Jaw joint complaints
What are jaw joint complaints?
Complaints of the jaw joint and masseter muscles can have various causes: overuse, trauma, surgery, injections or occur spontaneously. Not all the advice and exercises in the leaflet will apply to all patients: your oral surgeon will indicate which ones apply specifically to you. Usually these complaints are bothersome, but not threatening. With time, the symptoms often diminish and oral function largely recovers.
Advice for reducing complaints
- Avoid opening the mouth widely (when yawning, laughing, etc.). Support the lower jaw whenever possible.
- Use canines and molars to bite off, avoid biting off with front teeth.
- Avoid hard, tough or grainy foods (e.g. nuts, hard apples, baguettes).
- Give your jaw a rest: avoid nail biting, gum chewing, teeth grinding, and don't use your teeth as a tool (e.g. holding something).
- When you chew, you should chew precisely on the side where your jaw joint hurts. This is important because otherwise too much oblique strain will be put on the side of the joint where you have symptoms.
- Inform your dentist about your jaw problems, so your dentist can take them into account during treatments.
Pain management
Pain in chewing muscles (cheeks/sleeping):
heat application (hot packs) ~20 minutes, several times a day.
Pain around the jaw joint (in front of the ear canal):
Cold treatment (e.g. ice cube in tea towel), alternately put on/off for 1 minute.
Any jaw exercises follow the surgeon's advice, you can always gently massage the masseter muscles with the thumb along the inside and outside of the cheek to reduce tension.
Download brochure
The brochure offers additional information about this treatment. Please note that it includes medical images that some people may find sensitive.
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