I train in Muay Thai. I was doing some sparring a couple of weeks ago and I was going up against a guy much more skilled than me, so long story short, I got the crap kicked out of me. When I was done and opened my mouth to take my mouth guard out I got this nasty pain in my jaw on the left side of my face, right at the joint. It's been two weeks and it keeps coming back. The past couple of days it gets sore just chewing food. I've never had this happen before. Is it normal for it to still be hurting like this after two weeks?
Do you have any kind of overbite (teeth not lining up normally) since it happened? Hear a popping or cracking noise when you open and close your mouth? Its possibly dislocated - but you really need to see a doctor - ignoring it may set you up for permanent, chronic TMJ issues later.
Yes, go and see a doctor. There is a little notch in the upper jaw to keep it in place and you can easily smash the knobble (condyle?) off the lower jaw that fits into it, leaving you at risk of frequent dislocation in the future. I damaged my jaw falling down a flight of steps years ago and now I have to chew gum several times a week to keep my jaw muscles strong. If I don't it can pop out in conversation which makes people think I have had a stroke and is v.painful.
Jaw pain a pretty common problem. I have had this one myself. The jaw is unusual as there is a mobile disc that is attached to 2 muscles. This allows the jaw to have 2 motions, rotation and translation. The first half of opening is a hinge movement while the second part is a slide forward of the disc with the lower jaw coming with it. Like most joint injuries you go through phases-basically acute (inflammatory) and then either looseness (sloppy /weak) or stiffness (muscle cramp/tissue shortness and sensitivity). I didn't have a lot of luck being seen and got passed between professionals. This can be a simple or complicated problem but I think it's usually not too bad. Of course see your dentist/gp but you will be sent to see a TMJ specialist - either an orthopaedic physical therapist or consultant dentist. A guy named Marianno Roccabado did write a good self help manual for TMJ problems. LFD
No, no kind of popping or cracking. I don't think the alignment of my teeth has changed. It tends to be more sore when I wake up in the morning and after I have my mouth piece in. The pain from chewing just started a few days ago.
The popping and cracking is symptomatic of when the muscles are in spasm and the disc isn't able to slide with the mandible (lower jaw). When this happens the bone sips about on the disc a bit and this can create sounds etc (really simplistic explanation :' P ) http://www.toothandtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/jaw-movement-300x272.jpg LFD