TMJ ProblemS, what can I do?

TMJ therapy and treatment is a very controversial area and you can only believe a small portion of what you hear or read.


Jaw joint problems are frequently described as TMJ syndrome or TMD, (Temporal-Mandibular Dysfunction).
It is easier to just say, ""I have jaw pain""; it's more accurate to say that you have TMJ disorder, syndrome or dysfunction.
Some 'authorities' might disagree with me over my simplification, but it will help you understand the jaw joint better.
In general, muscle pain is the more common and more easily treated of the two categories.
Just as the muscles in your arm or back get tired and sore if you over work them, the muscles of your jaw joint will do the same.
That is, your brain doesn't' know how to tell you that the muscles inside you skull hurt and so it refers that pain to other areas of your face and neck.
) Some people say that it feels like a band is around their head.
) People with this kind of pain will often, upon questioning, admit to a period of high stress or to habits that stress their jaw muscles, like gum chewing or clenching their teeth.
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Treatment for TMJ pain of muscle origin is often accomplished with a bite guard or night splint.
Although the style for the bite guard varies from dentist to dentist, it is generally a horseshoe shaped wafer of plastic that is worn over the upper or lower teeth.
I was taught that hard plastic was best, and that people tend to ""bounce"" on a soft splint, which will exacerbate their muscle problem.
The theory behind the bite splint is two fold.
You can't just grind on one spot or find a particular tooth to clench on.
We all know that when we are picking something up, we are stronger when our arm is partially bent then if the arm is completely extended.
Just as your arm muscles have an optimum working length, so do your jaw muscles.
So by wearing the bite splint you allow the muscles to rest or at least, not to work as hard.
It's hard to speak with it in and it is visible in a patient's mouth, so most people don't want to wear it during the day.
For instance, some of my patients grind their teeth while they work at their computers.
Some people clench while they study.


Be sure not to try and bypass your dentist and go out and by a football mouth guard to wear to bed.
It is very important that the bite is balanced on the splint.
Your back teeth will probably hit first and that could allow you to set up a lever in your mouth, with the back teeth as a fulcrum, and cause you to ""lever"" your jaw joint out of position.
These people have major, debilitating pain that doesn't respond well to normal conservative therapy.
Often the treatment is multi-disciplinary, involving physicians, dentists and psychiatrists.
(The relationship between antidepressant medications and chronic pain is just being investigated and is not well understood, it is not necessarily related to clinical depression, but perhaps linked to levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.
Sometimes arthritis can make the joint stiff and sore just as other joints in your body can be affected by arthritis.
But most of the problems related to bones and cartilage is related to the cartilage disc that is present between the bones of the joint.


Many people have clicks or popping noises in their jaw.
Other people disagree with this statement and think that any noise should not be tolerated.


This treatment of a misplaced disc is the most controversial area of all.
If you have this kind of a problem, be sure that you receive treatment form someone who really knows what they are doing.
Be sure that unless you have exhausted all other means of treatment, you don't allow any nonreversible treatments to be done on you.
This means that most, if not all, of the teeth are crowned or capped.
But it must only be done after careful diagnosis of the problem.
For instance, the dentist might place temporaries or a temporary splint in place first in order to see if full mouth reconstruction is going to solve the problem or make it worse.
If the pain is severe or long lasting, think about a referral to a university setting or a pain clinic.
And most of all, try to use treatments that are non-invasive and reversible (like bite splint therapy). Get more TMJ information and tips AT:
http://curetmj.blogspot.com/
OR ELIMINATE TMJ Click Here!