“Why does my jaw hurt when I wake up in the morning?”
I'm a 33 year old male. When I wake up in the morning, I noticed that the back of my jaw hurts. I cannot tell if it's my teeth or my jaw. What can be the cause?
23 Answers
Grinding or clenching of the teeth
Most likely, without examining you, you are grinding your teeth.
You are most likely grinding your teeth and/or clenching your teeth.
Could be an awkward sleep position, or you may be someone who clenches their jaw or grinds their teeth in their sleep. If you have some one you live with check you when you are asleep, they may be able to tell if you do this by seeing your tense jaw muscles or if it is really bad, your teeth may make loud screeching noises as you grind them hard against each other.
Usually clenching and bruxing during sleep
Most likely due to clenching your teeth at night.
One of the most common causes is clenching your jaws or grinding your teeth while sleeping.
You may be grinding or clenching your teeth at night and not aware of it. That stresses your TMJ (jaw joint) and you wake up feeling the results of your clenching and grinding
It’s from clenching or grinding at night. A lot of time we release our stress through our clenching. Or if you are having a hard time breathing we clench down to open our air way to breath especially people with sleep apnea. A night guard will help to release the tension and should help stop the pain in the jaw
A lot of people have what we call sleep bruxism. People can have pain and cause damage with as little as grinding “sleep chewing” for 8 minutes a night. Seeing a dentist that is a TMD specialist is ones best option with jaw pain. This could be from a variety of causes so one would need to be evaluated by a specialist. A TMD specialist will typically have their practices limited to treating this disorder and have equipment for evaluation that your general dentist who “treats TMJ/TMD will not have available. Good luck!
Often when I hear about jaw pain early in the morning, it is commonly clenching the teeth, which puts stress on the TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint). Most of TMJ problems are muscle driven. I would schedule an exam with a dentist to see what the exact cause might be
Most likely it is due to "grinding" your teeth at night. A well made night guard should solve the problem. FYI, drugstore ones usually don't work and are quite bulky and uncomfortable.
Hope that this helps.
Hope that this helps.
Do an experiment. Open and close in your normal bite on your back teeth. Be aware of your right and left jaw joints just in front of your ears. What is happening with your joints as you open and close fairly wide? Now do the same thing with your jaw a bit more forward. Open and close on the biting edges of your front teeth. What is happening with your jaw joints in this position? It is likely your jaw joints are more comfortable opening and closing in the “end on end” position than in your normal bite on your back teeth. If this is the case, have your dentist make a device to hold your jaw in this position when you sleep. It is likely your joints will improve during your sleep.
Very likely, this is due to clenching or grinding your teeth during your sleep. Usually, the best way to alleviate this is to have a night guard fabricated for you!
David M. Garazi, DMD
David M. Garazi, DMD
More than likely you are grinding your teeth at night and that's causing issues with your TMJ. You can get a special appliance that will alleviate your symptoms.
Usually, pain in the jaw upon awakening is the result of clenching. To make sure of the cause consult your dentist for a thorough oral evaluation. Depending on what he finds, you may only need a night guard.
Grinding and clenching.
Welcome to the group!! Stress mediated nocturnal parafunction is why a large percentage of dentistry is performed these days! If you are under stress, then you’re more likely to be clenching/grinding when you’re unaware - during sleep. There’s no cure, only management via appliance use (night guard).
Most likely it's from clenching or bruxism at night. You will need to get an appointment with your dentist to determine your best course of treatment for you.
A possible cause: it might be grinding or clenching your teeth at night. Have your dentist look into it.
There could be many causes to your jaw problems. Only a dental consultation can get to the bottom of it.
1) You may be clenching and bruxing your teeth at night.
2) You might have a cavity on one or more of your teeth.
3) You may have a non-related dental problem
All these can lead to jaw issues. Please consult your local dentist as soon as possible for an evaluation.
1) You may be clenching and bruxing your teeth at night.
2) You might have a cavity on one or more of your teeth.
3) You may have a non-related dental problem
All these can lead to jaw issues. Please consult your local dentist as soon as possible for an evaluation.
Your jaw is hurt because you are grinding your teeth at night. It happens because of stress in day to day life. Although this is not a serious problem, in this condition, it's distinguished by pauses in breathing that put off air from flowing into or out of the airway of a sleeping person. Those who face sleep apnea are awakened frequently in the night time gasping for breath, occasionally over 50 times per hour. But the thing is that such awakenings are not remembered as they are of a few seconds only. Those who contain untreated sleep apnea contain a risk of getting diabetes, depression, hypertension, stroke, reflux, arrhythmias, etc. The good thing for people affected with this problem is that it can be treated. Those who snore loudly, particularly those who have been monitored to have momentary lapses in gasping or breathing for air, need to consult this problem with their dentist to check whether they’re having sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea, clenching, or grinding your teeth are also things to consider. Time to visit the dentist and voice these concerns
