any tips for a locked jaw?

[LD92599]

My jaw locked up while i was eating lunch today and isn't not fully unlocked yet - HOURS later!

I'll call my dentist tomorrow morning if it's not better but i've never encountered this before & I can barely get a fork of food in my mouth (OK so that might be a good thing!).

Thanks!

Laura

[shoxie]

I'm not sure if you have the same thing I did, but it was awful. It has to do with TMJ - the temporomandibular joint. In any case, if yours was this sudden, I hope you don't have it as severely as I do. My jaw locked like this for a month - yes, it was horrible! I had to eat very soft foods and basically let my jaw relax as much as possible.

The only thing that helped me ease it back open were hot compresses. I bought one of those ice pack/hot pack thingies and I'd keep it on as much as possible and slowly stretch my jaw open. So maybe moist warmth would help you? And also, I couldn't take ibuprofen as I was pregnant at the time, but that should help, too.

Good luck - I'm sure there are other mamas that have more advice!!

I'm still dealing with remnants of this four years later (still can't chew gum!)...ugh.

[okinawama]

my dentist taught me how to have my husband help me. I've never had to use it, thank goodness, but it involved him grabbing my lower jaw, thumbs in my mouth and fingers under my chin, pulling forward on the jaw and kind of lifting and placing the jaw back in to the appropriate place. I'm sure that's clear as mud, but your dentist should be able to help. I am now able to feel when it's about to lock, and can prevent it.

On another note I've gotten braces to hopefully help with my TMJ issues.

[misshollygolightly]

Not to be alarmist, but are you up-to-date on your tetanus shot? I think lockjaw is sometimes an initial symptom of tetanus. Don't want to freak you out--it probably isn't in your case (there can be lots of other causes of lockjaw), but it is something you don't want to overlook!

[Dyonia's_DH]

The same thing happened to me a week before Thanksgiving some number of years ago. It was caused by sudden swelling on both sides due to some teeth that needed to be extracted (old HS baseball injury that hadn't been taken care of). My oral surgeon gave me antibiotics and pain meds for a week and the morning of the procedure, I could open fully.

What sucked was that that was the week of the "meeting the future DW's family" 6 hours away by car.

[AngelaS]

It's a TMJ thing and a chiropractor is a great remedy! My chiro's done more for my TMJ in the last two years than any number of dentist/specialists/doctors have done in the previous 15 years.

[LD92599]

Thanks for the replies! It's still semi-locked this morning and i have yet to call the Dentist (or Chiro - i might try that!). Tetanus....hmm...i'll have to check into that!

I hope it gets better! The first thing i thought when it happened was TMJ, too.