Axl Rose has revealed that he suffers from a health struggle that causes numbness and impacts his ability to sing.
On August 12, 2026, Guns N’ Roses was playing a show at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. During the three-hour-long set, Rose paused to introduce the band. Amidst the introductions—as reported by Billboard—Rose shared that he’d been suffering from a TMJ disorder and had recently had dental work done to try and help with it.
“So now this side of my mouth is still f**king numb, which makes it interesting,” he said with a laugh. “But this one [points to the left side of his face] had work done two days ago. So it’s interesting. It’s challenging.”
Axl Rose revealed that his doctors recommended ‘not to chew’ while recovering from dental work to treat TMJ
“You’re singing, and you hear sounds, and you’re like … none of the doctors, none of the dentists — there’s really no way to describe what you do, and with TMJ they tell ya, ‘Try not to chew!’ OK, I won’t eat,” he quipped. “Second, you really can’t describe — you stretch your face in so many ways trying to sing like I do!”
Rose then added, “So you hear all these sounds while you’re singing, and you hear sounds that, like, make you go, ‘I really probably shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing, because that sound sounds like my jaw’s gonna fall off or go to the side or get stuck that way. Which, that would be pretty funny!”
Your TMJ is part of your jaw, and it can be painful if the movement is negatively affected
Your TMJ, or temporomandibular (tem-puh-roe-man-DIB-u-lur) joint, connects your jawbone to your skull, and “acts like a sliding hinge,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “There is one joint on each side of the jaw. TMJ disorders—a type of temporomandibular disorder or TMD—can cause pain in the jaw joint and in the muscles that control jaw movement.”
“The exact cause of TMJ disorder is often hard to determine,” the Mayo Clinic adds. “The pain may be due to a mix of factors, including habits such as teeth clenching, gum chewing and nail biting.”
Finally, the Mayo Clinic notes that “most of the time, the pain and discomfort related to TMJ disorders lasts for only a limited time. Self-managed home care, physical therapy for the jaw, and the use of a mouth guard can be effective in treating symptoms of TMJ disorder.” The clinic also notes that surgery is usually a last resort and reserved for extreme cases.
Photo courtesy of The Oriel Co.
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