Arthrocentesis Experience

Hi all. I thought I would post my (24F) experience now that I am about 6 weeks post bilateral arthrocentesis. Sorry for the long post.

I have been dealing with TMJ for years, but it worsened considerably after buying an OTC mouth guard. My only symptoms at first were that I clenched/ground my teeth, and that was it. I clenched so hard on the ill-fitting OTC mouth guard that it slid a disc out of place, and my jaw was locked for over two months.

I saw a doctor who gave me muscle relaxers which unlocked my jaw, but now my bite was considerably different and suddenly I was in pain every single day. My opening/range of motion wasn’t an issue to begin with, but now I couldn’t get the full range of motion without physically shifting my jaw open. All of this was new.

The pain I experience is an aching in the sides of my face, sometimes in my head/temples on really bad pain days. Some days I would put the pain up to an 8/10. It was getting incredibly frustrating for me to live with, so I finally bit the bullet and saw an oral surgeon.

The surgeon suggested arthrocentesis as a first step if I did not want to start with PT. I thought that considering my symptoms went from just clenching/grinding to chronic pain, misaligned bite, etc., due to a shitty OTC mouth guard, PT might not be the best choice.

Immediately following that appointment I started doing research on arthrocentesis as well as looking in this subreddit, and it scared me a lot as I found an overwhelmingly negative opinion of it in this sub. I was terrified that the procedure would make my situation worse, more than anything.

I called the surgeon to discuss, and he told me of all the patients he has seen, he has had 2 come back and say that they were worse. I decided to go ahead with the procedure. Shockingly, my insurance covered most of it and I paid only about $500.

I had the procedure under general anesthesia, the surgeon told me it was textbook. Also to my surprise, I was to continue eating as normal as much as I could. I bandaged and iced my face for 24 hours, but only experienced pain for about 24-36 hours. Gradually my range of motion improved.

I was shocked to say literally by day 2 the chronic pain/ache I was experiencing went to 0. I lived in pain-free bliss for the first two weeks, I could not believe it. I went to my two week check up and everything looked great - my range of motion now is not as wide as I could stretch before, but I am still at a very normal amount.

Now that we are about 6 weeks or so removed, I will say my experience has been positive and well worth it. It has not reduced my pain to 0, I still have some bad days, but they are not nearly what they used to be. I also can just open my mouth without having to shift it open with my hand which is really cool. I’d say it has improved my pain by 75-80%. I am really happy with that.

Time will tell going forward, but I definitely recommend the procedure. Obviously it doesn’t work for everyone, but so far it has been great for me.