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When you visit our office, your health is our top priority. Our entire team is dedicated to providing you with the personalized, gentle care that you deserve.
Part of our commitment to serving our patients includes providing information that helps them to make more informed decisions about their oral health needs. This website is a resource we hope you’ll find both useful and interesting.
Causes of TMJ disorders can occur if:
Over 10 million people in the USA suffer from TMJ or temporomandibular joint syndrome, a condition in which the temporomandibular joint does not function correctly, which usually generates pain of varying degrees.
The temporomandibular joint connects the temporal bone, which is the bone that forms the sides of the skull with the jawbone. The condition of TMJ produces pain in the muscles and joints of the jaw that frequently radiate to the ear, face, head, neck, and shoulder.
“TMJ” stands for TemporoMandibular Joint, and “TMD” stands for TemporoMandibular Dysfunction of the jaw joint. Sometimes TMJ disorders are abbreviated TMD.
There are two TMJs, one in front of each ear, connecting the lower jaw-bone (the mandible) to the skull (temporal bone). The joint allows the jaw to move up and down, side-to-side, and forward and backward, providing all the mobility necessary for biting, chewing and swallowing food, for speaking, and for making facial expressions. Between the top end of the jaw (condyle) and the socket in the skull is a disk of cartilage, which – like the discs in the neck and back – serve as shock absorbers, protecting the bones from hitting each other.
Sometimes TMJ can lead to problems that don't seem related to your jaw. Pain in the TMJ can interfere with everyday activities. Symptoms that can originate from dysfunction in your jaw joints include headaches, difficulty swallowing, stress, earaches, chronic ear-infections, and neck, shoulder, and back pain.
It is by far the most complex and most over-worked joint in the human body.
TMJ/TMD treatment is primarily focused at treating the relationships of the upper and lower teeth, and of the teeth to the TM joints and their supporting ligaments and associated muscles.
Primary goals of treatment:
Used in conjunction with the appliance, the following methods may also be used for treatment:
Eye Pain and Eye Problems:
Bloodshot eyes
Bluring of vision
Eye pain above, below, and behind eye
Pressure behind eyes
Light sensitivity
Watering of the eyes
Head Pain, Headache Problems, Facial Pain:
Migraines
Forehead pain
Sinus & Cluster headaches
Headaches at the back of the head, with or without shooting pain
Teeth and Gum Problems:
Clenching during the day or at night
Grinding teeth at night (bruxism)
Tooth pain
Sensitive teeth
Loose or crowded teeth; some teeth not touching when you bite down.
Eyes/Ears/Throat Problems
Ringing or buzzing in the ears
Congestion in the ears
Dizziness
Jaw/Joints Problems
Clicking, Popping, or Grating sounds in jaw joints
Jaw shifts to one side when opening/closing
Jaws that “get stuck” or locked
Pain from opening the mouth too widely, i.e. yawning, chewing
Pain at rest or with opening/closing of jaw.
Recently, there has been a paradigm shift in the scientific understanding of the etiology and treatment of migraine headaches. While migraines differ from tension headaches in intensity and in related symptoms, they may be triggered by clenching the teeth, just like tension headaches. The evidence for this is as follows:
The difference between tension headaches and migraines is as follows:
Migraine sufferers exhibit one or more of the following symptoms during an attack:
Nausea due to dizziness
Sensitivity to light
Sensitivity to sound
Therefore, an apparent relationship between bruxing and clenching the teeth, and the migraine headache exits. The standard of care in the treatment of migraine headaches now includes some of the modalities used to treat TMJ/TMD, especially the use of orthotics.
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