• Pain in the facial muscles and jaw joints may radiate to the
neck or shoulders. Joints may be overstretched. You may experience
muscle spasms from TMJ. You may feel pain every time you talk,
chew, or yawn. Pain usually appears in the joint itself, in
front of the ear, but it may move elsewhere in the skull, face,
or jaw.
•
TMJ may cause ear pain, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), and
hearing loss. Sometimes people mistake TMJ pain for an ear problem,
such as an ear infection, when the ear is not the problem at
all.
•
When the joints move, you may hear sounds, such as clicking,
grating, and/or popping. Others may also be able to hear the
sounds. Clicking and popping are common. This means the disc
may be in an abnormal position. Sometimes no treatment is needed
if the sounds give you no pain.
•
Your face and mouth may swell on the affected side.
•
The jaw may lock wide open (then it is dislocated), or it may
not open fully at all. Also, upon opening, the lower jaw may
deviate to one side. You may find yourself favoring one painful
side or the other by opening your jaw awkwardly. These changes
could be sudden. Your teeth may not fit properly together, and
your bite may feel odd.
•
You may have trouble swallowing because of the muscle spasms.
•
Headache and dizziness may be caused by TMJ. You may feel nauseous
or vomit.
Proper diagnosis is critical
to make sure you receive treatment for your particular condition.
At The Smiles Dr we will only recommend treatment after conducting
a thorough health history, clinical exam, taking appropriate
X-rays, and perhaps confirming the condition through other diagnostic
tests.
At The Smiles Dr we may
prescribe a multiple-phase treatment plan. Simple and painless
techniques are available to decrease discomfort. Here are a
few of the treatments we offer:
- Taking a non-aspirin pain reliever or prescription medications
such as muscle relaxants, analgesics, or anti-inflammatory drugs
- Eating soft foods
- Avoiding chewing gum
- Applying moist heat or ice
- Physical therapy
- Teaching relaxation techniques to control muscle tension
- Stress management training techniques
- Posture training
- Wearing bite plates to eliminate the harmful effects of clenching
or grinding the teeth, and a better positioning of the jaws
- Adjusting the bite, known as "occlusal equilibration"
involving removing interferences when the teeth touch
- Replacement of defective restorations that prevent the jaws
from meeting properly
- Orthodontics, to put the teeth in proper position
- Surgery
- TENS- Transcutaneous Electrical neural Stimulation
- Trigger Point Injections
- Physical Exercises for the Jaw
- Appliance Therapy (An acrylic, retainer type of device)
In most cases we treat the symptoms related to TMJ disorders
can be successfully treated to reduce or eliminate your discomfort.
Postponement of treatment usually results in more damage to
the joint, muscles, or teeth.
• Medical history:
In diagnosing your jaw problem, the dentist will ask the following
questions:
o What kind of pain do
you have?
o Is it an ache or a throbbing pain or a sharp stabbing pain?
o Is the pain continuous or intermittent?
o Can you outline the area of pain on your face with your finger?
o What helps to alleviate the pain? What aggravates the pain?
o Do you grind or clench your teeth? Do you bite your nails
or chew on any objects, such as pens or pencils?
o Do you hold the telephone with your shoulder against your
ear for a long time?
o Do you chew gum often? For how long?
o Do you have any oral habits that you have not mentioned?
• Physical examination: During the physical
examination, your doctor will examine your head, neck, face,
and temporomandibular joints, noting any of the following:
o Tenderness (pain) and
its location
o Sounds, such as clicking, popping, grating
o The mandible (lower jaw) range of motion and whether it is
easy to open and close and can move from side to side and forward-backward
without any pain
o Your assessment of pain on a scale from 0 (no pain) to 10
o Wear on buccal cusps of the mandibular teeth, especially the
canine
o The rigidity and or tenderness of the chewing muscles
o How your teeth fit together: normal, open bite, crossbite,
overbite, dental restorations, or skeletal deformity
• Imaging: X-rays may be taken of the mouth
and jaw. CT or MRI may also be used. The MRI was designed for
soft tissue and, therefore, will show the location of the TMJ
disc in relationship to the jaw and skull bones. That will give
the doctor a better idea as to the proper treatment approach.
One out of every 15 Australians
suffers from chronic headaches, and they spend over millions
of dollars every year for over-the-counter medications to relieve
their pain. They never imagine that their headaches may be caused
by TMJ, and that their pain is the result of a bad bite.
At The Smiles Dr we know
a bad bite can put your jaw-to-skull relationship out of alignment.
When this happens, TMJ
symptoms occur. This cluster of symptoms can include: headaches,
earaches, ear ringing, loud jaw clicking, even stiffness and
pain in the jaw, neck, shoulders and back. This cluster has
puzzled doctors in the past. Now we can put a name to it: TMJ.
The two most common
forms of headaches are Tension type (TTHA) and Migraine. The
tension type is commonly a symptom of TMJ, but both tension
and migraine types of headaches overlap when patients have had
pain for long periods of time.
Many TMJ sufferers have
been involved in a motor vehicle accident resulting in neck
and back pain. Tension of the muscles of the face and head also
contributes to the occurrence of facial and head pain, as does
clenching and grinding of the teeth. Another common symptom
involves the ears since the temporomandibular joint is very
close to the ear. An evaluation of the TMJ, facial, and cervical
muscles can help these patients.
Dentists are often the
first to diagnose TMJ. They are familiar with conservative treatments.
Specially trained facial pain experts can be helpful in diagnosing
and treating TMJ.
|Prevention|
If you tend to have occasional bouts with jaw pain, avoid chewing
gum or biting on objects, such as pens or fingernails. Avoid
eating hard or chewy food. When you yawn, support your lower
jaw with your hand.
See your dentist if you grind your teeth at night or find yourself
clenching your jaw. The dentist can make a splint for you.
|Outlook|
Most people do well with
conservative therapy, such as resting the jaw or using a mouth
splint. The success of treatment depends on how severe the symptoms
are and how well you comply with treatment.
Only about 1% of patients
require joint replacement.
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2006: The Smiles Dr | All Rights Reserved | Cosmetic
Dentist | Toothache Dentist | Emergency
Dentist | Public Holiday Dentist
