Its been 6 days now that the left side of my jaw hurts when I open
wide, bite hard or clench. My bite feels off. If I try to bite the
normal way I feel muscle pain located in the cheekbone area. The left
side of my face feels stiff when I open my mouth wide. Before all
this, I had neck cramp/neck pain most likely due to my sleeping
position & lumpy bed for more than a week. When the neck pain
subsided, a day or two after that, the pain with my left side of jaw
came and hasn't gone away. Are they related? Even though I changed my
sleeping position/bed/pillow the jaw doesn't seem to be getting
better. My four wisdom teeth have been gone for years. Please tell me
if I have TMJ or not. Thanks.
Amatus Cremona - 24 Apr 2007 21:02 GMT
If the teeth do not meet in a normal manner when the jaw is gently closed,
the patient usually either has swelling in the joint space or has spasm of
facial muscles on one or both sides.
If one side feels stiff on opening, often, there is a "tight" muscle on that
side in spasm.
Sleeping on one's stomach with the head twisted to one side can make these
types of problems worse.
TMJ is an anatomical feature, not a disease.

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> Its been 6 days now that the left side of my jaw hurts when I open
> wide, bite hard or clench. My bite feels off. If I try to bite the
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> better. My four wisdom teeth have been gone for years. Please tell me
> if I have TMJ or not. Thanks.