I have worn a mouthguard (from my dentist) on my upper teeth at night since I was in college. Long story short, it was/is to keep my jaw from shifting more and to keep me from grinding my teeth. (I was born with a cleft lip & palate and have had numerous surgeries and orthodontic work). When I told my dentist that I have Fibro now, he said that is good for me that I already wear the mouthguard. He has his Fibro patients wear mouthguards.

I had no idea I had an issue really, but while I was at my initial allergist appointment b'c I started having weird reactions to things I had been around or eaten all my life, my jaw popped a couple of times, and he asked me about it. He said it definitely sounded like TMJ... and after further investigation, it was. Within a 4-5 year period, I had a deluge of items hit me that fell/fall under the umbrella of FMS. New allergies (off the chart for things I had never had an issue with in the past - I mean who is allergic to lettuce? CRAZY!...) and TMJ were just two of them.

My TMJ specialist says that over 80% percent of all FM patients have TMJ. I would definitely check it out before it gets worse. I clench so hard at night I have broken teeth off. In the meantime don't chew gum or caramel type candies. Slice apples and don't lift mouth real wide, all ca make it worse. Massage your jaw on the outside below next to the bone line, also rub finger just about the root of your teeth. and press right on the hinge of your jaw. All this helps as well as a football guard worn at night. But isn't a replacement for a detainer. If you have questions just ask your regular dentist and he can tell you more. Good Luck with the pain in the mean tie.

I was clenching so bad and hard that I went to an MD for TMJ he made a mouth gard for me which helps. Also, muscle relaxers help especially at night. He told me that over 80 percent of FM patients have this problem. That the jaw can press down 20000 lbs of pressure and that is why I was breaking my teeth off. If you want to do something right away, you can go to a store like Walmart and get a gard like they wear when playing football. That helps also, but it will not realign your teeth. The other thing that is the most help of all is I do massage my mouth. I am a massage therapist and I took a class. But it is super easy to do on yourself. Basically just take your finger and rub it along your gum line. You will feel pain so you know your in the right place. Then move your finger down the middle of your palate until you feel soft tissue, then rub your finger along the back side of your palate pushing on the hard part a few times. Last but the most helpful rub push your finger to where your jaw hinge is in the inside of your mouth. If you like you can also rub this area also. It only takes a few minutes but it really relaxes the muscles. You can do this throughout the day. I usually only remember at night. Eah time I remember I wonder why don't I do this more often. If you need more instruction you can either get a video or go to a massage therapist trained in this type of massage and they should be able to teach you. There are more techniques but those are the easiest.

There isn't anything to take for tmj other than a muscle relaxer depending on how bad you could use a mouth piece if it becomes too severe they will do surgery to insert a hinge in your jaw, mine stopped giving me problems once my teeth started falling out more and more