Thelma-Louise

Regular dentist don't usually treat tmj since their primary goal is with dental maintenance - cleanings, cavities, etc and overall oral health such as screenings for cancer. Some get into doing root canals and cosmetic dentistry as well like crowns, bridges, dentures. Most dentists will start out this way and then eventually seek additional training and study to specialize in other areas such as periodontists, endodontists, OS, orthos. So its best that you find an experienced dentist, OS or ortho with specific training in tmj, funtional jaw orthics, neuromuscular dysfuntion, cranial/facial pain. Those that tend to limit their practice to primarily tmj treatment tend to have more experience in the field but then their fees tend to be higher as well.

B/c of your previous injury I would suggest you see an OS or ortho since you may have pushed your jaw inward and caused some misalignment. Tests such as tomograms, MRIs or ICATs (dental cat scans) and sometimes a panagram or panarex (full head xray) are usually done to check for physical abnormalties that would interefere with function - such as the position and condition of your tm joints, discs and condyles and based on the test results a treatment recommendation is usually made. So before you get into the pros and cons of various treatments its best to find out first what may be wrong and then proceed from there.

Anxiety does have a role in all of this since most people internalize it which produces other physical symptoms such as grinding or clenching teeth, tensing shoulder, neck and facial muscles, etc all of which can eventually lead to pain and then the additional worry about not knowing what is wrong or how to fix it adds to the mix.

Hope that helps some.