Chronic Pain

Hi, there. I'm new here, my name is Jules. I'm from New York but I'm attending school in Charleston, SC.

I had my upper and lower right wisdom teeth removed a week ago, and ever since, I haven't been able to open my jaw. It's wide enough to fit a small spoon in, but if it's anything bigger than that, I'm in trouble. I discussed this with my dentist this week and he's diagnosed me with TMJ. He put me on 600 mg of ibruprofen, a Medrol pack, and extended my Vicodin prescription. I'm only on the second day of the ibuprofen and Medrol, but I don't see an improvement.

I'm 20 years old and I've never ever had any significant health problems and I just don't think I can deal with this. And my family, who's usually my support system, has kind of brushed me off thinking I'm either milking my minor wisdom tooth extraction procedure or that I'll "probably feel better soon."

Except, I've been reading EVERYWHERE that this just doesn't go away...that it could last a year? ten years? a lifetime? And that treatments like meds? physical therapy? bite splints? surgeries? may not even work. Is there an end in sight?

All I want to do is be able to brush my teeth and chew some solid foods again, but instead I'm sitting here completely depressed and freaked out of my mind.

Just.
Ughhhhh.

It's only been a week and I'm already at a total loss.

All for some teeth I probably didn't really need to have taken out.

Hi Jules,

I would give yourself a little more time to heal from the wisdom teeth before getting to worked up. You don't want to overwhelm yourself... stress will not help your healing. I am someone who takes a longer than usual time to heal from things, and my wisdom teeth pain was higher than others I recall. Just because it's been a week and you're still in pain, doesn't mean you're doomed. Try to stay positive that maybe your muscles have just been so locked up from caring for your jaw b/c of the teeth.. that they are now just very very tight and you can't open your mouth. I'm not saying you don't have TMJD... you very well may, but before you get too worked up, try to give yourself a break and some more time. Try some heat and ice (alternating every 15-20 min or so) on your jaw, try little excercises to get the movement going if you can, if you feel like it's muscle pain then maybe a muscle relaxant would help along with the anti-inflammatory (motrin) and the vicodin. I find that combo works for a lot of people with TMJ pain. I hope that you don't have TMJD, and that maybe the symptoms from the wisdom teeth are just acting like TMJ symptoms, BUT if you do indeed have TMJD, please know that you aren't alone... and there are so many things you can try. Many many many people get their function back to the point that they don't have daily pain and it doesn't disrupt their lives. There are many therapies and meds and surgery (if it comes to that) that do indeed help people rid themselves of the lingering pain. I have lived with TMJ since childhood, and painfully so for years now...and it's up and down, but I think for the most part I am living a functional life. There is hope! )

Nicole

Hi Jules -

The number one cause of temporal tendonitis is dental procedure. I suffered with facial pain for 12 years and was always told TMJ disorder. Trust me, TMJ does not just magically appear one day. Your dentist caused trauma to the tendons. I just have the RF procedure and you need to catch this early before anything degenerates. Don't get me wrong, TMJ disorder is real, but I would say 9 times out of 10 it is more of a soft tissue damage than a joint issue.

Stop eating anything hard. Ice the jaw four times a day. Don't open wide or stretch your mouth. Do not yawn. And find someone local who knows how to diagnose and treat temporal injuries. Trust me. I know what I am talking about and I am here for you.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Karen Lee Richards,

Oh, thanks you two for the advice.
Just an update, my dentist was well, to be blunt, a moron. He just assumed it was TMJD, probably so that he could have a reason to keep throwing pills at me so that he could move on to pull some teeth out of his other patients. Or something like that. heh.

I went to see my family over Christmas (as usual), and luckily, my cousin is a physical therapist. She diagnosed it as a jaw muscle spasm. She gave me an ultrasound treatment (totally illegally under the table, shhhh) and then I spent the week with a stack of tongue depressors in my mouth. My follow-up instructions from her was to chew on some steak. Ha!

But anyways. Long story short, I pretty much healed up within 2-3 weeks, and have been pain free since.

Here's hoping that the left side won't be as difficult?