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Jaw Tension

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Posted 8/7/2011 3:19 AM (GMT 0)
I find that I am constantly tensing the muscles in my jaw area and the clenching is leading to facial pain that is driving me nuts. I am so tired of the pain and daily distraction. It makes it hard to concentrate on other important things -- like my job!

I know I deal with a lot of daily stress, so I try to relax the muscles as soon as I realize it's happening, but it seems that the tension is always there. I need to find a way to train myself to stop the cycle. Any suggestions out there? Anyone else dealing with this?

Side note: I have flexeril on hand, but I rarely take it because it makes me super groggy. I also have an ativan prescription, but don't want to be reliant on that since the symptoms are non-stop around the clock. I wake up at night and find I am clenching and in pain, too, so I'm doing this even in my sleep. I've tried a night mouthguard from my dentist, but I pull it out when I'm sleeping -- evidently I don't like them... lol. And as of this past year I've been unsuccessful in taking any SSRI's for anxiety/depression because they are worsening the jaw clenching and leading to severe headaches.

One other note... if I turn down the brightness on my computer screen it seems to help while I'm awake, but since the symptoms persist at night I know it can't simply be due to light sensitivity.
Posted 8/7/2011 5:42 AM (GMT 0)
I have been clenching for decades. I've tried medications, relaxation, hypnosis, everything my dentists have suggested. Nothing works. I tried mouthguards, I even wore one 24 hrs a day to try to relax my jaw. I bit through and cracked them. I broke one at night and woke up choking on the pieces. My current dentist is trying to fix the damage but has to be careful. Every bit of work he does changes my bite raising the possibility of more damage when I clench.

I noticed a few years ago that I don't just clench my jaw, I clench other muscles too. It's just not as noticeable. If I put my legs up on a chair, my legs start pressing on the chair. When I hold my husband's hand, I start squeezing it without realizing it.

Sorry I don't have an answer.
Posted 8/7/2011 2:25 PM (GMT 0)
I clench, and often notice that I am holding my teeth together so hard that I am giving myself a headache, especially at night! And like Dagger said, I grasp things tighter than I need to, or brace my feet against things and create pressure for no reason. Very frustrating.

I've been mindful of the jaw clenching for a while and I catch myself at it much more quickly. I am now finding I can't eat certain foods any more without flaring up TMJ.. I can't eat granola bars at ALL, and I shy away from jerky and other overly chewy things.
Posted 8/7/2011 7:08 PM (GMT 0)
Crushfibro:

I have had issues with jaw clenching in the past, and have triggered a lot of issues with TMJ. I have had several episodes that were so bad I could not open my mouth for more than about a half-inch for several days at a time. I would have to go on soft diets and use moist heat to relieve the spasams. My TMJ docor would sometimes prescribe valium for me to take before bedtime to help me relax and not clench, and sometimes Feldene. I used a mouthguard at night, but I, too woud remove it in my sleep. I would occasionally put it under my pillow. Finally, my dog got hold of it and chewed it up, so I must have flung it across the room! There did used to be a
biofeedback machine that had electrodes that you could put on areas where you clenched the most, and it would beep when it sensed the muscle tension increasing. I would wear this at home when I was doing housework, and even when I was sleeping in order to keep myself from tensing. I also used a TENS unit to help with the spasams. I also have to be careful about what I eat. Anything crunchy or that requires a lot of chewing can bring about a lot of problems with muscles wanting to cleanch or tense. This can trigger an episode of the TMJ. Chewing gum nearly always causes problems for me.

Dagger, please be careful with what your dentist is doing to fix the damage to your teeth. I had one years ago that was trying to hone the enamel on my teeth with a drill. Of course, he ended up doing much more harm than good. I ended up having to go to a specialist 80 miles away to correct the damage that he caused.
Posted 8/7/2011 11:16 PM (GMT 0)
Steppingstone, thanks for the warning, I've been through the ringer with dentists. They thought they knew everything and wouldn't listen to my concerns. Changing one tooth would change the way all the other teeth came together. I've lost crowns, cracked teeth, and tore up my cheeks just because one tooth was now a bit higher or lower than it was before.

My current dentist is fixing my cracked and broken teeth while paying attention to my bite. After any work, he checks my bite frequently making sure that any work he does doesn't make everything worse. He doesn't just check the tooth he worked on, he checks the others in case the new work changed anything. This is the first time I've had work done (fillings and crowns) and felt better afterward instead of worse. I can come in any time and he will check my bite. He listens and believes me when I tell him something feels "off." He spends the extra minutes trying to find the problem area so I will be comfortable when I leave. He's not trying to fix the clenching, he's trying to give me a healthy mouth.
Posted 8/8/2011 12:04 AM (GMT 0)
I understand this well.

I have to tell myself to relax my jaws all the time.

At night when I go to bed I have to really concentrate to relax all my muscels. Then I have twitches off and on all night. lol
Posted 8/9/2011 6:10 AM (GMT 0)
Dagger, Im sorry to hear that you have had to go through so much with your teeth. I'm glad to hear that you have found a good, ethical dentist. When I first started having problems over 20 years ago, I was referred by my dentist to another, older dentist here in town who specialized in tmj. I went through a lengthy process, with a dental splint, honing, TENS, etc. A few months after I was finished, the dentist retired (probably on the money he made from my insurance). At my next visit with myh regular dentist, he pulled out the big computer with the sensors that you bite down, and started measuring my bite! He was taking over the TMJ work, even though he was not a trained specialist. Before I could say anything, he was honing away on my enamel. Of course, each time he did one side, it changed my bite. Then, this woud need to be corrected. I know for a fact that he started honing once when the sensor had been off and he had not gotten a correct reading (I heard his assistant tell him this). This was when I had to travel to another town 80 miles away to get the problems corrected. I never went back to this dentist again, even though I had been going there for years. I always felt as if it was the specialist who prescribed muscle relaxants and pain relievers to me that helped me the most. Other methods, including the dental splint just seemed to make the problem worse.
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