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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Muscle Spasms In The Jaw?

My daughter has been having muscle spasms in her jaw. It started happening about 4 months ago very suddenly and with a lot of pain involved. In the first 2 months her spasms caused her jaw to get locked open, but her front teeth were then located on the side of her mouth. In order to unlock it she needed to be put completely out as the spasm was too strong for anyone including all the doctors to reduce it themselves. After 7 emergency room visits, 3 different dentists, a neurologist, chiropractor, regular family doctor, lots of x-rays it was said to be tmj. I found a tmj and facial pain specialist that did an xray and found after all this time that her jaw was fractured and did in fact have tmj. I told the dr. about these crazy spasms and he said it sounded normal but when we went to go get the mouth plate in she started having the spasms in their office and he said he has never seen anything quite like it and the spasms were so strong they couldn't leave the mouth guards in. I forgot to add she also had botox injected so her jaw should have been paralyzed, and it was for about 3 weeks and then they came back.
After writing stuff down and putting everything together I started wondering if there could have been trauma from a fall she had a couple months prior but everyone just said no and tried to give her medicines that knocked her out ( except the chiropractor) he has been the only one that has a different focus on this situation . I need help and I don't know where to turn. My daughter is 17 and is in so much pain when and only when these spasms are happening. She had an MRI this last Friday and it came back normal except for the one sentence that said " Minor left frontal white matter signal changes without restricted diffusion or abnormal enhancement, in isolation of questionable clinical significance."
I will do anything for her or take her anywhere. Is there anything else I could be trying or doing?
Please help
Thank you ,
Brittany
Thu, 13 Apr 2017
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Dentist 's  Response
Hi there..
Thanks for the query..

Well, if there is TMJ it can cause a locked jaw but spasms is not commonly seen in case of TMJ..
So if she has spasms that can be due to some nerve related problem and in case if there is a history of head injury then it can be due to brain related problems that is also apparent on the MRI Scan..
So my suggestion to you is to consult a Neurophysician as it is pointing towards neurological problem only..
Once a clinical co-relation is done along with MRI scan she can be advised medication and Physiotherapy accordingly..

Hope this helps..
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What Causes Muscle Spasms In The Jaw?

Hi there.. Thanks for the query.. Well, if there is TMJ it can cause a locked jaw but spasms is not commonly seen in case of TMJ.. So if she has spasms that can be due to some nerve related problem and in case if there is a history of head injury then it can be due to brain related problems that is also apparent on the MRI Scan.. So my suggestion to you is to consult a Neurophysician as it is pointing towards neurological problem only.. Once a clinical co-relation is done along with MRI scan she can be advised medication and Physiotherapy accordingly.. Hope this helps..