TMJ - Anyone here? My jaw..I want to cry
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| Thu, 10-13-2005 - 2:37pm |
Hello from lurker and occasional poster. I am waiting for my rheumatologist to call back and see if he will treat it or not.
I thought maybe I had a cavity in my top last molar, but I am meticulous about my teeth, and this is only in the last week or two since it got cold outside. Also, I have one of those dental mirrors and metal "picks" and I know if there is a cavity it will stick, which it doesn't, and I am not bothered by hot, cold, or sweets, which when I had a cavity in the past sweet food would kill me. I have none of that except for what feels like pain at the top of the tooth where the gumline is, then up into my head.
There is a gnawing ache AFTER I eat; it isn't there when I wake up. It is by my ear, around the side of my face, and bugging my shoulder all the way down my arm. It feels just like my RA that I get elsewhere, like when your hip is hurting but it goes down your leg.
I have had RA since 1998 and I do not remember having this. I am on Plaquenil and trying to avoid MTX because my husband wants a baby and I am going to start in June.
I ran a quick reach and saw that a few of you have had jaw pain...how did you resolve it? I don't want to take Motrin all the time, although that is taking the pain away. I already am on Zantac for GERD!
I hate this disease! I want it to go away!! It is expensive to keep going to doctors and getting medicine. I have a Medicare HMO from Blue Cross called Senior Blue (yeah, Senior, I am 34). They do not cover dentistry, but they do cover TMJ as a MEDICAL condition, so you can pick one of their dentists and you have a 20% co-pay.
I would like to resolve this without having to see ANOTHER specialist. Maybe my rheumy can fix it...wahhhh.
Teresa

Teresa, I know how you feel. I have TMJ and most health insurance do NOT cover it. The normal doctor to treat this sort of thing is a dentist. You need to go to your dentist and rule out a cavaity, need of root canal or whatever first. TMJ pain can be caused from grinding your teeth and eating crunchy foods make it worse. I have a night guard that my dentist made for me. I was grinding so much in my sleep that I had to have 6 gold crowns replaced. I bit a hole in the gold!! I wear the night guard (also called a splint) every night while I sleep. It does really help with the pain.
If I were you, I would tell your rheumy and dentist about the pain. You could have RA in your jaw. TMJ does cause ear pain that can radiate up into your head and/or down into your shoulders and neck. The muscles are all connected. Also, you might try a diet of soft fooods for a few days. Let us know what you find out.
Good luck,
Vicki
Thanks, Vicki. I am going to the dentist Nov 8 for routine x-rays and an exam, and I am over here searching the internet to see if I have an abscess in my back molar because I don't want bacteria in my head, but like I said, I do not have a problem with hot, cold or sweet foods, I have no swelling or throbbing and I would think I would if I had an abscess above the tooth! I feel nothing but solid bone around it. My teeth look good for someone who doesn't really go to the dentist (the last one sent me into latex anaphylaxis).
Since it is arrgivating my shoulder blade, etc. I cannot possibly see how it would be an abscess in a top tooth. I guess I am just paranoid and I'll feel better after I get x-rays. I have never had anything more than fillings when I was a kid.
I have been talking on the phone more than usual because there are two pregnant people in my family and me trying to get pregnant so alot of chaos with relatives and calling dr's and insurance. I think that might have triggered it. But it's not on the other side of my jaw.
Ugh. Well, I hope to hear from some others, and I hope this isn't an indication that my RA is worse, because my SED rate was only 32 on Sept 13. That's not bad really.
Hi Teresa
Molly
Well, after inspecting every tooth and old filling with bright lights, a mirror, pick and a flashlight right in my mouth, pushing down on the tooth that is my last top molar and not feeling anything, no bleeding or red gums, I can say with my background as an RN and someone who is very anal about my teeth that I do not have a cavity and in order to get an abscess you have to have a cavity. Also, abscess pain that would be pain like this would be causing a fever and I take my temp every day to know when I am ovulating and I can say for sure that I am not feeling at all ill or anything.
That being said, I tried and experiment today. I woke up at 6:30, brushed and listerine as normal. I used water to take my meds. I felt nothing at all like I did yesterday, and during that time my rheumy's nurse called back and I said "I'm better today, I don't even feel anything." She said if it happens again, take 800 mg motrin and I can put ice on it.
So, I ate nothing all day to test this, and finally 45 min ago I decided to try eating a roll with butter on it (yeah, I know, carbs but I had to try something.)
Well, here I am post-eating. My back of my head, side and around the side of my face as well as my neck and shoulder feels EXACTLY like it did yesterday after I ate salad for lunch that had very crunchy cucumbers, etc.
So, I am 99% positive that this is my RA/TMJ, and I hope it is temporary, because we are going to try to have a baby starting in the spring and I am only taking Plaquenil and avoiding MTX and the other stuff. We have too many strikes against us to risk damaging my fertility.
I took 400 mg Motrin 1/2 hour ago, it is not working, so I guess I will go to my usual 800. I hate to think what it does to my stomach.Thank God I have Zantac.
We are all a bunch of walking pharmacies I swear! I'm still going to the dentist though. XRays and an exam would be worth the $50.00 they charge for new patients.
Hi Teresa!
AT LAST, I feel I can actually ANSWER a question on this board rather than ask it! My jaw started hurting about a month ago, and it is RA/TMJ. The dentist made me a splint that I wear at night and sometimes even during the day if it bothers me then. It has really helped.
I was taking 800 mg ibuprofen but was also taking an NSAID until my doctor heard about it and told me to stop the ibuprofen. He was shocked that I wasn't having all kinds of stomach problems! So now my NSAID and the splint are working pretty well.
I hope you can get this resolved as the TMJ hurts like the dickens! Mine has even gone into a migraine headache (but that was before the splint).
Good luck!!
Sudie
Thanks...I thought so. It didn't bother me today or yesterday, so, like my other joints, it is obviously a varying thing.
At least I no longer worry it is a dental/cavity problem. My teeth feel fine today.
I really hate this disease, but what I hate more is when well-meaning friends and relatives say things like "Are you sure you didn't sleep the wrong way?" or "I have arthritis in my knee from playing football."
Sometimes I feel like a hypochondriac!
Teresa, it sure does sound like you've got RA/TMJ going on.
Molly