I have a tendency to grind my teeth when I sleep, which causes my jaw to lock. I have discussed this with my dentist, and he said that a specialist will not do anything unless I have an extreme limited range of motion. I think that there has to be something that can be done. I have gone to the chiropractor for treatments, but they got to be very expensive.

Does anyone know of other things that can be done to help alleviate the discomfort of TMJ?

    

Do you use a mouth guard??? I had the same problems. I clenched and grinded my teeth at night. It was so bad that I'd get terrible migraines and I almost lost sight in one eye! I had been grinding and clenching for years and didn't even know about it until it started getting so bad that I'd wake myself up at night because the noise my teeth was making was loud! I didn't know you could buy mouth guards at the store so I had one specially made at the dentists office. It was expensive though. I had to pay $600 but I was desperate at the time. The mouth guard helped with the grinding and clenching. I sitll grind and clench but not as often.
About a year later, I got braces. I was told that fixing your teeth could help with TMJ. My back teeth were really all over the place so at night my teeth couldn't find a proper resting place which caused the grinding. I found a mouth guard for braces called sleep right. Actually anybody can use it but it can also be used for braces. It only costs $30 and is much better (imo) and comfortable than the expensive one.
The braces and mouth guard has help with the grinding, clenching and my jaw no longer pops. You should give it a try and see if it works.

Thank you for that advice. I am glad there is an alternative to forking out $600 for a mouth guard.

My TMJ began to give me problems after several mouth surgeries to get my teeth aligned. (I had to have my eye teeth and wisdom teeth cut out over several surgeries). Now it is just unbearable. I am going to see if I can find the Sleep Guard you suggest.

Thank you again!

Your Welcome. You can find the Sleep Right mouth guard at Wal Mart and Target. There are also others that are a lot cheaper. A friend of mine bought one for her husband for $7. She says it works just fine. I got the sleep right one because I can use it with my braces.