Would a steroid injection help? And would dentistry be offered to someone like me due to the osteoarthritis

The short version: a steroid shot into the jaw joint might help for a few weeks but has real risks, and dentistry ought to be offered but often is not for osteoarthritis.

No published study in this retrieval directly tested a steroid injection alone for TMJ osteoarthritis in adults. The 2007 study that compared steroids to hyaluronic acid found that both reduced pain at 14 days, but hyaluronic acid worked better at every measured time point and kept working at 6 months while the steroid group had already lost much of its gain [1]. Six months out, the steroid group still had pain scores of 31 out of 100 compared to 14 in the hyaluronic acid group [1]. That is about double the pain. The short-term benefit from steroids is modest and does not last.

The risks matter more. A 2015 study on young rats found that a steroid injection into an arthritic jaw joint inhibited normal bone growth of the condyle, while a different treatment did not [2]. That is animal data, not human, but it matches what is known about corticosteroids in weight-bearing joints: they accelerate cartilage breakdown over time. The concern is not just that the shot wears off. It is that repeated steroid injections may make the joint worse by thinning the cartilage that is already damaged. No human study in this retrieval followed patients long enough to measure that.

On the question of whether dentistry would be offered: the evidence shows that TMJ osteoarthritis is routinely missed. In a 2017 study of hand osteoarthritis patients, 67% had jaw osteoarthritis on CT scans, but clinical exam alone caught only 42% of those cases [4]. That means most people with TMJ OA are never diagnosed unless imaging is done. And dentistry, especially NHS dentistry in the UK, rarely offers treatment for jaw osteoarthritis beyond bite splints which the evidence does not show help with joint damage. The 2017 study also found that dental development was delayed by about three years in adolescents with progressive TMJ OA compared to controls [3]. This is a condition that changes the growth of the jaw, yet it is not treated as dentistry's problem by most dental schools or practices. That is a system failure, not a shortage of evidence.

What you want is reasonable: a dentist who understands jaw osteoarthritis, offers imaging to confirm the diagnosis, and treats the pain conservatively first. The evidence says steroid injections have a narrow window of benefit and a real risk of harm. Hyaluronic acid injections have better evidence for this condition and none of the cartilage-thinning concern [1]. Conservative care is still the safest first step. If a dentist refuses to see you for jaw arthritis or offers only a steroid shot and a bill, get a second opinion. The condition is real, the diagnosis requires imaging, and the treatment should not make the joint worse.

My call: do not take the steroid shot. Push for hyaluronic acid if injections are the only option, and find a dentist or oral surgeon who images the joint before treating it. Confidence: moderate.