Are you scuffling to find the right sleep position to relax your jaws? When you struggle with the potential reason for jaw joint discomfort, which may be anomalies in the joint like arthritis then it becomes quite difficult to get proper sleep. You might be referred to doctors who confirmed that you have a medical condition Temporomandibular joint syndrome popularly known as TMJ.
In this case, how to sleep with a relaxed jaw? The first (and obvious) treatment comes from specialists and includes dietary changes, stress reduction, muscle stretching, physical therapy, etc. However, if you are still feeling the same pain, you might look to adjust your sleeping position.
In this article, I will try to help you out on how you keep your jaw relaxed while you sleep. Remember, I am not claiming a 100% pain-free solution but sharing some tried and proven tips to get rid of this terrible pain.
Table of Contents
What are TMJ Symptoms
The first and foremost step is to find out the root cause for this intense pain; whether you have TMJ symptoms or have an infected tooth. Once you have the root cause, you can find out the ways to relax your jaws. Let’s figure out TMJ symptoms first:
- Jaw soreness or sensitivity
- Temporomandibular joint pain, either in one or both
- A feeling of burning in and around your ear
- Discomfort or difficulty chewing when chewing
- Thunderous pain in the face
- Joint locking, which makes it challenging to open and close your mouth
A jaw injury, teeth grinding, arthritis, malocclusion, etc the main causes of TMJ dysfunction.
How to Sleep with a Relaxed Jaw
You might go through various dental X-rays, CT scans, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), TMJ arthroscopy, etc based on your severity. You might go to various physical therapy or surgeries as a treatment. Along with that, follow the below tips to sleep relaxed at night:
Sleep on the Back
This is the best way to relax your jaws at night when you are struggling with severe pain. Due to its ability to relieve pressure on the jaw, maintain the correct position of the head and neck, enhance the comfort of the head, neck, and arms, and lessen the likelihood of teeth gripping or pounding. To put it simply, sleeping on the back is said to be the best posture for minimizing annoyance.
Also read: How to Get Over From Shopping Anxiety
Enhance Sleep Positions to relax in TMJ
To relax your jaws at night, you might need to improve or enhance your sleeping position. The best and recommended way to sleep on the back but most of us are uncomfortable sleeping with the back side. In this scenario, take a small and thin pillow and put it on the backside by aligning it to the arch of the spline. You can try different relaxing positions to lessen the pain.
Jaw Stretches and Exercise
Doing gentle jaw stretches and exercises a few times at night can relax jaws while sleeping. To do this, open your mouth slightly and slowly slide your jaws forward until you feel a gentle stretch on your jaws. Now, gradually back to the starting position and repeat this a few times every day. Similarly, you can stretch your tongue by moving it forth and back.
Apply Mouthguard
If your pain is not turning out and you are still looking for a solution for how to sleep with a relaxed jaw at night then I recommend using a mouthguard. It is also known as a nightguard or splint which is custom-fitted by the dentist and prevents teeth grinding and jaw clenching at night while you are sleeping.
Avoid Excessive Stimulant
Due to its ability to force your jaw muscles to contract more than they would without it, caffeine may exacerbate your TMJ symptoms. Also, stimulants can interrupt your sleeping cycle and increase anxiety which may further worsen jaw discomfort. However, people who already habitat to high caffeine consumption, may not feel much discomfort.
Root Canal Could be the Solution
Though it must be advisable by your dentist or doctor whether you require a root canal or jaw therapy, I must recommend consulting the doctor once regarding this. Recently, a Reddit user claimed that his jaws are completely relaxed since he was done with root canal treatment. The user was suffering from pain for a few months.
However, I would urge that you speak with your dentist once rather than simply going ahead and finishing your root canal.
Conclusion
By incorporating these methods to sleep with relaxed jaws, you might get comfortable sleep at night. However, if you implemented the suggested solutions and still facing jaw pain and discomfort then it is highly recommended to consult with your doctor and take the necessary treatment.