Thelma-Louise

Did you tell the ortho you are clenching during the day as well? Clenching is a common tmj symptom usually resulting from muscle tension due to malocclusion, an imbalanced bite or the joints being too forward or too backward - basically meaning your jaws and teeth are not meeting together properly to allow for a relaxed position so as a result the muscles contract, spasm or tighten which causes most people to clench or grind their teeth - its basically the bodies way of dealing with the problem - kind of like scratching an itch - sometimes we get carried away and can really scratch the dickens out of it - which of course only makes it worse. For some with mild or occasional flareups add'l anxiety or stress tend to excerbate the problem. A daytime splint may help so you may want to return to your ortho or see a neuromuscular or tmj dentist trained in FJO (functional jaw orthotics). Also - as a side note - some prescription meds can induce clenching so if you are taking meds for another condition you may want to see if it may be causing some of this.