I have just been diagonosed with osteo- arthritis in my jaws. I have a cross bite to the left (approx 1.5 cm moved to the left in the last 3 years) and my jaw is clicking and crunching on the right. I suffer from headaches and pain at the back of my skull behind my left ear (lumpy bit at the base of my skull). I am going in to have fluid put into the jaw under anaesthetic but the doctor didn t explain much about it. Can you help me?
There are different kinds of injections that are given into the Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) to relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis of the jaw. You did not what kind of injection will be given to your TMJ. But lately the most common injection(fluid in your term) that has been given into the TMJ is Hyaluronic acid derivatives that acts as an intra-articular(inside joint) lubrication so that your joint moves more freely, and it prevents the friction between the surface of the bones inside your TMJ. That will naturally reduce your symptom of pain and headache. Generally this kind of lubrication is repeated every six months.