Hi Lorna,

You wrote this some time ago, so I don't know what happened. You may have already made a decision about your treatment by now. I had an injection into my TM joint many years ago. I had very severe problems in both jaw joints. We tried quite a lot of things to treat the joint, including physical therapy (including treatments at home), different kinds of oral splints, various medications, and more. The injection was partway through the process. It was a little painful but it wasn't bad. I've definitely been through worse procedures in my life. Unfortunately, in my particular case, I can't say that it helped that much. Other people may have had better success with it. I ended up having surgery on my jaw joints, and I also continue to wear an oral splint as my situation was quite complex.

Some other things help, and I don't know if the doctor has discussed this with you. Sticking to a soft diet is helpful, Using heat on the joints can help - ask your doctor about that. I used a TENS unit very successfully on my TM joints, and that was one of the things that helped me greatly.

These days I understand that they don't do surgery that often, and I think that's for the best. One way or another, I sure hope you will be feeling better soon!

Take care,
ErinBear