I started getting mandibular joint problems. The first day is was loud popping on the left side. The next day this was gone but my bite was off. Almost like my jaw was moved forward. The next day things started to calm down. And just some pain. Since then I've had problems on and off.

A couple things I learned.

When the jaw was popping I found a way to stop this. I don't know if it would work for other people. But there is a jaw muscle that flexes below the joint and toward the front. It's just above and behind the back teeth. What I did was located the muscle by feeling along my cheek as a chewed. It bulges when I bite down, and that's how I found it. Then, I pressed on it to keep it from bulging out as much. And as long as I did this the popping stopped. My guess is that my finger was keeping the muscle from pulling the jaw bone out of place. If you try this, keep in mind that I am NOT pressing the joint. I'm pressing the muscle where it bulges out as I chew..

Luckily for me the problem passed. But every some often it comes back. But with a popping sound that is no where near as bad as before. What i do now is try to chew gently. Part of this is chewing slower. But when chewing with my molars, I don't press as hard as I used to. Instead, I press light but more times. Also, I use more water as I eat.


Squamous cell carcinoma base of tongue. Lymph involvement unclear; staging placed at "2 or 3." Biopsy 4/18/2008. Treatment: IMRT every day for 7 weeks. Cisplaten once a week to sensitize cancer to radiation. Treatment ended 7/16/08. PET/CT shows no more cancer.