My TMJ is Acting Up

My TMJ has been acting up a bit the last couple of days.  It means that I am clenching hard on my teeth.  I wear a bite splint faithfully every night and have done so for well over four decades, but sometimes that does not completely help.  

Strange as it may sound, as soon as I can today, I am going to use what I call a "bite sock".  In order to do this, I need to have no one around because it looks so damn foolish. 

Very simply, what I do is literally stuff part of a sock in my mouth so that my upper and lower incisors can bite on the soft, thick padding of the sock.  After about an hour or so, biting the sock has allowed for there to be far, far less pressure on the teeth in my molar regions both on the left side and right side (and of course top and bottom rows).  And, the pressure on my actual temporomandibular joint has also decreased.   I likely will still feel a bit sore from the clenching overnight, but it will be much less than it has been.  

Why a sock?  Well.. several reasons.... 1) when I fold and then eventually roll the sock, it becomes a soft, yet springy roll of fabric about the same diameter as a sandwich snack cake (like a Twinke, or a Little Debbie Roll, or something similar).  The sponginess, and the lack of being able to clench my molars, but only my incisors is also key to it helping me.  2)  Socks are very abundant in my house.  I have a set of 5 pair that used to be running socks, but now have heel holes, and so (after laundering) have rotated into being "bite socks".  

Some evenings, when I go to bed, if I am feeling pain in my jaws already, I may sleep using both the bite splint and the "bite sock".  

I think I often used holding the stem of one of my pipes in my mouth as a sort of "spacer" that would also prevent me from clenching my teeth together.  And, in fact, I suspect that may be an important factor for me to recognize.  Now looking back on it, I believe I may have only started using the "bite sock" AFTER I laid down my beautiful pipes 34 months ago.  Perhaps I was using the stem of my pipe, without realizing it, as this spacer purposefully as a treatment to help my TMJ?    

PipeTobacco