Thursday, September 4, 2008

It's a grind

My name is MommaJen and I'm a grinder. I grind my teeth. There, I've said it. I've been doing this for years. Some people get tension headaches. Nope, not me! I get jaw tension when I'm stressed. At times,it's completely unnerving - I have to do jaw exercises and massage my jaw to get it to relax.

A couple of months ago, I woke up to find one of my front teeth with a small chip in it. Very small, most people wouldn't even notice it, but my tongue keeps finding it...you know what I mean?

So, a few weeks ago when I went to the dentist, I asked him about it. The cause? Yep, the grinding...seems I have TMJ which I've suspected for years,so... yesterday afternoon I found myself back in the dentist chair being fitted for a TMJ device. Not covered by insurance and not cheap, but hopefully will provide me with some much needed relief plus save my teeth from further chipping!

Oh the joys of getting older!!!

3 comments:

Emily said...

Hey that's funny...what is TMJ? My dentist wanted me to get a bite guard a couple weeks ago and it was $225! Where do you go? I'm thinking about calling around for prices because that is crazy. I don't think I really grind, just clench my jaw so hard when sleep that it hurts my teeth and then I have a toothache. But maybe I grind, Brock hasn't noticed anything, but who knows!

QuiteContrary said...

Me too! Actually I clench, not grind. It gets so bad that my jaw locks up and I can't open my mouth more than about an inch! This whole anxiety thing hasn't helped much. Oddly enough, going back to work full time is helping all of it - go figure. :o)

Becky said...

Ewww! So sorry!!!!
Had my root canal yesterday so, feeling the pain of being in the dentist chair!
Hope the device helps!