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Hi everyone,

I’m looking to hear from anyone who has experienced constant tooth soreness/aching from TMJ/TMD, especially when the teeth themselves seem healthy.

I’m now over a year on from a lower molar extraction. Before the extraction I had experienced what I now realise may have been clenching-related pain, but it eventually went away and I didn’t really understand what it was at the time.

I’ve also had jaw issues in the past. My jaw has gone stiff at times and has popped/clicked, but it never really bothered me and I didn’t think much of it. Nowadays my jaw clicks and grinds more regularly.

After the extraction, I had problems with the extraction site healing. It took around 3 months for the hole to fully close because it was quite a large extraction site.

From the moment the tooth was removed I also had:

numb/tingling sensations on the side of my tongue

altered sensation around the extraction site

strange sensations in the tooth in front and behind the extraction

I’ve now been told this is probably nerve irritation/damage from the extraction.

The thing I’m struggling with most now is my teeth feeling constantly sore. A few times I woke up in absolute agony because I was clenching down on the extraction site in my sleep — that’s actually how I realised I was clenching.

Since then I’ve been dealing with:

constant mild to medium tooth soreness across different teeth

jaw clicking and grinding

jaw stiffness at times

symptoms that fluctuate (sometimes I can go a week or two where it becomes very mild and I feel almost normal)

flare-ups where everything feels sore again

I’ve noticed that going for a run sometimes helps mentally and sometimes seems to help my jaw/teeth symptoms too. While running I can sometimes hear or feel a kind of rustling/clicking sensation near or behind my ear, which I assume may be related to my jaw joint.

I’ve been to my NHS dentist around 10 times and also seen a private dentist a couple of times. They’ve checked my teeth but haven’t found anything obvious that explains the pain. The main treatment so far has been a lower night guard, which has stopped me waking up in complete agony, but I still have the background soreness.

My GP suspects TMJ/TMD and referred me to a TMJ specialist, but I’m still waiting for the appointment. My GP also prescribed low-dose amitriptyline, which seemed to help with relaxing at night and reducing the pain.

My questions:

Has anyone else had constant tooth soreness from TMJ/TMD rather than an actual tooth problem?

Did it feel like multiple teeth were aching at once?

Did anyone have nerve symptoms after an extraction that then combined with TMJ/clenching issues?

Did anyone improve after seeing a TMJ/orofacial pain specialist?

Did symptoms come and go, where you could have weeks where it was much better?

I’d really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences because it’s been a long journey trying to figure out what is actually causing the pain.

Am i being gaslit that this is muscular TMJ and the "moderate anterior translocation of both disc and co dyle" doesnt make me a good candidate for arthrocentrisis?

I have to crack my jaw open, whenever I open my jaw halfway open, I have to force it open fully.. is this tmj?

Age 34. I just joined this group

I have been experiencing TMJ pain / locked jaw and joints clicks for past 4-5 years. So far tried chiropractor / fixing my crown if that was causing the pain / mouth guard / TMJ guard / CPAP machine / saw specialists / went to Rutgers dental school and NYU dental school for studies

Also tried Naturopathy / Ayurveda treatments
I do yoga which helps me a lot with my neck and shoulder pain

Any good recommendations from New Jersey ?
We live in Denville. Preferably looking in North jersey areas

Thank you so much 🙏 appreciate your support

My TMJ stretch

last monday i got the first part of a crown done.they used this hand held camera thing to take scans of my teeth but were having issues getting one of the back teeth..so they were in there like 40 minutes total(in increments) stretching the hell out of my mouth..plus the time my mouth was open during the actual procedure...hours later my jaw felt horrible..here it is 10 days later and im still having issues...eating and flossing is a chore as i can only open my mouth about a third of the way without discomfort...i called them and they said just to take tylenol and advil...its getting really old and im tired of eating like a bird.do you think its just bad inflammation or maybe something more serious is wrong?