TMJ

Q: "I often wake up with pain and my jaw and have discomfort when chewing. Is this TMJ and is it treatable?"

TMJ / TMD Treatment

The term TMJ stands for the temporomandibular joint, the hinge joint that connects the lower jaw to the temporal bone. This allows you to talk, chew and yawn. When problems develop in this joint it’s described as Temporomandibular Joint Disfunction (TMD). Symptoms that suggest TMJ/TMD can include:

Pain or tenderness in the face and jaw or ear
Limited ability to open the mouth wide
Jaws that get stuck or lock
Clicking, popping or grating sounds
Difficulty chewing
Swelling
Toothaches, headaches, dizziness, neck and head discomfort

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Understanding TMJ / TMD Treatment

The causes of temporomandibular disorders are not clear and treatment is controversial. Many people can recover with no or little treatment but not everyone. Following an exam, needed radiographs and a confirmed diagnosis of TMD, we start by educating our patients on their condition.

Then we look at possible treatments, the most conservative and cost efficient first followed by discussion and possible treatments that include:

Appliance Therapy - “Mouth Guard”

Adjusting Your Bite

Crowning the Teeth

Orthodontics / Braces

Often the correct treatment is a multi-disciplinary approach. We have experts that we work with on a daily basis that can provide additional therapy including acupuncture, massage therapy, ultrasound, TENS therapy, medication, and injections to help "unlock" the jaw.