<human>: sometime at night I would wake up and see my left jaw swollen and painful. then in the morning about noon swelling is gone but sometime it is still painful. My dentist thought its from my grinding my teeth, but I am wearing splint or night guard to present the grinding.  I still have the swelling even if I am wearing my night guard.  Nobody can tell me what is causing it. the dentist nor my primary doctor cant tell me.I need help to find out once and for all.  Thank you.
<bot>: Hi. Welcome to Chat Doctor . I have gone through your query and can understand your concern. As per your complaint it seems that if the swelling in jaw can be possibly due to grinding of teeth, but some other causes can be a :1. A dental abscess in which there is pus formation below the root tips of a deeply infected tooth leading to pain and swelling as well as pain and swelling can increase on lying down due to increase in blood flow on upper body and face which can increase the HY Chat Doctor. .2. Other reason can be some pathology related to the Submandibular Salivary Gland on that side which is one of the major salivary gland. I would advise you to get a full mouth x-ray that is an Orthopantomogram [OPG] done.Also, MRI of the salivary gland has to be done. Complete blood count [CBC]. All this has to be done under advise of an ORAL PATHOLOGIST and proper treatment can be planned according to the diagnosis. As of now you can take anti-inflammatory painkiller like Ibuprofen to relieve pain. Do cool compresses over the swelling. Hope this information helps. Thanks and regards.