My Jaw Pops When I Chew: Can You Help?

Temporomandibular joint disorder — sometimes shortened to TMD or TMJ disorder— is a disorder affecting your jaw joint and surrounding muscles. Although only about 5% of women and men in the United States have been diagnosed with TMD, it may be more common. 

Sometimes the jaw popping, clicking, and freezing associated with TMD go away on their own. But often, it’s a chronic condition that can make simple, everyday jaw movements painful or uncomfortable. 

In addition to the feeling of your jaw slipping out of place and making grinding or popping noises, you may also experience:

• Ear pain
• Headaches
• Eye pain
• Neck pain
• Tooth pain

At Addison Pain + Regenerative Medicine in Addison, Texas, we know how frustrating TMJ issues can be. The disturbing clicks, pops, and pain interfere with your quality of life. 

Our expert osteopath, Dr. John East, offers several solutions to help your jaw function smoothly, soundlessly, and painlessly. 

How can you go back to chewing comfortably again? The following are some solutions.

Why you have TMD

It’s not always clear why you developed TMD. Your jaw is an extremely mobile joint: It opens up and down, but it can also slide from side to side. Tension in your jaw, an injury, or a misaligned bite can cause TMD.

Whether they cause or simply exacerbate TMD, certain habits and conditions can also aggravate your jaw popping and pain. These include:

• Bruxism (i.e., nighttime teeth grinding)
• Jaw clenching
• Biting your nails or other non-food items
• Gum chewing
• A ligament or tendon strain or sprain
• An eroded disk in your jaw

You’re also more likely to develop TMD if you have osteoarthritis (i.e., wear-and-tear on your jaw joint) or fibromyalgia. Even sleep apnea can cause bruxism and TMD. 

As part of your workup, we may take X-rays of your jaw. This allows us to determine if you have structural damage or abnormalities that need correction.

Lifestyle changes help

If your TMD is due to bad habits, such as teeth grinding or pen chewing, you should stop. You may also benefit from exercises or physical therapy that strengthen the muscles and soft tissues that control your jaw.

You may even benefit from counseling. If you clench your jaw or hold tension in your neck or shoulders, you may need to find ways to relax through cognitive-behavioral therapy, deep breathing, and other techniques.

If you grind your teeth at night, we may recommend a night guard. This prevents you from rubbing your teeth together as you sleep. We may also recommend a sleep study to test for sleep apnea.

Botox® can relax your jaw

Muscle tension in your jaw, neck, and shoulders can all cause or contribute to TMJ issues. Jaw clenching — either during the day or unconsciously while you sleep — puts stress and pressure on your joint, leading to pain.

Botox is a neurotoxin that relaxes your muscles. We inject it directly into your masseter muscles — the muscles that open and close your jaw. It can be particularly effective in reducing bruxism. 

If your jaw is misaligned due to stress on one side, Botox relaxes the clenched muscle to improve your alignment.

Botox lasts 3-4 months. If you’ve successfully trained yourself to avoid habits that aggravate your TMJ pain, you may not need another treatment.

Hyaluronic acid lubricates your jaw

Another helpful injectable treatment is hyaluronic acid (HA). Your body produces HA to help lubricate your joints, so they move smoothly, without stiffness or pain.

As you age, however, your body produces less and less HA. The injections replace your natural HA, so your jaw can open and close easily and freely, without grinding, popping, or freezing. 

Platelet-rich plasma supports healing in injured tissues

Another injectable treatment that may help normalize your jaw is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Doctors have used PRP to treat every type of tissue degradation, from injury to arthritis to aging and overuse.

Your PRP treatment starts with a simple blood draw from your arm that takes no longer than a standard blood test. We then spin your blood in a centrifuge to separate the other components (i.e., plasma) from the solid platelets, which are cell fragments that help your body heal.

By injecting PRP into your jaw, we deliver a concentrated dose of platelets that support your tendons, muscles, and cartilage as they repair and strengthen.

Platelets are rich with tissue-building proteins, including growth factors. Over time, your injured or degraded tissues get stronger and thicker, reducing your pain.

Corticosteroids reduce pain

For long-term pain relief that takes place within days, we may recommend corticosteroid injections. Corticosteroids calm inflammation within your tissues, alleviating pressure on delicate nerves.

Learn how to lessen your jaw popping and pain with a variety of lifestyle changes and injectable TMD treatments at Addison Pain + Regenerative Medicine today. Phone our helpful team at 972-380-0000 or request an appointment online.