What causes this condition?
Trismus is a painful spasm of the chewing muscles and a convulsive reaction occurs in the muscles that support the jaw joint. Due to trismus, the muscles become so tight that a person has difficulty opening his mouth properly and is unable to eat, talk, and has severe discomfort even when yawning.
Causes of trismus include:
- Cancer of the head and neck;
- Pathology that affects the jaw joint;
- Wisdom tooth extraction;
- Inflammatory process;
- Infection;
- Trauma to the jaw;
- Surgery in the oral cavity.
Trismus is diagnosed by assessing symptoms and examining the jaw and neck. The doctor will use a special test (three-finger test) to determine how wide you can open your mouth. In some clinical cases, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging is required. Computer studies assess how deeply the tissue is damaged.
The course of treatment is individual and depends on the cause.
Treatment methods for trismus include:
- Antibiotic therapy;
- Medication to relieve jaw pain;
- Muscle relaxants;
- Physiotherapy;
- Speech therapy;
- Surgical excision of scar tissue.
Source:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24086-trismus
