locked jaws

I remember walking to the toilet with Xiao Von one day when it happened.

My jaws dislodged themselves,and after several attempts to put them together again,they went back in place.

Today,at the dentist's,my jaw dislodged,and the doctor helped me put them back by pressing my backteeth of the lower jaw,and it happened again,and again and again and again.At least 4 times,oh yes.

The doctor warned me to be careful for certain times,it'll stay that way...for a long long long time.And he also asked me to wear a towel around my jaw ,like how the cartoons do it. :D

I went to tuition and it happened again. I tried forcing it down and it wouldn't go down.I was so shocked I thought it'd happen permanently. Learning from the doctor,I tried it myself,placing my thumbs at the backrow of teeth and pushing. Yep,it helped.

But now my jaws are so vulnerable, they're constantly getting locked. (=_=) To eat,I have to open my mouth by a fraction of what I normally do,and boy it is hard. Mom thinks it's a great way to train me to be a dainty girl. (=_=)

I looked it up on the internet,and apparently,some people even have their jaws locked for a year!! Some have to go for surgery, some just beared with it,and mine isn't a severe case. =D

In conclusion,
Causes :
- Opening my jaw far wider than God meant me to.
-Tear in the TMJ.

*TMJ --

You may not have heard of it, but you use it hundreds of times every day. It is the Temporo-Mandibular Joint (TMJ), the joint where the mandible (the lower jaw) joins the temporal bone of the skull, immediately in front of the ear on each side of your head. A small disc of cartilage separates the bones, much like in the knee joint, so that the mandible may slide easily; each time you chew you move it. But you also move it every time you talk and each time you swallow (every three minutes or so). It is, therefore, one of the most frequently used of all joints of the body and one of the most complex.
You can locate this joint by putting your finger on the triangular structure in front of your ear. Then move your finger just slightly forward and press firmly while you open your jaw all the way and shut it. The motion you feel is the TMJ. You can also feel the joint motion in your ear canal.

also, it says that.....

If you habitually clench, grit, or grind your teeth, you increase the wear
on the cartilage lining of the joint, and it doesn't have a chance to recover.

And yes, I do do all three of those.
When I wear my retainers, I grit my retainers,so the retainers wear and tear...it's plastic!! But what about my joints?!

further more.....

more force is applied (per square foot) to the joint surface than to
whatever is between your teeth.

Which means my retainers aren't going to help me much after all, wheter they're platic of real flesh.