Occlusal guard CAUSING jaw pain?

[Mama Rana]

Hi,

My dentist recc'ed an occlusal guard a couple months ago, and I've been wearing it for a while now with no problems. I should point out that I didn't have significant or chronic jaw pain before I got it, though my jaw would pop upon opening wide since I have such a significant overbite.

Sunday morning I woke up and my right jaw joint HURT. I couldn't really get that side of my teeth together without significant pain. It loosened up some during the day, but still hurt when I went to bed. I wore my guard again that night. Monday I chewed some gum, and actually felt BETTER after that. Wore my guard that night, and woke up in pain again. This pattern continued the next day. Wed. night I forgot to put my guard in [remembered once I was already comfy, didn't feel like getting up], and the next morning NO pain. I could still feel a wee bit of stiffness from the pain before, but not that significant amount I'd had before.
Last night, wore the guard, this morning=pain [though not AS bad as it has been].

Any ideas? Do I just need an adjustment, or something? I've been trying to focus on relaxing my jaw, keeping my teeth apart, etc.

TIA

[tanyalynn]

I'd get it adjusted just in case something's changed with your bite. I had nasty pain once when we messed up the adjustment in my mouth guard but it was right away--but it was also really off. I don't know what would be going on that would cause a change after wearing it problem-free for so long, but a visit to see if it needs adjustment should be pretty easy to do.