Can anyone help me please if they had any of these issues? I have randomly been getting lower lip twitch sometimes like a pulling contraction bearely recognizable for the past 4 months . I am 60 and taking care of elderlies-mostly stressed. Had a brain mri two months ago which was clean.
I grind my teeth a lot and sometimes the mouth guard also makes me uncomfortable. I feel I have tmj-sometimes little pain and stuffed ear. Our family practioner said forget about it-try not to focus. Can tmj cause lip twitch or contraction. Is it normal to get this randomly due to stress - the twitch is not continuous. Many thanks.
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Ley97
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If the TMJ us putting pressure on your nerve it can cause twitches in the lips or cheek below the eye.A TMJ is not something to ignore and your GP was showing poor practice by telling you to do so.
I would go back and explain that this is happening and ask for a referral to have your potential with TMJ and nerve involvement to be properly examined . You need to be referred to the oral and maxillofacial department which is either a separate unit or part of ENT depending on the hospital.
If the GP refuses ask for a medical reason why as your symptoms require a specialist examination. You can ask for a second opinion in your surgery if they still refuse or put in a complaint.
Your dentist can also refer your to an NHS department for this.
Hi Blearyeyed, have you seen a maxillofacial specialist for TMJD in the UK and found in helpful? My GPs aren't reluctant to refer me to specialists, and I've had maxillofacial recommended to me once before but I haven't tried asking for a referral to it because when I look up the nearest maxillofacial specialist unit the webpage is all about surgery and orthodonture and I don't think either of those is something I need or want. The same person who recommended it also recommended a rheumatology referral, and I tried that and found it completely useless. My connective tissue situation is a bit unusual it seems, the problem extends round my whole body not just in the jaw area, and it seems like a lot of the doctors I've seen aren't good at thinking outside the box or dealing with something nonstandard. By what my GP said about TMJD, they're expecting inflammation as a primary diagnostic symptom and it's not showing up in my test results, so they think what I've got isn't TMJD (and it's not like I'm attached to the idea that that's what I've got, but it's not like any of them have an alternative that seems to explain what I can sense going on inside me.)
Do you have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome?I have Type 2 and , yes my jaw issue was because of recurrent subluxation causing Trigeminal Neuralgia rather than the " usual" TMJ.
I had a good examination and the dental x-rays etc.
If I could have benefitted from surgery or the manipulation then it would have been good . Unfortunately, my jaw dislocating could not be helped by that but it did fast track me to the next stage in the Pain Clinic and I was signed on for free NHS dental care because of the effect my jaw issues was having on my teeth.
I was prescribed a mouthwash which soothed the pain and can contact the Dental Consultant any time for help or lidocaine gel for my gums .
I also got free mouth guards .
I also showed no signs of damage or inflammation on the test days as even though the sublux and misalignment happens regularly the EDS means it does not the same signs on the jaw but it certainly causes nerve pain and issues when I use it.
The Physiotherapy was useless when I was first diagnosed with TN as they did not at the time it was related to EDS and tried a " one size fits all" set of exercises that , well , didn't fit.
It's worth doing , first , to see if the treatment available might help you.
To get it on your records in case of recurrent or related issues.
To get further and quicker within the Pain Clinic system.
To potentially get more suitable drugs and treatment for the pain and to protect your teeth.
The Rheumatologist would be unlikely to be of much use except to refer you onto the Maxi clinic.
If you have Connective Tissue issues you often need to see many various consultants and departments and push for it to finally get a full body approach , even if it is you that needs to join the dots and do the work for them , unfortunately.
Thanks! It's helpful to hear about your experiences.
I haven't had a diagnosis of EDS and I don't really think it's likely from the little I've read about it - it's genetic after all, and I'm not aware of anyone else with anything like it in the extended family, and while I have the joint hypermobility and fatigue, I'm not aware of having any other symptoms that are associated with it.
I guess I'll hang on to the idea of a maxillofacial referral as a reserve option - it sounds like you were in quite a different situation to me (symptoms &c). I agree to some extent with the idea that an actual diagnosis would be useful, but I've pretty much lost confidence in the ability of anyone in the NHS to provide one, and also my experience with diagnoses of IBS and (in my daughter's case) CFS has taught me that actually, having one doesn't help unless there's effective treatment the NHS can offer. I've spent so much time checking out what NHS specialists can offer us both, and gotten so little benefit from it that it just doesn't seem like a good investment of my limited energy chasing it at the moment. If it was my last hope, I'd definitely get referred! But at the moment I'm still trying other approaches.
I'm not normally in actual pain of the kind you get when you pinch yourself, most of the time what I get is fatigue and what I'd describe as discomfort rather than pain, which is from the connective tissue's tightness causing pressure - there's a feeling a bit like holding your breath a long time - a sort of urgency and I don't know if it's lack of oxygen or what but a tired feeling, and my heart and breathing rate go up a bit with it. So I'm not keen on a Pain Clinic referral as it seems unnecessary - and they're a long way away, they're in the same building as the Fatigue Clinic where I used to take my daughter, and it's a heck of a trek from here, it's kind of nuts that they expect people with chronic fatigue to travel from all over Surrey to one place. I guess the ones who are sickest just don't get there. And I know what the Fatigue Clinic offers since my daughter's been through their programme - it's all about coping mechanisms, not cures, and I am coping.
I don't say any of this to knock the NHS, I'm a strong supporter of it - the system has its flaws but a lot of that's about financial constraints and the limits of current knowledge.
I feel like I have joined the dots myself, but haven't had any success at communicating what I learned to the doctors or specialists I've seen in a way that would enable them to either agree with my self-diagnosis or come up with an alternative diagnosis that satisfactorily explained my symptoms. I'm not particularly good at the social side of verbal communication; I tried writing out what I wanted to communicate to the rheumatologist in case that worked better, but it didn't. I do get it that to get the best out of the system you have to keep going back and pestering them, it's just that it feels like mild torture to go through it.
Good morning, I hope your twitch is gone today. I have had many twitches all over my body (not at the same time) for about 45 years. I do get an occasional lip twitch or eye twitch which can be quite annoying, some of them lasting for days. I saw a neurologist about it years ago and he didn't seem at all concerned, and did say it could be stress related. I have also had TMJ issues but never thought of them as being connected. Thank you for the work you do with the elderly. I hope you can take some time for self care and relaxation.
Thank you for replying. Sorry, just makes me feel good hearing you had similar issues; the fact that I am not alone.This is exactly what our family doctor said. He said stress related. However I respect advice and scheduled an appointment with a dentist specially for tmj issues in 10 days and I will post the result here .
I get twitches in various places from my TMJD, from the connective tissue shifting, but don't remember getting any in my lower lip. If the twitch is from the connective tissue shifting, I think it wouldn't be directly from stress, but it could be indirectly, because stress could be making you tighten particular muscles, and muscle tightening or loosening can cause connective tissue to shift. I've found it very helpful to increase my inner awareness of my internal sensations of tension or discomfort, and how they're affected by muscle action. But maybe what you're experiencing is instead from nerves, like Blearyeyed suggested.
Hello everyone. Thanks to everyone who reached out. Today I visited the TMJ specialist-he also took a panoramic xray.Though I have osteopenia, my jaws are fine. He checked for different spots and said my muscles are very tense from grinding. My twitch is gone. He said it is anxiety related. Even if it comes back-told me not to focus. Try to forget about it and do meditation exercises he said.
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