Metal Mouth Message Board

I have had braces since May of this year. No significant problems or pain until the last 2 adjustments, when they moved to a heavier wire. After the adjustment before my last (which was a week ago) I had real pain with my bite, it felt very "off" on the right side, and I was unable to chew again like when you first got the braces on. Then I got this twitch in my right eyelid, lower one, out of nowhere. I didn't think anything of it but it became more and more persistent, and annoying. I still figured it wasn't a big deal, we've all had involuntary muscle twitches. Then I woke up one morning (eye had been twitching for over a week) and the right side of my face was a bit puffy from the cheek down to my lip and it felt a little numb on that side. I went to the dr., was kinda freaking out at the numbness, and he had no explanation for it. Okay, so the swelling goes down and the twitching stops soon after. Then I head in for my next adjustment last week, and I again feel pain and it's the right side and the bite. I told the ortho and tech about the bite feeling strange and they said that's normal. (I didn't mention the eye/numbness b/c I had kinda forgotten about them). So a couple of days later, I get this weird sensation in my right ear, like it's blocked or like you're on a plane and you can't get it to pop. I kinda ignore that, then after that I feel some pressure/pain in the ear, and it's still blocked. Then I had a weird dizzy spell that I felt like my car was moving after it stopped moving. Scared the crap out of me as I was driving my son at the time (luckily we were around the corner from home). So I make another appt for the dr, sure that I must have an ear infection or something. Nope, he says I have vertigo, cause unkown, could be a virus caused it.

So then I get to thinking...and doing some research on the internet (I know bad thing to do) and I wonder if my symptoms (at least the recent ones) are b/c of my bite being off, and maybe TMJ is happening? I haven't ever been diagnosed with TMJ, but I do know that I tend to clench my teeth at night. Maybe the shift in my bite due to the braces is causing all these weird problems on my right side?

Anyone have any similar experiences? I am going to call the ortho tomorrow to talk about it, maybe even my dentist. But thought I'd check here first.

Thanks in advance for any info you may have...

mm

I am a TMJ sufferer and I can tell you many weird things happen because of your bite.

I have a persistant ear ache on the left side because of my TMJ. It makes complete sense that dizziness could come from it because it is nar your jaw.


Hang in there it does get better.

Kim

My ortho messed up my bite. I've developed constant pressure in my left ear. Early on, I experienced dizziness, but after about a week that problem went away. The feeling of pressure never went away (my bite still needs to be fixed. I hope it will feel better once I can close my mouth correctly.) I visited an ENT and he said that he thought the problems were caused by my braces and bad bite (he found nothing else that he thought could be the cause.)

Hi there, I know what you mean about the car still going after it stops!! very very unpleasant. I hadn't even thought of it being related to the braces, even though it has only started doing that since. I have had a problem with things like that in the past (when walking along I would just fall over...and no I wasn't drunk )......turns out some viral infection had wreaked havoc with my middle ear and balance.....every now and then it just seems to come back. but this is the first time its done it sitting down as in the car....might check it out again. let us know what you find out about yours

Hi

Just to let you all know, I went and saw my guy yesterday. Described my problems and he looked at my bite. He said my bite changing could be causing the TMD type symptoms, there's two teeth in the bottom right that could be the problem. So we decided to take the wires off for 2 weeks, let things settle and go back to trying to fix the bite after that. He said sometimes with fixing the bite it gets worse before it gets better...anyway, now let's see if my dizziness goes away! If not, I guess I'll have to rule out TMD as the source.

I developed an eye twitch about 3 weeks ago. I have no idea why and wondered if the braces had anything to do with it. I have 4 cross-bites that they are trying to correct. I just started on elastics this last adjustment. I have a clicking jaw that is out of alignment. My Ortho thinks I may end up having to fix it surgically. I forgot to ask my Ortho about the eye twitch. It's in my right lower eyelid and it makes me nuts!!

Just to update...

The eye twitch stopped almost immediately after the wires were removed. The dizziness/vertigo are almost completely gone. This could all be just things clearing up on their own, or could be related to my braces. Either way I am glad to be feeling better and we'll see what happens when I get wired up again!

MM

Thank you, thank you for this - nice to know i am not alone. i'm 37 have no one else to ask questions about this. ive had twitching in my left eye for 3 weeks now, i thought i was stressed as i've just gone through a breakup. Then i've been dizzy too its kind of like Vertigo. This helps loads. I will revisit often.

I've had similar symptoms. I grind my teeth at night but I also have chronic sinus issues where my ears feel full, weird face/head/jaw pressure. But your post also makes me wonder if mine isn't related to my braces too!

This is super reassuring (although it's an old thread.) my bite is awful and the first month with braces has lead to my bruxism getting substantially worse. I've noticed some strange nerve pain feelings in my left cheek, mostly tingling and zapping. I think I will stop Dr googling now and ask my ortho next appointment. Thanks!

Omg me too! Initially I developed a very bad headache that lasted for months. My jaws keep cracking whenever I opened my mouth and I developed tinnitus as well. Some buzzing sound in my head the whole day. Yesterday while I was eating something happened to my jaw and there was a wind howling sound in my ear. I was so damn freaked out. Have talked to my dentist who deny any relationship with braces and advised me to see an ENT which I did and he found no issue. Am suspecting it's tmj and guess I will tell my dentist to remove my braces first as well..

Not sure if it would help if the twitching is in fact due to braces, might be worth checking out. I used to get facial twitches, usually my left eye twitching but not enough for anyone but myself to notice. I started drinking a couple glasses of tonic water daily and that seemed to help. I try to get brands like fever tree to avoid corn syrup and seek out lower sugar content. I find the taste very pleasant

Hi guys! I got my braces tighten up June 30, 2016, and starting mid July i started to experience some kind of under eye twitching on left side, and then it stopped and moved down to the side of nose. it has been about a month or so and it is still twitching, also the eye would twitch if i purposely contract my face muscle. (only left side). When i press on the side of my nose where it twitches (nose wing), I could feel some kind of weird sensation going down to the gum. (I had both premolar from left and right removed, big gap left behind so the oroth had to tighten the gap, it had closed up a lot since June 30, 2016). Had anyone experience somthing like this? Anyone had asked a dentist or oroth about this weird twitchings? Thanks a bunch!