Metal Mouth Message Board

Hey all,

I don't have TMJ/TMD and my bite is class 1, i'm getting braces mostly for aesthetic reasons to close gaps on top and fix my impacted canine/crowding on lower. What i want to ask is, I got my braces on yesterday and aside from the all the new pain with my teeth/gums/jaw, my right ear now pops when i open my jaw or when I eat or drink anything, just started happening today, Sometimes i left ear will do it too. Is this normal? I googled this and it said this is the symptoms of TMJ/D.
Which worries me, I mean, i don't exactly want to develop TMJ/D problems from braces, isn't it suppose to correct this for people, not cause it! I am just worried, but then thought since i'm 33 and never had braces before maybe it's just making the noise since it's the first day and adjusting?

I suppose the explanation could be as simple as having your jaw open that wide for that long when they were putting on the braces. That's probably the longest your jaw has ever been that stressed and out of relaxed position. If that's the cause, I'd imagine things will settle down soon, but let your ortho know either way. Is there anything else that caused a change in bite or contact between your teeth, such as molar buildups or teeth hitting the new brackets and causing a slight change it how things come together? Sometimes the jaw joint is bulletproof, while other times it doesn't take much change in angles or position to irritate it. Hopefully it resolves quickly! Good luck.

Hi, I'm having braces to fix my tmj problems and something i've noticed is that in the first few days of movement pain I would bite differently to minimise the discomfort. I suspect that since you've just got them on you're trying to avoid pain on your teeth by biting in a slightly different place than usual and your jaw muscles don't like it. The ear popping is the eustacian tubes muscles being stretched in an unusual way. You're biting out of alignment.

For the record, orthodontics definitely can cause or cure tmjd problems and orthodontists are wilfully ignorant about it. If symptoms continue it will be bacause your teeth will have changed the direction on the forces on your jaw as you bite. A human bites everytime they swallow which is 1000s of times a day. Movement pain will go in a week or so but if your symptoms stay then don't take any excuses from your ortho.