Adult braces and TMJD

[nataliet]

I've had adult braces for about 6 months (I'm 27) to straighten my teeth. Ever since a little over a week ago, I've developed symptoms of TMJD. However, I think I did have TMJD before getting braces but it wasn't too noticeable (I've always heard a squeaky noise when opening my mouth). Can braces cause an increase in symptoms? Currently, I'm experiencing pain on the right side when opening my mouth wide or moving my mouth from side to side, and I hear a squeaky noise when opening my mouth. Also, last Friday I experienced a tired sensation in the lower right side of my face and I had pain that kept rotating from my face, to my neck and then to my back. Thank goodness I only experienced that for 1 day. I'm kind of regretting getting braces. Do you think these symptoms will decrease? I talked to my orthodontist but she wasn't too helpful. However, she did state that my symptoms should get better once my jaw is in the correct alignment.

[assertives]

Not sure if your symptoms will decrease. I suppose if you started out with a misaligned bite, things would only get worse if you didn't do anything about it, but should improve as your bite gets corrected?

I had the same problem too, 2 months into my treatment. Only difference was I didn't get any pain and my jaw was never clicky or noisy before braces.

My xrays did however show that my condyle discs were a little misshapened due to years of a bad bite. I'm now into my 6th month of treatment and the noisy clicky sound has gone away. I guess if things are starting to hurt and are getting worse for your case, perhaps see a TMJD specialist?