Sounds like what I had going on. The doc called it TMJ syndrome. My dentist made an appliance kind of like a retainer that I wore in my mouth 24 hours a day for a while (except when eating) to help realign my jaw. Then I just wore it at night after about 6 months. Now I just wear it when it starts bothering me... Headaches, jaw popping and locking, etc. see your dentist!!

Ouch!!!!!!

I really miss chewing gum, my favorite was Dentyne. Then when I was 31 I had my ginormous, scarred tonsils removed, bad bleeding so I was hospitalized and when I came to, my left jaw was killing me more than my throat. Why? The ENT dr. dislocated my jaw trying to get all of my tonsils and scared tissue out cause I don't have a wide opening!!! A couple of months later a Pizza Hut opened up near us and we took the family there and got pizza, just my luck, my first bite I chewed it on my left side and bit down and I let out a loud OOOWWWW!! There was a piece of bone the size of pea that I had in my piece. The manager came over to see what happened and asked for the bone so he could send it in to the 'company '. I should have kept it cause hence, the bite mouth piece had to be made that I have to wear at night .So it was a very expensive pizza! $#*&@×$%&!$$

Oh and as for the mouth guard. If you don't want to pay an arm and a leg, just use one of the rubber pieces that comes with a teeth whitening kit. 😉

Sometimes dentist will prescribe Flexeril to take at night. And no gum chewing!