What is osteomyelitis of the jaw?

Why is my jaw popping!?

• If I open my jaw to yawn, or to chew, it'll pop. Before this happened, it felt l like the muscles in my mouth wouldn't let my jaw open very wide. My jaw would only go a few inches before it felt like my muscles were forcing my jaw to stay where it was. After a few months, the muscle thing stopped. But, a month later, my jaw started to pop. It hurt a lot at first. After awhile, it stopped hurting, and I did my best to not let it pop. Now, if my jaw pops, it'll hurt even more than it did before. I put my fingers where it felt like most of the pain was coming from. This was right below where my ears are. I guess you could say it's where my jaw joints are. When I opened my jaw to let it pop, I felt the lower jaw joint(s?) move out of place, and then go back. Is this normal? Is it Tmj? I told my orthodontist about it, and he said to just ignore it, but I can't. Should I go to a doctor soon?

• Answer:

  You should see a TMJ specialist. This sounds like when my MJ started over 2 years ago and I couldn't open my mouth very wide and my jaw popped every time I opened my mouth. Sadly, much cannot be done for TMJ. What I suggest is trying a night guard to stop grinding or clenching as we do not realize we do it and that is what causes TMJ. Before spending money though to get one made, they sell ones you can mold yourself and drug stores. From personal experience, my 150 dollar night guard doesn't really work. Also ortho. will not tell you anything about this and will tell you to ignore it. Take pain killers, ice your face and try to eat softer food for a while. heat works to! Sometimes TMJ is also caused by tightness of neck muscles so going to see a chiropractor isn't a bad idea either. I did and it worked within 2 visits. Neck muscle runs into your jaw muscle you know. Hope this helps