Can’t Open Your Mouth Fully? It Might Be Lockjaw—Here’s What To Know

Lockjaw (Trismus) is a painful condition that limits your ability to open your mouth all along. This happens when the muscles you use to chew spasms, which means that they cannot completely relax. The term “lockjaw” was used to be used interchangeably with “tetanus”, a bacterial infection that causes Lockjaw. “Lockjaw” is now recognized as a possible symptom of tetanus rather than the official name of the disease.

Lockjaw’s most common symptom is unable to open your mouth completely. Bouches generally open between 40 and 60 millimeters, or about 1.5-2.3 inches. If you have lockjaw, you will not be able to open your mouth wider than 35 millimeters, or 1.35 inches.

The main signs of lockjaw include:

• Pain and sealing of one or two sides of the jaw
• Pain or difficulty when speaking or chewing it
• Difficulty brushing or
• Symptoms that arrive quickly and culminate in a few hours
• Partially open mouth while resting due to the tense muscles

In addition to having a locked jaw, the additional symptoms that you may feel:

• Dry or dry mouth
• Headache
• Painful pain in the neck or the rest of the jaw
• Swelling in the jaw
• Ear joints
• Fever, perspiration
• Muscle spasms (cramps) in other parts of the body or involuntary ransacking movements
• Rise or drop in heart rate and blood pressure

Lockjaw is generally acute (in the short term), although some people can develop chronic cases (long -term).

Lockjaw occurs when the masticator muscles (muscles involved in chewing). This means that they remain tense at rest and cannot relax, which affects the ability to properly move the jaw. These spasms can come from many causes.

Conditions that can cause Lockjaw include:

• An injury or damage to ligaments, muscles, nerves or bones in the jaw, such as trauma due to accidents or sports.
• Tetanus, a bacterial infection that affects your muscles and nerves
• Temporomandibular disorders (TMD), conditions which affect the joint of the jaw and the muscles controlling the movement of the jaw
• Arthritis
• Oral infections (mouth)
• Drugs or side effects of dental treatment
• Head and neck cancer
• Certain cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy (high energy X -rays that destroy cancer cells)

Risk factors

While anyone can develop lockjaw, some people are more at risk. Health conditions and factors that increase risks include:

• 70 years or more
• People assigned to a woman at birth
• Diabetes
• The conditions that weaken the immune system, such as cancer, autoimmune diseases, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AID) (AID)
• Injection (taken by vein) Drug consumption
• Malocclusion (badly aligned teeth)
• Arthritis
• Baccal surgery history
• Radiotherapy history for head and neck cancer

During the diagnosis of Lockjaw, healthcare providers work to find the underlying cause. They check your medical records to see if you have a history of cancer, cancer treatment, oral or dental injury, oral surgery or other risk factors.

They can also perform the following diagnostic tests:

• Physical examination: Most of the lockjaw cases can be diagnosed by examining physically how jaw and mouth move and learning your symptoms.
• Blood test: Your supplier may request a complete blood count (CBC) and other blood tests to check the signs of infection or inflammation. A CBC is a group of blood tests that measure the number and size of blood cells. However, blood tests cannot detect tetanus
• Tomodensitometry (CT) Scan: These scans Help suppliers diagnose and assess any jaw injury or fracture that causes symptoms.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This test creates detailed images of the jaw joint, allowing health care providers looking for changes in the fabric (lesions).

Lockjaw treatment options depend on the cause of symptoms and their severity. The treatment objectives are to relax the jaw muscles and manage discomfort. This also means approaching all the underlying causes, such as tetanus, arthritis or cancer.

Drugs

A range of over-the-counter and prescription drugs can mitigate the locking symptoms or treat the underlying cause:

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) or motorrine (ibuprofen)
• Opioids, which are drugs used for pain relief, such as percocet or oxycontin (oxycodone)
• Muscle relaxing, such as diastat (Diazepam)
• Antibiotics for tetanus or bacterial infections
• Injectable muscle relaxing or botox (botulinum toxin a)

Therapy

Thermal therapy is a home remedy that could facilitate the tension and pain of Lockjaw. When applying heat on the affected area, it should increase blood circulation, which should in turn reduce discomfort, relax the jaw muscles and facilitate the displacement of the jaw. To try this method, apply a hot stamp or a hot wet towel on the jaw for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, every hour if necessary.

Surgery

For serious lockjaw cases where symptoms do not disappear with other treatments, surgery may be necessary. Surgery may include:

• Lower the height of the lower jaw bone (mandible)
• Coronoidectomywhich removes the end of the mandible
• The release of Trismus, in this case, consists in eliminating scar tissue to facilitate tension on the jaw. The release of Trismus can also include non -surgical options.
• Free reconstruction of the shutter, which moves the tissues from another part of the body to the jaw after the release of Trismus

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy helps recovery after resolving the worst symptoms of Lockjaw. Working with a physiotherapist, you learn and practice exercises to help bring back the mobility (movement) of the mouth and the ability to speak.

Dental devices

Your health professional can make you wear specialized devices to help the mouth open further. For lockjaw, these devices may include cits in jaw, stacked wooden tongue depressants, and Tempomandibular joint (TMJ) and repositioning splints. Lockjaw treatment are similar to night guards. However, they are specifically designed to help stretch the jaw muscles.

Although there is no way to completely prevent Lockjaw, you can do several things to reduce your risks. You can reduce your risk if you:

• Get a tetanical booster: Vaccines managed to prevent tetanus. Since it starts to lose efficiency over time, you should get a booster every 10 years.
• Exercise: Physiotherapy exercises and activities like chewing it with sugar -free gum can help develop muscles, prevent locking or relapses related to TMJ.
• Change medication: You may need to stop taking medication that cause locking, such as antipsychotics like the antagonists of the 2 (D2) of dopamine and the rules (metoclopramide), which treats nausea.
• Avoid certain foods: Avoid difficult to chew food, such as nuts, raw vegetables, hard candies, popcorn and others.

Most of the lockjaw cases have fun in the two weeks. If you are untreated or if your locking is due to a chronic condition, there may be complications. This includes:

• Aspiration: It is at this moment that saliva, food or liquid enters the airways, which can cause pulmonary infection (pneumonia). Difficulty hiding and swallowing due to Lockjaw increases the risk of suction.
• TMJ fibrosis: Prolonged and untreated lockjaw can cause TMJ Muscles (muscles and fabrics in jaw joint) to develop scar tissue or fibrosis.
• Laryngospasm: When caused by tetanus, infection can spread to vocal cords, which means that these spasm muscles, affecting the ability to speak.
• Pulmonary embolism: It was then that a blood clot moves to the lungs.
• Respiratory failure: It is When the lungs stop working. Severe tetanus infections can spread to lungs and blood, which can cause respiratory failure.

Lockjaw occurs when you are unable to open your mouth completely, which can cause a seal and pain when you mince or speak and affect breathing. Many conditions can cause locking, including tetanus, temporomandibular joint conditions and dental procedure complications.

The more advanced age, arthritis, diabetes and the use of injection drugs can increase your risk. The treatments for this condition depend on the underlying cause and include drugs, physiotherapy and surgery. Avoid food that is difficult to turn. Jaw exercises can help prevent it.