When your mouth won't open well and something seems to catch

What follows combines several people's visits into one reconstructed account. It is not any one person's story, and anything that could identify someone has been removed.

⚠️ Some cases are urgent

If your mouth is stuck open and won't close, your jaw may be dislocated, and you need care right away. Don't try to force it back into place.

On the other hand, if one day your mouth suddenly locks so that you can't fit even two fingers in, don't put that off either. The longer it's left, the harder it is to reverse.

How do people describe it when they come in?

They say it used to just make a clicking sound, but now the sound has stopped, the mouth doesn't open as far, and something seems to catch as they open it.

Many people think the sound going away means it's gotten better. But if your mouth started opening less when the sound stopped, it may be the opposite.

How wide should it open?

If three of your own fingers fit in stacked vertically, that's usually plenty. If two barely fit, we consider it narrowed.

Open slowly in front of a mirror, and also watch whether your jaw veers to one side as it opens. Sometimes it doesn't come straight down but gets dragged off to one side.

What's happening inside?

Between the bones of the jaw joint there's a thin cushioning disc. When it gets pushed forward out of place, the jaw catches, and when it slips back, it clicks.

If it stays pushed out and doesn't come back, the clicking stops, and instead the range of opening shrinks. So don't be reassured just because the sound has stopped.

How do we treat it?

We create some room in the narrowed joint and loosen the muscles holding the jaw, widening the range of opening little by little.

At this stage, we don't have you practice forcing your mouth wide open. You move only within a range that doesn't hurt.

We also decide what to eat. For the time being, it's better to avoid tough foods, big bites and chewing gum.

What are the limits of this approach?

If the disc has been out of place for a long time and changed shape, it's hard to get it fully back in place. The goal is a range you can use without discomfort.

One more thing: living without pain and having images look neat are two different things. What we aim for is the first.

If you have the same symptoms

1. If your mouth is stuck open and won't close, get care right away.
2. If your mouth started opening less when the sound stopped, it may not mean it's better.
3. If three fingers fit stacked vertically, that's usually plenty.
4. Also check whether your jaw veers to one side when opening.
5. At this stage, we don't practice forcing the mouth wide open.

We look at the neck, jaw and back together. Only by finding where it started can we keep the same spot from stiffening up again and again.

If the same spot keeps stiffening, or the tension starts in your neck and climbs up to your head, come in and get measured. It doesn't take long to find where it started.

Progress differs from person to person, depending on how far the disc has slipped and how long it's been.