driving myself absolutely crazy. I want to stop popping my jaw but no matter how hard I try to stop....there's a part of me always telling myself to pop my jaw....HELP! it's gotten way worse recently doing it soo soo much
 
Em___1 said:
Recently, I have been driving myself absolutely crazy. I want to stop popping my jaw but no matter how hard I try to stop....there's a part of me always telling myself to pop my jaw....HELP! it's gotten way worse recently doing it soo soo much
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Might need a visit to your local dentist/oral surgeon.
 
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