How to Cure TMJ Disorder

I recently woke up with incredible pain. in my face. Let's talk about that. Hi, I'm Cricket and this is Bojo. We're from. Oklahoma. Good mythical morning. [Music]. Good mythical morning. This episode is. brought to you by Road Microphones. The. shotgun mics we use in the field are. road. If you got a shotgun mic, you need.

to put a windscreen on it like that one. Uh, I noticed you can use this as a. windscreen, but I stuck my finger in. there and thought, you know what? This. is like a finger mitten. You can stick. it out in really cold weather and be. like, "Whoop! My finger is fine because. it's protected." Okay, so it has. multiple uses. Thanks for joining us. today. We're going to get into some. pain. Um, but it's going to be a. learning experience and it's going to be. therapeutical for me. You're going to. put me in like a hold or something like. a death grip? It might come to that. depending on what comes up on the wheel. at the end. I've I've developed a.

reputation for doing that. I think a few. days ago, I woke up earlier than normal. because pain was my alarm clock. Pain in. the face. The entire left side of my. face was nothing but pain. I wake up. This mean this going to be. distracting because you're talking about. the left side of your face and I and I. can't see it. I can only see Well, here. Just take a good look at it. Okay. There's no outside signs. It looks a lot. like the right side. So, I just picture. the right and there's no lacerations.

You know, I went to the bathroom. I was. like, is there is am I bleeding? What's. going on? I felt like I had been shot. Sharp pain in the face. A a I mean, I. would I would just call it just. immobilizing pain. Literally, my jaw was. immobilized. I I realized I couldn't. open my mouth. I was like, it's like. it's like this. And I I I roll out of. bed, I go into the kitchen, I. immediately get some ibuprofen, and I. start making my coffee. I was like, you.

know, when things are going bad, get the. coffee, and get the ibuprofen. So, I. make the coffee. Did you put it up your. nose? How did you get it in? I put the I. put the pill in. there. And then I took three. It make. that noise when I put them. in. And then I could not even purse my. lips far enough apart. I guess purse. means put them together. Anti-purse my. lips enough to drink the coffee. Deepers. disperse. This whole side of my face.

that the side that I thought had been. shot, it was just clenched up and I. could not open my jaw. It was It made me. very very scared. And then Christy, my. wife, comes in there and I I tell her. what's happening. I'm like talking like. this and I'm like I can't open my jaw. She says, "You've got TMJ." Yeah. And. you know, I I've told you about your. your jaws popping back there. And you. know, I have that too. Sometimes I can't. open my jaw. It's TMJ. And I guess she.

had talked about it before, but since it. wasn't happening to me, maybe I ignored. her or something. I'm not the most. compassionate guy. You're not sensitive. to her situation. I was listening now. that it was happening to me. She said, "Do you grind your teeth at night?" I. was like, "Well, I don't know. You're. the one in bed with me. Do I grind my. teeth at night?" She's like, "I don't. know. I'm the one that's asleep. So, you. know, the juryy's still there's not like. teeth flakings on like my bed when I. wake up in the morning. I don't think. that's how it happens, though. But I I'm. I am reasonably familiar with this. because at one of my recent trips to the.

dentist, maybe I mean like in the past 5. years. Uhhuh. Uh you go once every five. years. I go once a year, maybe every six. months, I don't know. Okay. I try to go. pretty regularly, but they they always. ask you to open and close and they feel. back. feel. And she was like, "Oh, you've got I didn't mean to touch you, by the way. I regret that." First of. all, she didn't say you have TM TMJ. Everyone has a TMJ. That's like the. joint. The J and TMJ. I don't know what. the TM stands for. Something like thermo.

mandarin something. But the J stands for. joint. The mouth joint. TMJ. Okay. Is it. It's there on the the whole. So So. Christiey's like, "I have so I have the. issue, but I've never had the lockup.". No, I had the lock up. I mean, it's. scary. So Christiey's like, "Well, you. need to call the dentist or maybe a. doctor type scenario." And I'm like, "No, I don't. I need to give a call to. the internet." And so then I just Google. can't open my jaw. And the great thing. about the internet is that everybody.

talks about everything that happens to. them. It's not just the two of us cooks. doing it in this format. My right foot. is swole up. So your is your right foot. swollen? My right foot is swole. I. Google that all the time. And it's not. even swallowing. My right index finger. is bending backwards. My right index. finger is bending backwards. What does. that say about us? Well, my left middle. finger is bending backwards. Forums, you. know, forums. I was immediately. comforted that I'm not alone at this. And it does not seem fatal. But I'm.

still faced with this fear because you. can still feed yourself through like a. through the stomach directly. It just. doesn't kill you. It just doesn't kill. you, you know. But yes, I guess. Or. through a straw in the mouth. It can. open a little bit or through the. technically through the nose. I once ate. through my nose for a week. That's another episode. Let's not even. pause on that. I'm not I shouldn't have. even acknowledged that. Sorry. Continue. So, my fear at this point is that am I. going to be like this for the rest of my. life? Spoiler alert, I'm no longer like.

this. But, you know, I'm just thinking, am I going to be that guy who always. looks like Dirty Hairy? Like a hey, hey, funk talking through my teeth. Well, that could be that could help your. image. You could shave your head and at. the same time and like when I was in. fourth grade, this is how I used to. smile for all my pictures, you know? It's like teeth need to be together. It's like, am I going to look like the. fourth grade link for the rest of my. life? Like, at least in the mouth area. So, I'm really scared about that. And. then I go on these website and they're. like, "Cure TMJ." And the there's.

videos. I found this weird video. Let me. guess. You put your head on the table. and then another guy comes up and just. bangs it. No, that's not it. They play. soft music and a weird dude does a voice. over and then another weird dude lays. down on the table with a mirror kind of. behind him and it's just really awkward. Alternate biting and opening, biting and. opening further and further. When you. reach your easy limit, relax completely. That didn't make me feel better. But the. things that did make me feel better was, okay, I went to e-how and I I love.

e-how. It's just step one, step two, step three, step four, step five, your. TMJ is supposed to be cured. Step one is. don't don't chew stuff. Relax. Okay, that could be a problem. Now, it what I. found out, well, they said just drink. stuff. So, I eat soup and I eat. smoothies all that day. They said. anything you can swallow whole, you can. eat. And unless you're a snake, that's. like scrambled eggs and smoothies. I can. swallow I'm not a snake. I can swallow. macaroni hole. Yeah. What's a macaroni.

hole? That's a funny No, like when I'm. eating pasta, my kids will love that. joke. You can just put it in your mouth. and just like a snake. You will not. choke on macaroni. I've tried. The. problem with me and I think what got me. into this whole predicament is not. grinding teeth, but over chewing. We. talked about this before. My grandma. trained me as a dental assistant. No. Well, she was a dental assistant. She. trained me to thoroughly chew my food. So now I have a complex. Well, not. because you was a dentist. I have the. jaws of an 80year-old. No, no. You I. believe I've I've eaten a lot of meals.

with you and I'm a I'm a under chewer. We talked about this before and you're. an over chewer. I believe that I have. chewed the number of times of an average. like 12-year-old. I've chewed of an. 80-year-old. No, no. You have chewed. multiple lifetimes. There is no doubt in. my mind. You chew so many times. You. your joint is the other day the other. day was a wakeup call. The mouth joint. is done, my friend. So they say don't. sing, don't yawn, don't do all these. things. Basically the the medical. explanation is that your jaw is the.

muscle that attaches back here. There's. a lot of pain right at the ear. That's. where it attaches. It even hurts right. now touching the top of the mouth. Right. here to here, there's a muscle that. seizes up and it's like a knot. You get. a knot in your back, they have to. massage it out type of situation. This. is this is that jaw muscle seizing up. You're not about to ask me to massage. your mouth every month. No, they give. you exercise to do to yourself. And one. of which they say on e-how is push up. with your thumb and then open your. mouth. So you're pushing down with the.

opposite muscles from the ones that are. clenching and you're working those and. it actually helps this muscle that's. clenched up to relax. So you slowly open. your mouth and I mean I at first I. couldn't open it more than this. All. right. Slow. Yeah. You slowly open your. mouth and there is a lot of pain and I. wasn't willing to do it. So I went to. bed and they also said lay on your back. Don't lay on your side or don't lay on. your face because that's going to make. it worse, you know. So I tried to lay on.

my back, go to sleep all night with my. mouth like slightly gaped open. But your. mouth I mean whenever we fly on a plane. I know that you're asleep when I look. over there and you're going when the. mouth is gaped. I'm in dream and usually. that's within 5 minutes of takeoff. See. I don't grind my teeth. That's what I'm. thinking. But it could just be stress. You know I'm under a lot of stress with. uh my working conditions. I've put stuff. in there before while you were sleeping. Just to let you know. Okay. like a mint. I did it one time. I don't even want to.

know that mint. Okay, I'll take it. Was. all up in my face. I took a mint and. like and you went I wake up the next. morning and it is worse, people. It has. gotten worse. So then I go back to the. E-hon. I'm like, "All right, I'm going. to do these exercises. I don't care if. it's painful." And they say, "Try not to. make your jaw pop cuz you know when you. get to a certain point, it'll then pop. open." That makes me a little queasy. When the hinge When the hinge b when the. bone comes out of the hinge a little. bit, that's when it's popping. That's. what that is. It's like a snake. But I. got to this point where I was.

like. hurting and then I had a choice to make. I had to take it over the line or just. live like this the rest of my life. And. it was I just What do you mean pop my. jaw all the way open or just give up? And I said, "You know what? I'm going to. do it." And I went and I I even had to. go in like. this. Oh, it even hurts a little bit. now. Still doing it. It was like I was. rescuing a child from the mouth of an. alligator or something. You can't do. that. It's been pretty like a snapping.

turtle. I mean, it was that difficult to. get my mouth open. And I open and I get. to this point and then I start thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm about to pop open, bust. open my jaw, and I'm going to be stuck. like this for the rest of my life.". Well, that's impossible. I'mma be the. guy who looks constantly surprised or. like he's yelling. silently like I'm walking around a. grocery store, where is I think I think. if it was possible that that could. happen there would be other people like.

that and no one's like that. They don't. go out. Would you go out like that? They're all hermits. They're all sitting. inside going. [Music]. Yeah, exactly. I have no idea what. you're saying. But you know, I should. not have done those exercises that I. eg don't over the cup. So I went and I. went for it and it didn't go. It just. went and I held it for 10 seconds, took.

some cleansing breaths, and it went from. pain to actually feeling good like it. was stretching out. like and then pull it back down. And. there was a little relief. And then. every 30 minutes I would do that. And. then I would I would ice it. I would. heat it sometimes beforehand and then I. would ice it afterward. And I would do. the exercises every 30 minutes or so. All day yesterday. Woke up this. morning. New man. It still hurts a. little bit. Yeah. Cuz you're messing.

with us. There there is hope for you. people. If you wake up like that, as. long as you weren't actually shot in the. face, do that exercise. If you were shot. in the face, don't go on the internet or. e-how or to our channel on YouTube. Go. to the emergency room. But otherwise, I. mean, just, you know, just do this. Link turns Rhett into Frankenstein.

Okay, I'm going to time the lightning. And when the lightning times perfectly, I will arise the beast. The bearded, weirdl looking, eyebrow raising beast. Three, two, lightning. Yes. [Music]. I think you I think you've got I think.

you've got TMJ disorder. TMJ. disorder. Come here. Can I have a. mint mark? [Music].