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Less is More When Surgically Treating a TMJ Disorder

August 15, 2018

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 10:04 pm

TMJ is the temporomandibular joint, or the joint that connects the lower jaw to the rest of the head. Temporomandibular joints are pair, positioned on left and right in front of the ears. They are hinges like and have pretty similar anatomy to the knee joint: lower jaw has rounded end, that fits a socket located in your head. There is a rubbery like disk that acts like a shock absorber during normal mouth opening and closing.

TMJD or TMD stands for TMJ disorder are a group of conditions that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and muscles that control jaw movement. TMJ disorder may result of several different factors, such as stress, bruxism (teeth grinding and clenching), arthritis in the TMJ, or trauma and injury to the head, neck, or jaw.   Clicking on its own is common (20% of people have it) and unless it is associated with pain  or reduced mouth opening, it does not normally require treatment.

TMD symptoms:

·       Clicking or popping sounds when you open and close your mouth, accompanied by pain.

·       Stiffness or inability to open your mouth wide to speak, yawn, or chew

·       A locked or stuck jaw

·       Pain when chewing and biting

·       Pain in the neck, shoulders, or ears

·       Ear ringing

·       Frequent headaches: pain in the temples

Treatment for TMJ disorder

Treatment for the TMJ will depend on the cause and severity of your TMJ damage, so the sooner you can get to it, the less complicated and  less costly is to manage. TMD treatment may include jaw and facial relaxation exercises, lifestyle changes, restorative dental treatments, a mouth guard or night guard, or jaw surgery. There’s no magic cure and management is very important.

Its best for you to see a dentist to do dental assessment. Most TMJ disorders can be diagnosed from the history and clinical examination. Additional diagnostics that may be required include x-rays, CT scan, MRI, blood work. Some condition you can help yourself with home remedies, some you may need professional medical help.

Wearing an appliance: Dentist will look at your jaw movement and any wear on your teeth and compare them. If the reason for TMD is clenching or grinding at night,  you will be fitted with a protective splint or a night guard.

Topical anti-inflammatory medicine application help when there is inflammatory process in the joint or the muscles surrounding it. Simple warm up the side of your face with warm cloth and place the topical cream. You can put small plastic on the top and the warm cloth over for 5 min. The plastic is to prevent from removing the cream with the cloth.

Jaw Exercises: It is essential to do both type of exercise: TMJ stretching and  TMJ muscle strengthening exercise, You can do slow, gentle jaw stretching exercises in the morning to help increase jaw mobility and strengthening exercise later in the day. There are many exercise available online, ask your dentist or make an appointment with us and we can explain them to you.

Important : Start with warm and finish with cold. Before you do your TMJ exercise, you need to warm up the join first with a moist heat from a warm pack or a warm moist cloth. After you are done with your TMJ exercise apply a cool pack, do not place ice directly. Surgical: Sometime, surgery to replace or rearrange joint back to normal is necessary. “Less is more” is the rule of thumb in this situations.  Most providers will try to help in the least invasive way possible. TMJ is surrounded by important nerves and  blood vessels. It is very important that treatment does not cause further harm.