Norma Pelt has paid a high price for her love of gum. Repetitive chewing triggered powerful headaches, especially at night.
“It’s been very painful,” she said, describing her 15-year condition as a temporomandibular joint and muscle disorder.
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research estimates 10 million Americans have TMJ symptoms, such restricted jaw movement accompanied by a clicking or popping sound.
Women in their reproductive years are now considered nine times more likely to develop TMJ than men - a finding reshaping traditional assumptions about the causes behind these conditions, according to Dr. Christian Stohler, dean of the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore.
“Today, we realize this is a highly complex disease involving many genes, hormones and a myriad of complex biologic factors,” he said.
Although a number of existing treatments bring relief for most patients, Stohler says, they do not deal with the underlying disease process
“Most of these cases do resolve on their own, but some people suffer for years,” he said.
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