TMJ Treatment

TMJ Treatment
An estimated 10 million Americans suffer from TMD. Caused by strenuous physical activities, stressful situations, overuse of the muscles, and grinding of the teeth, temporomandibular disorder (TMD) results in discomfort  for people with this disorder. This condition occurs because of dysfunction with the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), the joint that makes it possible to chew. This joint allows your jaw to open and close, and allows jaw movement forward, backward, and sideways. The TMJ only works properly if the lower jaw and its movements are synchronized.

What is TMD?
TMD affects jaw muscles, the temporomandibular joint, and nerves where movements become out of synch, which can lead to headache or neck pain. It can also result in sensitive teeth, injured soft tissues, muscle soreness, and jaw discomfort. Other symptoms include ringing in the ears, facial pain, difficulty opening and closing your mouth, and jaw locking when talking, yawning or eating.

Getting Help
Dr. Davoud is a trained neuromuscular dentist that can help you with your TMD pain. A neuromuscular orthosis can help stop the teeth grinding and relieve most of the pain that you have been experiencing all along. More severe cases may require co-therapy with physical therapy or special chiropractic adjustments ice and posture training. We can refer you to the proper professionals for such services, if necessary. 

Questions about TMD

Can’t I just use a store-bought mouth guard?
If your dentist determines that you need a mouth guard, you need an appliance that fits your specific bite. Using any other device can actually do more harm than good.

Is surgery my only option for TMD treatment?
In about 95 percent of cases Dr. Davoud can recommend non-surgical treatment for TMD. Strengthening exercises, massage therapy, reducing stress, and mouth guards are a few of the options available to decrease symptoms and relieve discomfort for short period of times. But more than likely will not eliminate the pain totally and hence, the need for those services to be repeated on regular or daily basis. 

However, the best way to treat TMD and other symptoms such as headaches, facial pain, fibromyalgia, ear congestions, dizziness, neck and shoulder pain, stabbing pain in the back of the eyes, is by using neuromuscular orthosis and placing the bite, jaw joints and jaw muscles in their most comfortable physiologic position. That means where all these structures are most comfortable and rested at all times and they do not have to overwork. 

What causes TMD?
When your TMJ are out of sync, the associated muscles get fatigued and the nerves become strained. Common causes of TMD include trauma, improper growth of the upper and lower jaw due to childhood allergies and breathing problems, teeth grinding, arthritis, improperly fitting dental work, and posture issues.