TMJ worse after dental visit

[A196x]

Last week I spent a few hours in a dental hospital, they took a panaromic x ray which showed jaw and smile was fine. I had actually felt fine for weeks before the appointment but since the appointment the stiffness is back in temple, and the jaw spasms are back. I feel upset as dentist before referral said sounds like TMJ but referred me to them and now I think why did I go? As it’s made everything worse. She did say at appointment if things fail the next thing would be a scan. What scan would she be referring to? What hope do I have with jaw spasms and living with them? I’m struggling and feel sad with it. I was fine for weeks! Is there anything to get rid of spasms and stiffness?

is this tmj or is my condition fibro also at play?

Will alcohol at Christmas make things worse for spasms/tmj wise? Or caffeine?

 

[Gordon]

All the poking and moving around will have made it worse unfortunately.

TMJ is a real bugger to diagnose as it's mainly a clinical finding, it doesn't really show up on x-rays or other scans.

You were sent to eliminate other causes that could mimic some of the symptoms of TMJ, unfortunately sometimes diagnosis is not an exact science, it's what makes the job more "interesting" for dentists.

Alcohol and caffeine won't make an enormous difference. Has your dentist given you any basic TMJ advice on diet and so on?

 

[A196x]

All the poking and moving around will have made it worse unfortunately.

TMJ is a real bugger to diagnose as it's mainly a clinical finding, it doesn't really show up on x-rays or other scans.

You were sent to eliminate other causes that could mimic some of the symptoms of TMJ, unfortunately sometimes diagnosis is not an exact science, it's what makes the job more "interesting" for dentists.

Alcohol and caffeine won't make an enormous difference. Has your dentist given you any basic TMJ advice on diet and so on?

Thanks Gordon, just to eat soft foods and have this gel for applying to jaws just wish there was something more for jaw spasms as that’s the worst of it and stiffness!

 

[Gordon]

OK, in addition try this then:
1) Limit your mouth opening, cut food into small pieces and no "man sized" bites out of sandwiches or apples etc, try not to yawn to widely
2) Try to chew with more of a chopping motion rather than grinding from side to side
3) Apply some ice packs (frozen peas are good, wrapped in a tea towel) for a few minutes every hour (remember to put them back in the freezer!)
4) Sometimes hot packs can help too, alternated with the cold, moisten a tea towel and microwave it
5) Ibuprofen if you can take it, don't exceed the max dose and try to space it out as evenly over the day as you can
6) Ask for a referral to Physiotherapy if your dentist hasn't already suggested it