Your healthcare provider may suggest using ice and heat. Ice helps reduce swelling and pain. Heat helps relax muscles, increasing blood flow. Use a gel pack or cold pack for severe pain.
If your jaw pain generates from muscle pain, tightness, or stiffness, heat compression will be a better option. Ice can aggravate symptoms of tightness and stiffness; it can also worsen unwanted pain.
Try homemade heat therapy: Wrap a moist hot towel around your jaw and neck and leave it for 15 to 20 minutes once an hour. The moist heat will help your muscles relax and possibly reduce muscle spasms.
For the first 24-48 hours apply ice packs to the affected joint to reduce swelling. After this time, use heat to increase circulation which will promote healing and reduce swelling. Place a hot, moist towel on the side of the face which has the tension or pain. Place the towel from the temple area to the jaw.
Most cases of trismus resolve following symptom-directed treatment with heat therapy and NSAIDs.
Run your fingers down your masseter muscle (muscle on the side of your face), which connects your jaw bone to your skull. Move your fingers in a circular motion for 30 seconds, two to three times a day. This motion helps loosen your jaw. These movements will stretch your jaw muscles, but shouldn't cause pain.
Generally, trismus is gradually alleviated or disappears within approximately 1 to 2 weeks post-operatively; however, in very rare cases, trismus persists for >1 month.
One of the best ways to treat this pain is by applying heat to the neck and jaw. A heating pad for jaw pain can help loosen stiff muscles to help them relax. This technique comes in handy if you're experiencing lockjaw. You can apply the same method to your neck if it feels in pain or stiff.
Heat can cause more swelling, which can lead to more pain in some cases. Cold therapy, on the other hand, works exactly the opposite of heat therapy.
Muscle relaxants - In extensive masticatory muscle spasm, benzodiazepines 2.5–5mg 3 times a day may be indicated. 5. Antibiotics is indicated only if trismus has been attributed to infection.
Radiation that affects the temporomandibular joint, the pterygoid muscles, or the masseter muscle, is most likely to result in trismus. The tumors related to this type of radiation include nasopharyngeal, base of tongue, salivary gland, and cancers of the maxilla or mandible.
Deep heat applied to the joint can relieve soreness or improve mobility. Trigger-point injections. Pain medication or anesthesia is injected into tender facial muscles called “trigger points” to give relief.
Apply moist heat (no warmer than bath water) to your jaw muscles 3 to 4 times a day for 15 minutes each time. If moist heat alone does not bring relief, alternate moist heat and an ice pack. Apply each for 5 to 8 minutes.
Place your thumb under your chin. While opening your mouth, apply pressure to your chin with your thumb. Hold for three to five seconds before closing your mouth. Do the reverse by squeezing your chin between your fingers to resist the mouth closing.
For many people, short-term use of over-the-counter pain medications or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, may provide temporary relief from jaw and muscle discomfort.
Suggest taking analgesics: ASA or acetamiophen 325 mg, 1-2 tablets every 4-6 hrs; or ibuprofen 200 mg, 1-2 tablets every 4 hrs. Muscle relaxants may be used in combination with analgesics or alone.
The 3 Finger Test
A quick and easy way to identify a possible case of Trismus is to place three of your fingers, stacked, between your upper and lower teeth, or dentures. If the mouth can open wide enough to accommodate them comfortably, then Trismus is unlikely to be a problem.
Symptoms include the reduced range of motion you experienced, pain or cramping in the jaw that occurs with or without movement, and pain or difficulty when exerting pressure, as when eating. Whether or not your jaw problem is due to TMD or trismus, we urge you to see your doctor or a TMD specialist for diagnosis.
Although trismus much more commonly presents as a temporary complication, it can become a permanent condition if a patient does not undergo rehabilitative treatment in a timely manner.
A medial pterygoid myospasm can occur secondary to an inferior alveolar nerve block. This disorder generally is treated by the application of heat, muscle stretches, analgesic and/or muscle relaxant ingestion, and a physical therapy referral.