TMJ Treatment – Weatherford

What Is TMJ Disorder?

Your TMJ, also known as your temporomandibular joint, is a small set of hinges located in front of your ears. This joint allows your lower jaw to move up and down when you speak, laugh, and talk. The TMJ is one of the most complex joints in the body, so it can be disturbed by a misaligned bite, teeth grinding, and other factors. When it happens, you have TMJ disorder, or TMD.

Symptoms of TMJ Disorder

There are various symptoms of TMD. Here are some of the most prominent ones that are experienced.

• Headaches: One of the most underdiagnosed causes of frequent headaches is TMD. The jaw muscles become tense, strained, and overworked, so it is easy for this to affect the nearby muscles in the head.
• Ear Pain: Since the TMJ is located near the ears, having a dysfunction joint can easily result in ear pain. It can also cause ringing in the ears, called tinnitus.
• Face/Jaw Pain: Jaw stiffness and pain are the most commons symptoms of TMD. It can be difficult to chew comfortably, and lockjaw is common.
• Bruxism: Teeth clenching and grinding can be caused by daily stress, a misaligned bite, and TMD. This usually happens during sleep and can overwork the jaw muscles, leading to additional pain.

Types of TMJ Treatment

Checking the TMJ is actually a regular part of every dental checkup. In addition to examining your jaw, we may also ask you about symptoms that might point to the presence of a TMD, such as chronic pain or hearing a clicking sound whenever you open your mouth. If we suspect that you might have a TMD, we’ll perform some tests to diagnose the issue and try to narrow down the underlying cause (which might be an injury, arthritis, teeth grinding, or an uneven bite). Once we have figured out the source of your pain, we can start putting together a treatment plan. In addition to the solutions below, we may also offer a few tips for taking care of your TMJ at home, such as avoiding hard or crunchy foods as much as possible.

Occlusal Splint

An occlusal splint is a simple oral appliance that can be customized to address your specific TMD-related issues. One of its most important functions is to gently shift the jaw forward to help it reach its natural resting position. This gives your TMJ a chance to relax and recover, thus relieving your pain. As another benefit, an occlusal splint can act as a barrier between the upper and lower rows of teeth, which means that the nighttime grinding that is often associated with TMD won’t do further damage to your smile. After a few months of wearing your occlusal splint on a regular basis, you’ll eventually find that you’re no longer experiencing TMD symptoms on a daily basis.

Equilibration/Occlusal Adjustment

When the TMJ is unable to reach its natural resting position, the muscles and ligaments of the jaw will start to suffer from a considerable amount of tension that eventually leads to pain. In many cases, the TMJ can’t reach the proper position because the teeth don’t come together correctly. Thus, to solve the issue, we’ll have to make minor changes to your teeth until they all come together evenly. This process is known as an occlusal adjustment, but it’s also referred to as equilibration. This usually involves removing small amounts of enamel from your smile, but we may also need to build specific teeth up by placing crowns.

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