Are you suffering from a stiff feeling in your jaw?  Or even worse, pain in your jaw and/or inner ear pain?  What you may be experiencing is what is commonly referred to as TMJ (or Tempro-Mandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome).
  It is a fairly common ailment for people who tend to grind their teeth.
  This is what is also referred as Bruxism.
  TMJ jaw pain especially common for people who tend to grind their teeth at night in their sleep and do it unknowingly.
  This is simply called Sleep Bruxism.
  By grinding your teeth while you are sleeping it becomes often times more serious simply due to the fact your are doing it potentially constantly and are doing it unknowingly.
  At least during the day, while awake, you can catch yourself clenching your jaw and/or gritting your teeth and stop yourself.
The usual cause of grinding teeth, which then ultimately leads to the TMJ jaw pain, is stress.
  People experiencing high levels of stress in their lives, personal, financial, work related and so on, subconsciously (and sometimes consciously) tend to clench their jaw and grit their teeth.
  Now there are other precursors to teeth grinding and TMJ jaw pain, it is not always stress related, but that is the most common factor.
Now of course you need to treat the symptoms, but it is also important to address the causes, otherwise you may spend your whole life treating symptoms and never getting to the root of the problem.
  This article is not about teaching stress relief, but it is something that you should look into if you are experiencing TMJ jaw pain.
  Don't rely solely on pills, creams, and/or exercises to permanently cure your jaw pain for good.
  If you don't address the root issue, you never know when the pain might unexpectedly appear again.
Anyway, that being said, treatment options include everything from prescription strength anti-inflammatory drugs, to warm towels on the jaw (wet heat) to Myofascial Therapy.
  The latter involves a skilled professional massaging and manipulating areas of the head, neck and jaw to relieve tension.
  I think this is one of the best options.
  Though you can buy guides on how to do this yourself and save a lot of money.
  Many of the exercises are easy enough to apply to your everyday routine and are very good at defending again a future attack of TMJ jaw pain.
If you are getting a clicking and/or popping noise in your jaw when you open and close your mouth, this too is a form of TMJ syndrome.
  You should always consult a dentist or medical doctor when experiencing any kinds of pain, especially TMJ jaw pain.
  However, if they recommend surgery be very weary and always, always get a second, if not third opinion.
  Jaw surgery can be a very serious ordeal.
  But sometimes may be the only option for those with serious problems.
  But don't let yourself get to this point by ignoring the issues.
  Listen to your body! I have personally experienced severe TMJ jaw pain myself at least 3 times in my life.
  It was close to the worst pain I have ever felt in my inner ear, but happened only when I would chew food.
  I fully endorse doing TMJ related exercises to help relieve the pain, but more importantly to keep it from happening again.
  Honestly, I immediately went to the doctor when it happened and was prescribed some strong anti-inflammatory meds.
  But that was only to address the pain quickly.
  I did not and do not rely on drugs to keep this from happening again.
  Drugs are only a band aid and a quick fix.
  They are not something you should rely on to always fix or cure the problem in the case of TMJ jaw pain.