# Popping jaws, do you have a dog who does this?



## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

Last night early evening while my back was to him I hear this pop sound come from him. Kind of like the sound when a dog air snaps but he doesn't air snap. And of course I hear it several times more but each time he was out of my sight.

Today I caught it. And he is making the sound when he is closing his mouth after yawning. no pain when I rub his jaw joints and he is eating with usual enthusiasm. No accidents to his mouth or jaw and as much as he would let me his teeth look fine. It is not teeth clattering, just one pop.

When I looked up popping jaws in dogs, TMJ comes up and generally not an issue but then offers a laundry list of other possibilities that makes one want to race to the vet.

Actually I think he's been yawning more than normal. Maybe he's trying to relieve pressure/discomfort.

I will put a call in to his vet in the morning. In the meantime any experience with this, what it was, etc would be appreciated.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

dogs can get TMJ? that's typically from grinding..says the chick with TMJ and a bad grinding habit!


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

Jax08 said:


> dogs can get TMJ? that's typically from grinding..says the chick with TMJ and a bad grinding habit!


My error on the abbreviation not TMJ. The info I found was this 
https://dogshealthproblems.com/dogs-jaw-makes-noises/

TJD. Temporomandibular joint disease. I didn't know dogs can get/have it and was wondering about any first hand experience with it or similar popping sound issues.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

I thought I would update this as the outcome could help others. I sent a vid of my boy yawning and the popping noise to his vet and a discription of his overall well being i.e. Normal eating, drinking etc and no sign of pain that I saw. It took a couple days of phone tag but after talking to her last night, he is going in on Wednesday. I'm also going to try to capture a few pics of his bite and send them.

Point of interest during the conversation and questions she was asking that were specific to what could be causing it, she did mention TMJ (I wrote those letters down so I wouldn't get them wrong lol) but from the vid, didn't feel that was it. 

This is a top notch vet and has an amazingly calm manner. My guy has actually taken to her. The last time she had to see him for a lump I had found, she was able to aspirated it without sedation and neither my guy nor I even noticed til it was done. I was too busy feeding him treats through the muzzle and he was too busy eating them. This was huge for both of us.

I'll update the thread and pics if I can get good ones.

I really am happy I found her.


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

Just updating. The popping sound stopped a couple days prior to his appt but I kept the appt. She checked out his bite and jaw. Especially the muscles and he did do a wide yawn so she was able to see /hear that there isn't any popping now. She did say that the muscle on the right side feels tighter than the other and showed me how to gently massage the area.

He will stretch his jaw to the max when chasing and grabbing his large ball so I have to switch to a smaller one and basically curtail play that causes over stretches.

I'm having trouble uploading pictures in general. When I get that sorted out I will post them.


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## CometDog (Aug 22, 2017)

Thanks for sharing, and glad the popping stopped! It is so great when you like your vet


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