by Dr. Tony Jensen |
TMJ is not a condition itself; rather it stands for the Temporomandibular joint—the jaw joint. This joint connects the temporal bone (the side of the skull) with the mandible (the jaw bone). When this joint has symptoms of pain, or is not functioning properly the condition is called TMD (Temporomandibular Disorder) or TMJ Syndrome.
Symptoms of this condition include pain, popping, grinding, spasms, ringing in the ears, headaches and sinus problems. Also, pain can occur in the muscles and joints of the jaw that sometimes radiate into the face, neck and shoulders. There are often problems opening the mouth and noises during chewing and movement of the joint.
How does TMD disorder or TMJ syndrome occur? Hitting the head or face in an accident (car, bike, sports, skate board, etc.). Stress and anxiety can cause tension in the neck, shoulders, face and head acting as a precursor to TMD. Tension from chewing, grinding, or clenching teeth is another cause.
TMD disorder or TMJ syndrome solutions can be mild to extreme in treatments. Some treatments available today involve splints, surgery, drug treatments, diet change, chiropractic adjustments and physical therapy.
- Drugs help decrease the symptoms for a while, but won’t fix the problem. If you stop the drugs, the symptoms come back and you are left to deal with the side effects of the medications in your body.
- Surgery is needed in some cases but in most cases is not necessary.
- Splints can help, but sometimes your bite changes because of the splint and then you start grinding and clinching harder, causing more symptoms or complicating your TMD.
- Diet changes are needed in all cases. For example, no gum chewing, NO apples, (unless you cut them up into smaller pieces), no biting hard candies and no ice, just to name a few.
- Chiropractic Adjustments in conjunction with Physical Therapy work to re-align and help reduce or remove the muscle imbalance or spasms. I’ve found that diet changes, cranial skull manipulations and home care has been by far the most cost effective and successful treatment to achieve the best results.
Whether you have been formally diagnosed with TMD, Temporomandibular Disorder, TMJ Syndrome, or suffer from any of the symptoms associated with them, an opportunity to finding a solution can be found through alternative therapies such as chiropractic, dental and diet changes.
References:
- Balch, Phyllis A. Prescription for Nutritional Healing, fourth edition. Penguin Group Ltd. New York, NY, 2006.
- www.chirocommunity.com/tmj
For more information contact Dr. Tony Jensen, DC of Jensen Chiropractic at (775) 323-1222
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