Jaw problem

[JaySee19]

I’ve been lurking here for a couple of weeks in an attempt to understand / manage my dental anxiety. I go through phases where I would rather die than go to a dentist (well, it feels like that anyway) to a phase where things get so bad and worrying that they could maybe kill me. At that point I decide that I don’t want to die of blood poisoning, bacteria eating into parts of my body they shouldn’t, please add any other horrific scenario you can think of. And then the logical part of me takes over and I go and see a dentist. I’m a ”freezer”, I feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, I can’t think or react coherently, I just let things happen to me, while quaking inside.
I‘m in a “going to the dentist phase” at the moment, it’s recent and the relief is overwhelming. It follows a period of at least 10 years of not going with the anxiety increasing every year and corresponding damage to my poor teeth.
I liked my new dentist from the start, he’s kind, gentle, very concerned about me and for some strange reason I trusted him from the very first minute. What‘s bothering me now is that my jaw locks/dislocates regularly. It’s getting worse and today’s session would have bordered on comedy if the subject wasn’t so serious. Next time I’ll just have to look at him for my jaw to dislocate. Seriously he was telling me not to open my mouth wide, but nothing helped. Today, my third session, at least he worked out how to manipulate it back into place with one correctly placed grip. Up to now I’ve managed without his aid but this session was so bad I was getting quite panicky. Fortunately he’s told everyone in the practice what to do - one of the assistants managed with relative ease at the end of my teeth cleaning session. So I’m in good hands.
But it ain’t good. I can’t just bite down to test whether a filling is too high. I can’t even rest my mouth when there’s a break in my treatment. And although it doesn’t hurt at the time I’m feeling very manhandled now.
Any advice on jaw strengthening exercises, ways to solve this problem? I’ve been browsing on a few dental forums but have never seen this problem before.

 

[letsconnect]

Hi JaySee19 and ,

how great to hear that you've found a dentist you like and trust - he sounds like a real gem !

Perhaps @Niall Neeson might have some advice (he deals with TMJ problems on a regular basis), or I could move this into the Ask a Dentist section if you like? That way, you might be able to get more input!

 

[JaySee19]

Might be an idea to move it into the “ask a dentist” section. I thought about putting it in there at first, but reckoned you all have heaps of experience, ideas - so I’d try to tap into your wisdom before bothering a dentist. My dentist suggests looking at some kind of dental guard at night, but that’s not going to help for the next appointments (of which there are a few coming up - sigh).
Thanks for your reply @letsconnect.

 

[Gordon]

It's an anatomical issue, the head of your lower jaw and the socket it fits into are not a "tight fit", for want of a better term, so the head of the jaw can slide out and forward out of the socket.

There's not a great deal can be done to fix it, other than be aware it can happen and be careful how you open your mouth. Dental guards probably won't help much.

 

[JaySee19]

Thanks, @Gordon. Since it’s only happened at the dentist so far, and he’s fully aware of the problem, we’ll just have to deal with it, I suppose.