Marylander

As a newcomer to the board, let me introduce myself and my problem, before posting my question:

I am a 43-year-old female who enjoyed pretty nearly perfect health until December. I had been told by my dentist years ago that he could tell from the wear on my teeth that I ground my teeth in my sleep, and he made me a nightguard. Since I never had any pain from grinding, I didn't try very hard to wear it. Then, in December, I started feeling uncomfortable with my bite and had a few minor adjustments at my dental office (what was a single practitioner when I started going there years ago had grown to a large practice with many dentists, and I saw several different dentists during this process, which didn't help matters). Shortly after a couple of adjustments were made, I yawned a large yawn one Saturday and heard a horrible popping cracking sound from my right jaw joint. After that, I began to experience pain in the facial, specifically chewing muscles, and the bite appeared to be getting worse. I was told against about not grinding my teeth and fitted for a new soft nightguard, which I have been wearing. It seems to help somewhat but not enough. After two months of adjusting and continuing pain, the dental office decided to refer me to an oral surgeon. I had to wait a month for an appointment, but I finally saw the surgeon, who seemed very kind and willing to answer questions. He said my joints both function normally and there was no need for surgery; that I may have overextended and stretched some ligaments etc. in December but they appeared to have healed okay with the disc moving properly. He is going to fit me for a splint and try to get relief that way. That's my history.

Now, my question is: The dentist office kept stressing that I had to keep my teeth apart during the day. I went at it like the hard-working overachiever I am, and then, in my exhaustive reading on the subject, I came across several references to the fact that your teeth must touch when you swallow, and I realized that I was NOT touching my teeth together when I swallow. I asked the particular dentist I saw next about it and he said no, your teeth didn't touch when you swallow, so I went merrily on and shortly thereafter developed incredible soreness in my neck muscles to go along with the facial pain. When I told this to the oral surgeon he was horrified, he said that I had messed up the neck muscles by not giving them support from the jaw when I was swallowing, and that I needed to let the teeth my teeth touch together.

I feel like I don't know how to swallow naturally any more (I'm talking about empty-mouth swallowing, by the way, not with food between your teeth...that's not a problem). I'm trying to let my teeth touch, but I think I may sometimes be touching them too hard because all of my teeth are starting to hurt again (like they did before I started trying to work on not clenching). Also, my bite allows me to deviate way over to the right because none of my right front teeth touch, so sometimes my jaw wanders over that way and when I swallow I only bang awkwardly on the right side, which may be contributing to the sore teeth).

Has anyone else made this particular mistake, and if so, what did you do to overcome it? Is wearing the splint likely to correct my jaw wandering over to the right...or do I need something done (post-splint?) to correct that overbite?

Thanks very much in advance for any insights.