Jaw Pain
- Avoid biting on the front teeth.
- Select soft food only and do all your chewing on the painful side, using the back teeth only.
- Do the following exercise for TWO 5-MINUTE periods each day:
Sit in a comfortablechair in front of a mirror with the back teeth resting together and relax. The tip of the tongue will be resting just behind your front teeth. Now slowly curl the tongue backwards so that you feel it running over the hard palate and then against the soft palate, and then slowly open your mouth. Check in the mirror that you are opening your mouth vertically and not deviating to one side. Most people find that the tip of the tongue is pulled away from the palate as the mouth is opened wide. Do not allow this to happen. Hold this position of conflict for five seconds and then relax for five seconds, and then repeat the exercise.
If you jaw clicks at any time during the exercise this will mean that you are not doing it properly and so start again from the beginning!
The purpose of the exercise is to pull the jaw backwards as hard as possible and relax the muscles which pull the jaw forward. This takes strain off ligaments in the joints and allows them to heal.
Initially you may find there is no improvement, and the pain may seem to get worse. Do not get discouraged. After the first week, do the exercise for many short periods each day and a slow but gradual improvement will follow.