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Weekly Round-Up May 21 to 27th

Welcome to these week’s round-up! Here’s the latest health & TMJ disorder related news: Is there a relationship between signs & symptoms of TMJ disorder and mouth opening, gender, joint pain, and hearing loss? This study looked at 464 Greek students and evaluated what signs… Read More »Weekly Round-Up May 21 to 27th

Managing a Pain Flare Up – Free Pain Journal Download!

If you’re anything like me, one of the things that I find the most frustrating about having TMJ disorder (or any chronic pain condition, really) is the instability of it… Often, the pain is not steady or stable, and it is hard to know how I am going to feel from one day to the next. This can be incredibly frustrating! Not just for us as patients, but also for our loved ones. It can be difficult to make plans, not knowing how we will feel.
I remember sitting on my couch one afternoon after a particularly rough flare-up, trying to run through the damage it had done…. what appointments did I need to reschedule because I missed them… which friends did I need to call to apologize for being absent from a get together… etc…
I was totally sick of it! And I had enough… so, I started to devise a plan to take control of my health rather than having it take control of me!

I’d like to share some of my plan with you today, and I want to hear what you do to manage flare-ups! If we share tips, I’m sure that together we can come up with some great stuff!Read More »Managing a Pain Flare Up – Free Pain Journal Download!

10 Tips from TMJ Disorder Expert Patients


We have compiled this list of tips from a group of expert TMJ disorder patients..  simple things they do to make living with TMJ disorder and jaw pain easier.  We hope they help you!  As always, let us know in the comments below if you have your own tips or any suggestions.

  1. A bag of frozen peas or corn makes a great ice pack for your jaw! They can be molded to your face or jaw and stay cold for quite a while.  Just make sure you mark which veggies you are using as an ice pack so you don’t cook them for dinner! 🙂
  2. A coffee bean grinder is a good way to make crunchy, hard to eat items like roasted nuts, granola, and corn chips more edible if you have pain when chewing or a small opening.
  3. Smoothies can be pre-made in batches and frozen in ice cube trays. Then, pop them out of the ice cube trays and store them in zip lock bags in the freezer.  That way you have smoothies on demand and don’t have to destroy the kitchen every time you are hungry!
  4. A good blender can end up being your new best friend. After wearing a few out, we like blenders that have multiple speeds & levels.  Juicers are great too – just make sure you use organic fruits and veggies & clean them before juicing since you don’t want wax or chemicals in your juices!  When choosing a juicer, be very careful because this is one area that has not come out with a cheap version that still does a good job.  Magic Bullets (despite the cheesy infomercials!) can be handy to make single serving smoothies, soups, and other foods very quickly.  If you prepare by buying any of these items before your surgery, test drive them by making several meals and freezing them so you will have food ready to go when you get home.
    Read More »10 Tips from TMJ Disorder Expert Patients