What is TMJ dysfunction?
TMJ dysfunction are conditions affecting your jaw joints and surrounding muscles and ligaments. These conditions can cause severe issues, including jaw pain, clicking, headaches, and difficulty opening and closing the mouth.
Some people say they have TMJ. But “TMJ” refers to your actual jaw joint, while “TMD” stands for temporomandibular joint dysfunction. Another name is temporomandibular joint disorder.
You have two TMJ’s (temporomandibular joints) — one on each side of your face, just in front of your ears. Your TMJs connect your lower jawbone to your skull and help with movements like chewing and talking.
Between 5-12% of the adult population has a TMJ problem.
Symptoms of TMJ vary widely and can include:
- Jaw / Facial Pain
- Shoulder or neck pain
- Stiffness in your jaw
- Difficulty opening, or closing your mouth
- Jaw popping or clicking
- Headaches /Migraines
- Earaches / Toothache
- Malocclusion (changes to the way your teeth fit together).
What causes TMJ disorder?
Proper movement of the joints that make up your jaw depends on the health and alignment of a shock-absorbing disc that separates the bones.
You may develop a TMJ disorder if this disc is damaged or misaligned. Arthritis and joint damage from trauma or an injury may also lead to a TMJ disorder. Stress is also a factor, as is teeth grinding. A blow to the jaw from sports can also affect the TMJ.
However, in many cases, the exact cause of the chronic pain condition is unknown.
How do we help your TMJ Dysfunction?
While specific methods of treatment used in chiropractic depend on the patient’s presentation, it usually involves gentle hands-on adjustments of the mandible and articular disc. Sometimes the activator instrument is used.
Because misalignment (subluxation) of the neck vertebra can cause imbalance in the nerves and muscles controlling the action of the TMJ joint, we usually adjust the cervical spine as well.
We also perform soft tissue work to the jaw muscles. Muscles work tends to focus on 3 key muscles: the masseter, the temporalis, and the pterygoid. We also pay close attention to the suboccipital muscles.
And we look at reducing stress 😊
