Did you have any dental work done just prior to this happening? Sometimes just the different way we eat can affect the jaw.

You can test yourself to see if there's a problem. Put your fingers on each side of your jaw and open wide and then close your mouth. Do you feel any thing out of the ordinary. Any loosness or wobbling in the jaw.

Have it checked out by your medical doctor first. I don't know but just in case your Fibromyalgia has something to do with it. When that is checked out then consult this dentist. I would make doubly sure she is a dentist first.

Hi oilpainter,
I did have a new crown put on one of my front molars, but its hard to imagine that would have caused this....but who knows, maybe its possible.
I can open my mouth a certain amount, and it catches. If I move my mandible to the left, I can un-hitch it......but that's the only way I can un-hitch it.
What's weird is around the same time all this started, I began having lots of problems in some other joints too.

Are you on any professional bone enhancers, like fosomax, etc. I know that they cause jaw problems, even my dentist said that his wife will not take them, after seeing women in his practice with problems. That is done by using the research button on your pc.
Darlene

No, none of those drugs. I'm just on Toprol and Zoloft. But thanks for the heads-up on that Darlene.

Darlene 87:

I have Osteoporosis and have been on Fosamax for 6 years.
When I was first diagnosed my bones were very bad. I fell and broke my hip and they couldn't repair the bone, because as my surgeon said--my bones were like mush. As a result I had to have a hip replacement, couldn't put any weight on that leg for 6 weeks and took 6 months to recover.

As you can see I had reason to thouroughly research Osteoporosis. I read every book or article I could find including medical textbooks. I joined the Osteoporosis society. I'm happy to say with Fosamax and the proper doses of Calcium and Vitamin D my bones are getting back to normal. Not there yet but pretty close.

A few years back the dental community latched on to a study that said there was a danger of Osteonchrosis with taking Fosamax or any Bisphosphonate--Osteonchrosis is a rotting of the bone beneath the teeth and it is very nasty.

What the study didn't say was that 99.9 percent of these cases were cancer patients whom they gave massive doses of Bisphosphonates intreveniously. The other 1 % may have had some other reason for getting this disease, I don't know and neither does anyone else for sure.

As many as 1 in 4--it may be as high as 1 in 3 women will get Osteoporosis in their life time. There is no other proven cure or help for it but bisphosphonates. You start losing bone in middle age and more after menopause and lack of Estorgen. Another fact is that most people don't get enough calcium amd vitamin D in their diet. Calcium is the one thing that most people are deficient in.

If your dentists wife wants to live in pain, with breaking bones and disfigurement that's her choice. For me I'll research, continue to keep up with any info I can find and take my Fosamax

I'm very fortunate that I have good bones. I do have osteoarthritis, but when I had my bone density study at around age 54, I was told they were excellent. About 2 months ago, I seemed to have a surge in my osteoarthritis. I won't be surprised if that's what's causing this jaw problem.
My guess is that I'll have to wear some mouth appliance.

catherinet:

When I broke my hip and couldn't put weight on that leg, I developed osteoarthritis in my other knee. At least that's what the doctor said it was. Of course me being me I had to research. I found this book at my library. The blurb below is copied from my library page.

Author Theodosakis, Jason.
Title The arthritis cure : the medical miracle that can halt, reverse, and may even cure osteoarthritis / Jason Theodosakis, Brenda Adderly, and Barry Fox. --
Imprint New York : St. Martin's Press, c1997.

It is worth a read. It is written by a medical doctor. Along with certain diet and exercises he recommends taking
Glucosamine and Chondroitin. Herbal remedies sold at the drug store. They come together in one pill and you must take the recommended 3 pills a day. I know people who have said it didn't help but most I've questioned weren't taking the full dose. They say the glucosamine plumps up the cartiledge and the Chondrotin builds new cartilidge.

Well to make a long story, short, I started taking them. Within the month my pain went away. I continue to take it and it has never came back.

Listen to oilpainater. The only thing I would change would be to use the liquid forms of gluc & chon. It comes in the daily dosage now recommended and being in liquid form you will see results in a week or two as opposed to the several months it takes to produce results by taking the pills. Also, the recommended daily dosages for calcium is higher now than in years past. I take three 630 mg caps w/D a day. My doctor recommends at least 1500 mg a day and 2 is not quite there. I figure the overage is probably not being absorbed anyway.

I've gone from being told I have osteoprosis to having ,I don't remember the name, peri something or other, in the joints.

I've tried gluc and chon and it gave me gas so bad I had to stop it. I have IBS, so maybe that's a problem with it.

You might try the liquid and see if it does the same thing. It could be the capsule that is hard to digest. My doctor has me on a pepsid cap because of the medications I'm on. You might try that also.

Thanks pris.