I have had this issue since Jan. I am afraid to eat and have lost 11 pounds. When I sit at the table you never know if my jaw is going to go out of place and start crunching or popping. I have had several physio treatments and no help. I have now been off prednisone for six months after being on it over two years. Today I went to the dentist and they are making me a guard like the hockey players wear. A regular night guard is $500. And it might work or it might not. My jaw aches most of the time. I can live with this but it is when I am eating that it will start to go off kilter and hurt. This guard is 85.00 and if it works then I will spend the $500. For a night guard. The dentist said today the prednisone probably masked the problem and he suggested I take a muscle relaxant when I go to bed. I can remember when I was on a higher dose of prednisone I would be up in the night with terrible muscle cramps in my legs. They are gone now. I guess the PMR has effected my muscles along with the pred as the dentist says this is the stiffness of the muscles in your joints. Has anyone had TMD for a long time and it did eventually go away
Jaw popping: I have had this issue since Jan. I am... - PMRGCAuk
Jaw popping
Hello there. Have you ever had an X-ray or CT of that joint to check the integrity of it?
Yes, they did an ex ray at the dentist and said the deterioration is normal for someone 73 years old.
It all sounds miserable for you. Perhaps you have been told but there seems to be scant information on why various things are being tried. So is this popping out to be expected with your ‘normal’ deterioration? I’d want some detailed information from them looking at the x-ray where it’s going wrong and what the guards achieve in the context of your situation or is it just trying anything. Is it definitely predominantly muscular? Perhaps a CT is needed. My TMJ was quite flakey for a year or two until my Pred muscles regained some strength. I didn’t have any popping out but I did get pain. No guards or investigations because it wasn’t deemed bad enough.
Is there still hope for my muscles to regain some strength after six months off pred?
A lady I know who had PMR twice said she reckoned it took a good year for everything to get back to normal - she was in her mid-late 70s second time round and now in her 80s is still keeping house and running her large garden and greenhouse.
I’m 58, 8 months off Pred after being on it for 3.5 years and not yet back to normal strength. TMJ ok before I got off Pred but it is difficult to compare with you because I have no idea how much change happened in the joint itself due to the weak muscles.
Did you ever take a bisphophonate such as Alendronic Acid?
No, I only took pred and I have been on prevacid for stomach acid for years. Very low dose
I was just thinking that bisphosphonates can cause jaw problems. Not in your case though!!
Not quite the same but I had a hockey injury in my 20’s and my jaw popped every time I opened my mouth! The hospital dentist made me a “bite raising appliance” I think it was called (BRA) and I wore it for about six months, I think. It solved the problem and may be similar to what you are describing I just don’t remember sorry! Now I have pmr it has started again a bit, the click sounds loud in my ear but I have no pain and it’s lessening as I drop the Pred. Not sure if my story will help you. As I’m in England the whole treatment was free. Good luck and hope it’s the right treatment for you, S x
Poor you, sounds horrendous, how about trying soft food that doesn’t require too much chewing. Before I was diagnosed with GCA I had serious ulcers on my tongue, I too had terrible problems with eating, I lost a lot of weight, once they put me on pred it’s mostly cleared up, I can eat more or less everything now.I do hope you can get this sorted.
Take care.
X
Out of interest - what did the physio do that didn't work?
He worked on my neck muscles and my facial muscles. I did exercises at home three times a day. The dentist also says it is muscular.
Just wondered because I had the same problem - maybe I should have left it longer and lost some weight too! However, I had a physio appointment a few days after it started and told her about it. She worked on the attachments of the sternocleidomastoid muscle at the jaw, really quite specific, for most of a 45 minute session. That was it. No exercises. I was wondering if maybe your physio didn't quite get the attachments in the right place.
He worked on three places. One above my ears, below my cheek bone and at the bottom of the jaw. I also worked on these areas at home. My face aches most of the times and if I open my mouth wide and chew I am in trouble. The dentist said yesterday the days of a hamburg are probably over.
That wouldn't break my heart! My physio worked more to the side, just in front of the ear. It was horrible for the 3 days it lasted - you really have my sympathy.
My jaw was dislocated when I got food stuck on a tooth and couldn't shut my mouth. It ended up dislocating my jaw and I had to hold the jaw in place if I coughed or sneezed. I also got the crackling noise. It went away after about six months. I am reminded of it every once in a while and remember not to open my mouth too wide. That was a couple of years ago at age 81.
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