Dental work and TMJ - TMJ Disorder -TemporoMandibular Joint Message Board

hilery79 · 04-20-2004, 12:24 PM

Hi,
Last week I went to my dentist to have a couple crowns done. I had to lay there for over 2 hours with my mouth wide open. The next morning I woke up with excruciating pain in my jaw, right ear, and a headache behind my eyes. I'm still in a lot of pain. I also have a popping sound in my jaw when I open my mouth and it is very hard to chew.

Could the dental work I had done(having my mouth open for so long) have caused TMJ? I am also scheduled to have all of my wisdom teeth extracted at the beginning of May. I'm scared this is going to make my jaw pain even worse.
Thanks for any replys,
Hilery

westin4 · 04-20-2004, 09:38 PM

ewwwww Hilery, sounds like your tmj has gotten inflammed or perhaps the muscles and tendons are out of whack from such force and tension being placed on them. I have had tmj for years but was doing very well and had some symptom free time, however due to having a crown put on a back molar I am in the midst of a TERRIBLE flare up. I do think it was caused by your dental work. I would get this under way before having your wisdoms out. That will only make any kind of flare up much worse. Maybe you could call the dentist who did the crown or at the very least let the oral sugeon who is taking out your wisdoms know what has happened to you......be careful of just anyone who hangs out their "tmj specialist" sign! Good luck and keep us posted!
Karen