Getting Braces to Relieve TMJ Pain
When you are suffering from temporomandibular joint disorder, you may be experiencing pain in your jaw. This can often be accompanied by clicking noises when you open and close your mouth and it may cause you pain when you talk, eat, or even when you do not move your jaw. Unfortunately, many people who suffer from this disorder often go without treatment, and when that is the case, their symptoms may become worse. If you would like to know more about TMJ, please read the article below.
Understanding What TMJ Is
TMJ occurs when your lower jaw bone—the mandibular bone—is not aligned properly with the upper jaw bone. It is possible for this type of injury to occur because of a traumatic event that damages your jaw or it is possible that this would occur because of repetitive motion. When either of these happens, the muscle and the ligaments get damaged. When the ligaments or muscles become damaged, you begin to notice pain while you chew or talk.
What are the symptoms?
TMJ comes with many different symptoms and you may notice them constantly or not as frequent. You will likely experience:
- Jaw discomfort
- Jaw or neck tenderness
- Inability to open your mouth wide
- A locking sensation in your jaw
- Clicking or popping in your jaw when you move it
- Misaligned jaw
What causes TMJ?
There is no one cause of TMJ, but there are habits and behaviors that are proven to make it significantly worse. For example, grinding and clenching of your teeth can make the pain more severe and can help push your jaw out of alignment. Thus, if you suffer from stress or anxiety, this can contribute to your TMJ severity in a large way.
Are there treatments?
There are a few treatments that orthodontists recommend, though the leading treatment to use is braces. When patients have TMJ, they often present with bite issues. Thus, if these bite issues are corrected with braces, it can begin to effectively relieve the symptoms and pain associated with TMJ.
Once your jaw alignment begins to get better, your pain levels should decrease as well. It may also be recommended that you use a night guard to help with your grinding problem. This will help reduce the pressure on your temporomandibular joint.
TMJ can cause severe pain and it can make daily activities such as talking and eating extremely painful. No one should not have to live with this. Consider speaking with a dental professional, such as an orthodontist at John Redman Orthodontics, as soon as you start noticing TMJ symptoms.
