Find Out How Our TMJ Treatment Can Help
TMJ is something that is extremely prevalent. We have patients all the time come in and say, ‘My jaw is popping or I’m having achiness or I wake up in the morning and feel like my teeth don’t fit together the right way.’ Your temporomandibular joint is something that can never be immobilized. If you were to hurt your knee, you could put it in a brace or if you broke your leg, you could put it in a cast. You can’t not talk and you can’t not yawn and you can’t not chew and so it’s a joint that is extremely overused. Education is a very important part of patients that suffer from TMJ disorder. Understanding things not to do, help the patient say, ‘Oh, okay, now I get it.’ And chewing gum, chewing food that requires extra chewing, constantly trying to stretch your joint out are some of the things that can exacerbate an already dysfunctional joint.
Ways of treating different temporomandibular joint disorders are occlusal splints and that is something that is a hard piece of acrylic, but oftentimes soft on the inner lining so it’s very comfortable. Where patients are able to grind if they’re a bruxer or a grinder, they’re able to grind in the proper way. It also opens up that joint space and provides some relief. And it also prevents wearing of the opposing teeth. Teeth grinders can do a lot of damage to teeth and providing that splint protects those teeth.