Lockjaw you say? But isn't that something that happens if you've got tetanus. True enough, it does happen with tetanus, but it can also be associated with a bunch of other stuff. A more general term you might see used online is "trismus" or inability to normally open the mouth. What happens is you start to open your mouth and then BOOM, you realize it's locked and can only open so far. Thus the term lockjaw.
As the weeks have gone on, my jaw has been locked more and more frequently. It happens randomly, but usually is more common 1) right when I wake up in the morning or 2) when I've been laying on my side (putting pressure on my jaw).
It's not usually that painful. Just depends on how hard I have to work to force my mouth open.
When I do get my jaw unlocked there's a massive 'click' sound coming from the jaw itself. As far as I know, there really isn't any other thing you can do than just force your jaw open. After you get it open, just work it out over and over again. This gives you back the range of motion and releases the tension. My jaw clicks most of time now but how loud it is (audible only to me vs. audible to people near me) depends on how recently my last "lock incident" was. It kind of sucks and gets more painful over time, but luckily only one side of my jaw is locking.
I've been unsuccessful in getting the jaw unlocked more than a few times, without either removing the trays and massaging the muscles in my cheek. Once the jaw is unlocked, the trays go right back in. No harm, no foul. It doesn't seem to instigate more locking. I'm going to see what the dentist says about this the next time I go in. Not sure what they'll suggest or prescribe. Just haven't found a lot of useful information about this online when it comes to Invisalign-related lockjaw.
JAN 2013 UPDATE: I'm over halfway through my treatment. Something cool happened temporarily during the first couple days of my current tray.
If I had to rate my usual lockjaw tension from 1 to 10 - with 1 being not much tension, and 10 being so tense I can't get my jaw open without multiple attempts - I'm usually anywhere between 6 and 8. When I shoved my current trays on, the lockjaw loosened up for a couple days! It was around a 3 or 4 on days 1 and 2; the usual amount of tension (without pain) returned on day 3. Like I said, it was temporary, but what is cool is that it's a good indicator my bite is starting to get matched up again! Very cool. I can definitely see a lot of good progress since I started with Invisalign now in lots of places.
I have started invisiline for the second time. The first time I had to stop because of lock jaw. Are you saying you just powered through the lockjaw and it eventually stopped? Did you finish your treatment?
ReplyDeleteWell, prior to invisalign, my jaw never popped when I open it wide. Now it does it pretty much every time, but it never gets locked. I think during the process there were phases where my teeth were just in a wacky spot but eventually they moved beyond that. The dentist mentioned that clenching the trays (to keep them perfectly slid on) might be part of the issue. And I realized I was doing that. A lot. So I stopped. Also did jaw massage and took some muscle relaxers that the dentist prescribed. I did finish my treatment, but you have to know that it's gonna hurt. Braces and invisalign both hurt. It's a no pain no gain situation. I hope you're able to get through this. I suggest maybe taking some advil 30 mins before putting on a new set of trays to reduce pain and if you're clentching, that might be a cause of unnecessary jaw pain.
ReplyDeleteHi! Are you done with your invisilign treatment? Is your jaw back to normal? I am at my 4th week and I can’t open my mouth. I am smoothie-img my life right now!
DeleteWell I'm having the same issue. And so far I'm only on my first Vision Line tray, and my jaw locked and became sore for the next 3 days. All I could do is take ibuprofen 800 each day sometime that would take 2 every 6 hours. But I've read an article that states that Invisalign helps TMJ. The only problem I really am having with Invisalign, is that I really like hamburgers from Burger King and now I can't eat them cuz I can't open my jaw wide enough to bite down and is sore and when I Do bite down on a Burger, so for now Burgers are out of my diet until this treatment is totally over and then we'll see what happens.
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