Your jaw won't open all the way (trismus or locked jaw) due to issues with your temporomandibular joint (TMJ), like inflammation, cartilage problems, or a disc dislocation, often caused by teeth grinding, stress, or injury, but it can also stem from infections (like mumps or tooth abscess), wisdom teeth problems, trauma, or even tetanus. The restriction can be painful and feel like your jaw is stuck, needing a doctor or dentist to diagnose the specific cause and recommend treatment, which might involve exercises or addressing underlying issues.
Try gentle jaw movements: With your palms on either side of your jaw, slowly attempt side-to-side or back-and-forth movements. Avoid forcing the jaw open. If it's stuck, do not apply strong pressure—this can cause further injury. Call a medical provider if the issue doesn't resolve on its own or occurs frequently.
Try to place all three fingers into your open mouth, up to the second knuckle. If you can fit all three fingers comfortably, your jaw likely has a healthy range of motion. If you can't—or if there's pain, resistance, or clicking—it may point to a restriction or joint issue.
Trismus, or lockjaw, usually gets better on its own and typically goes away within 2 weeks. However, in certain circumstances, such as patients who develop tissue hardening from radiotherapy, it may take longer for trismus to resolve and it may be resistant to traditional treatment methods.
There are 5 main ways to help manage trismus:
Severe trismus makes it difficult or impossible to insert dentures. It may make physical re-examination difficult, if limited mouth opening precludes adequate visualization of the site. Oral hygiene is compromised, chewing and swallowing is more difficult, and there is an increased risk of aspiration.
While healthy TMJ will work painlessly, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 10 million Americans suffer from some kind of TMJ disorder. A dentist can often successfully treat TMJ pain with treatments either provided in the office or as part of an at-home regimen.
Symptoms of TMJ disorders may include:
Trismus (pronounced TRIZ-muhs) is a condition that causes your jaw muscles to become so tight that you can't fully open your mouth. This is why some people call it “lockjaw.” It happens when you have spasms in the muscles surrounding your jaw joint. It's called the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
Bruxism is when you clench, grind or gnash your teeth. It usually happens subconsciously, either during waking hours or when you're asleep. Causes include stress, anxiety, sleep disorders and certain medications.
The causes of lockjaw vary, and there's no definitive answer to how long a locked jaw will last. In most cases, trismus is temporary and subsides within a couple of weeks, but some cases of lockjaw might last longer, and some might even be considered permanent.
Some patients who are experiencing severe trismus may even undergo surgery to improve their jaw mobility. In these cases, a surgeon may perform a coronoidectomy procedure, which surgically removes the coronoid process of the mandible and thereby increases the jaw range of motion of the patient.
You Should See a Dentist for TMJ Disorder
Problems with your teeth can cause TMJ disorder to occur. Because of the close relationship between dental health and jaw health, TMJ disorders are most often treated by dentists.
Anxiety and jaw clenching are strongly associated in the medical literature. One of the primary physical manifestations of anxiety is muscle tension. This often occurs in the jaw muscles in the form of clenching or grinding, a behavior sometimes called “bruxism”.
Symptoms of bruxism may include: Teeth grinding or clenching, which may be loud enough to wake up your sleep partner. Teeth that are flattened, fractured, chipped or loose. Worn tooth enamel.
Although psychological factors are routinely implicated in teeth grinding, previous research has focused primarily on state anxiety, depression, and life stress, rather than on stable individual differences in the tendency to experience negative emotions.
What are the symptoms of tetanus? A common first sign of tetanus is muscular stiffness in the jaw (lockjaw). Other symptoms include stiffness of the neck, trouble swallowing, painful muscle stiffness all over the body, spasms, sweating, and fever.
Best Sleep Positions to Alleviate TMJ Pain
Adjusting your sleep habits can significantly affect how you feel in the morning. Sleeping on your back is generally the best position for individuals with TMJ disorders. This position allows the head, neck, and spine to remain aligned, minimizing the strain on the jaw.
Because lockjaw can quickly escalate in discomfort and severity, it's important to seek emergency or urgent dental care in Aberdeen, NC as soon as symptoms appear. Getting a prompt diagnosis and beginning treatment early can help restore comfort, prevent complications, and protect your overall oral health.
Exercise: Active and passive stretching/strengthening exercises to the muscles of mastication have been advocated by various authors in the treatment of trismus. As they work to stretch scar tissue, relax the muscle that are in spasm and increase muscle strengthen, bringing about increased range of motion of the TMJ.
Jaw tightness, or trismus, is a symptom experienced in some neuromuscular disorders such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and Muscular Dystrophy. How do I know if I have jaw tightness? Some people describe jaw tightness as not being able to open their mouth as fully as they used to.