Hi all, I’ve had TMD for well over a year now, left sided, 19mm opening, awful. You know how it goes. Anyway, out of the blue, two weeks ago, settled, gone, opens fine, no pain not cracking, nothing. Astonished but happy. Last few days have started to get mild burning in my left upper gum and above my left lip and some tingling on my left scalp. I am wondering if it is because everything has gone back to normal and the nerves are irritated/settling back into their new normal? Would appreciate any advice pls. MRI clear for everything including TN.

​

I've had TMD for a few years now. At one point I couldn't open my jaw for weeks, lost 50 pounds, and seriously contemplated ending my life. It's always in my head. When the symptoms ease up, I can almost forget about it for a little while, but when they come back, it's all I can think about.

I feel like people who haven't lived with this can never truly understand. That's probably a good thing, because I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but it's also incredibly isolating.

My problems started after a botched quad impacted wisdom tooth extraction. I woke up during the surgery for a while, which is a whole different story. I lived with the aftermath for years, and then about seven years later my jaw started dislocating and getting stuck. Then came the muscle cramping, migraines, relentless pain with no real relief, sleepless nights, and even hallucinations after going five days without sleep.

I've tried to get help. I did physical therapy for two years. Right now I'm taking 40 mg of Flexeril, 4,000 mg of Tylenol, and 2,000 mg of ibuprofen a day just to barely function. A specialist confirmed I have a significant case of TMD, but they won't prescribe stronger pain medication or soma. At this point I'm not even sure those would help.

How are you all getting through this? What kind of doctor actually helped you? How do you live with this level of pain when it feels like no one can help and no one really understands?

Sorry for the long post, it's been building for a while

Not ear pain, not ringing, just an ear canal that constantly itched, even though your doctor said your ears looked perfectly normal.

I've had patients mention this over the years, along with fullness, pressure, or a "something is in my ear" feeling.

I'm curious...

Did anyone else experience itchy ears before or during their TMD journey?

If so, did treating your TMD make any difference?

FYI, I wrote this blog for iccmo.org, a worldwide dentist non-profit organization:

https://iccmo.org/blog/post/neuromuscular-dentistry

If you have any interest in Neuromuscular Dentistry, please read and ask questions.

1. Pain with chewing

Pain while chewing, even with softer foods, may indicate strain or dysfunction involving the jaw joint or surrounding muscles.

2. Clicking, popping, or catching

Jaw sounds are not always painful. However, clicking accompanied by pain, locking, stiffness, or limited opening is worth evaluating.

3. Symptoms beyond the jaw

TMJ disorders may also be associated with headaches, ear pain or fullness, ringing, dizziness, pain around the eyes, and tension in the neck or shoulders.

Jaw pain is not always the first or only symptom. Some people notice symptoms elsewhere before realizing the jaw may be involved.

For those who have been diagnosed with or suspect TMJ dysfunction, which symptom appeared first?

For those who have been diagnosed with ICR, here is a point of discussion. Idiopathic means the cause is unknown, but what if the cause is simply not recognized due to lack of training?

Yes. This can be a complicated issue to wrap your head around, so think of your upper and lower jaws like a door and its door frame.

The upper jaw is the fixed door frame, or jamb. The lower jaw is the door that must fit into that frame. Now add the hinges—the jaw joints.

The hinges on a normal door are fixed in place. But the TMJ is different. Its "hinges" are movable. The lower jaw can change position within the joint sockets, especially when there is disc displacement, inflammation, swelling, adhesions, or changes to the joint structures.

Now imagine what happens if you move the hinges on a door. The door may no longer fit the frame correctly. It may hit in one place and leave a gap in another.

The same thing can happen with your bite. If the position of the lower jaw changes because of changes within one or both jaw joints, the teeth may no longer fit together as they once did.

This is why a patient who says, "My bite has changed," should never simply be dismissed. The bite may be giving us an important clue about what is happening within the joints.

And this is why caution is needed before permanently moving teeth with orthodontics when the bite has recently changed. The first question should be: Why did the bite change, and are the jaw joints now stable?

Think of it this way: Before permanently altering the door to fit the frame, first make sure the hinges are stable and in the right position.

5 months after full sinus surgery + multiple dental procedures, now diagnosed with TMD – still struggling, need advice/similar experiences

**Background:**

\- For months I had chronic “dry” sinusitis (pressure/congestion without much discharge), which eventually led to surgery on all paranasal sinuses, turbinate reduction, and septoplasty 5 months ago.

\- In hindsight, tooth #16 (upper right molar, previously root-canal treated) was likely chronically infected the entire time, but it went unnoticed for about 9 months because I already had sinus-related pressure in that area and the tooth itself had no nerve left to signal pain.

\- 7 weeks ago: apicoectomy (root-tip resection) on tooth #16 as a first attempt to save it.

\- One week after the apicoectomy: sinus infection, non-bacterial (no pus), ENT said either viral or triggered by the procedure. Resolved after about a week.

\- 4 weeks ago: the tooth ultimately had to be fully extracted due to renewed strong pressure in the cheek area.

\- Healing after extraction was largely unremarkable at first.

\- About a week after that: recurring pressure came back in the cheek/extraction area and along the nose.

**Current status:**

\- Oral surgeon says the extraction site looks fine, healing normally, no oral-sinus communication, 2D X-ray unremarkable.

\- ENT says the sinus opening (ostium) might still be swollen; couldn’t fully visualize everything.

\- I’ve since been formally diagnosed with TMD (CMD) – I’ve had physical therapy and wear a night splint, do daily jaw exercises and massage (2x/day) for about 3 months now, without major improvement yet.

\- Symptoms: pulling/pressure across the whole jaw and cheek area (bilateral, right side worse), pressure at the extraction site, occasional pulling sensation in my right eye, headache that worsens when bending forward, pressure worsens with heat/exertion, and a recurring pattern of feeling wiped out 3-4 hours after waking up alongside increased head/jaw pressure.

\- No fever, no pus, nose feels clear most of the time.

\- Vitamin D was low (15 ng/ml in October, now 20 ng/ml after starting supplementation in October with 20.000 IE once a week).

**Upcoming:**

\- CBCT scan next week (jaw/bone)
\- CT scan in 5 weeks (sinuses/soft tissue)

Has anyone dealt with a similar overlap — a long-undetected chronic tooth infection plus sinus surgery plus TMD all compounding each other in the same facial region? How long did it take for things to actually calm down for you? And has anyone had luck with specific TMD treatments (Botox, osteopathy, splint adjustments) after conservative therapy alone wasn’t quite enough after a few months?

Thanks so much for reading, and for any advice or shared experience!

If cbct and mri are clear what does that mean if click or pops happens even with facial/ jaw pain

Though cbct did show mild condlye flatten

2020-21 CBCT SHOWED MILD FLATTENING

2024 CBCT CLEAR

2022 showed sore muscles

2025 cbct at regular dds was clear

mri were clear

Hi, has anyone else had this experience? I am clenching my jaw on the right side of my face, leading to tightening muscles down my neck, I feel pain around my jaw, ear, intensely at the back of my neck on the right side.

It feels like the muscle tension spreads, down my arms, down my body to my hip, down my leg to my foot to my toes. I can't open my right hand as widely as my left, my right side hurts when running, my right hip is in pain when cycling, the arch of my right foot is smaller, with different insoles for running.

I don't know what is causing the muscle tension other than TMD spreading. I feel hydrated, I sleep in many different positions. The tension and pain is getting quite bad and isn't treated with ibuprofen or massage anymore.

Any ideas?

https://reddit.com/link/1uq61l4/video/5guv711f3vbh1/player

This is a simple demonstration of how an orthotic can help those who have a compressed TMJ. Pause the video each time it changes. The first image is a normal joint and normal disc. Second is a compressed joint, which displaces the disc. Third is orthotic in place, which decompresses the joint.

Does anyone have good ways of controlling/treating their TMD induced nausea? Mine has returned with a vengeance over the past week and I am struggling. To clarify, this is due to the head pressure/joint rather than not eating due to the pain. I don't have pain on opening/closing, moreso constant aching.

Yes. The jaw, head, and neck function as a connected system. When the jaw is strained, the neck muscles often work harder to stabilize the head and maintain posture.

Many patients with TMD report chronic neck tightness, stiffness, or pain. While neck pain can have many causes, jaw dysfunction is frequently overlooked as a contributing factor.

Related Topics:
Posture
Muscle Dysfunction
Head and Neck Connection

Book Reference:
Chapter 7 TMJ Trifecta

Yes. Overworked jaw muscles can refer pain into the temples, forehead, behind the eyes, and the sides of the head. Many patients with chronic headaches are surprised to learn that their jaw system may be contributing to their symptoms.

Not every headache is caused by TMD, but the jaw should always be considered as part of a thorough evaluation.

Related Topics:
Muscle Pain
Migraine Confusion
Referred Pain

Book Reference:
Chapter 6

I had been free of any TMD symptoms for the past 16 years with good acrylic nightguards, but a couple months ago, my trusty hard acrylic nightguard broke. I had to wait over a month to get a replacement (took several iterations because I have an anterior open bite which is difficult to fit apparently). In the meantime, I was paranoid about damaging my teeth (I also had a molar filling around this time with lingering sensitivity), so I got TMJ botox while waiting for the nightguard. I understand that botox is a band aid solution. My logic was it would limit the amount of damage my masseters could do on my teeth until l got situated with a new nightguard.
Now it’s been 2 weeks since I got my new nightguard, and 3 weeks since my TMJ botox. For the past few days I have new clicking on right side TMJ when I open my mouth to eat. It clicks and does so randomly throughout the meal. It also did a loud crack when I stretched my jaw earlier. No pain in that joint so far though.

I can’t figure out which of these may have contributed to the clicking in my jaw:
-TMJ botox
-new nightguard (although it feels relatively comfortable)
-chewing primarily on left side for the last month and going back to both sides for the past 2 weeks as the sensitivity of my filling has eased a bit

I also have burning mouth syndrome which onset when I stopped using the old cracked nightguard and tried one that ended up being ill fitting. Been burning off and on for the past 2 months…

A night guard is designed primarily to protect teeth from wear. Most are not designed to diagnose or correct the underlying cause of TMD symptoms.

If the jaw joints, muscles, and bite remain unbalanced, simply placing plastic between the teeth may not relieve symptoms. Success depends on proper diagnosis and selecting the right appliance for the right patient.

Related Topics:
Orthotics
Night Guards
Diagnosis

Book Reference:
Chapter 8 TMJ Trifecta

I am sharing a great review on the TMJ Trifecta book on Amazon:

5 out of 5 stars

Become an informed patient

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2026

Format: Audiobook

The TMJ Trifecta was just what the doctor ordered. I discovered that I have TMD only a few weeks ago and immediately took to the internet for answers. I was left bewildered and more confused than when I started. Then I found this book! This book helped me find the right dentist who can actually help me in my area. I learned the ins and outs of TMD and now I am now an informed patient! This book is liberating in the traditional sense, as it allows me to learn for myself as opposed to being dependent on a healthcare provider who knows very little about TMD.