Are TMJ Symptoms Reversible Without TMJ Surgery?

Do you think you have TMJ and are looking for a dentist or therapist to help with TMJ relief?
First let’s discuss some of the symptoms so that you are clear about what to watch for and take care of -

TMJ Symptoms:

• Your jaw hurts especially when talking, yawning or chewing
• You can’t open your mouth wide. It may get so bad you can’t open more than two inches.
• You also feel pain in your neck, shoulders or ears.
• Teeth Grinding Jaw Clicking

Does that sound like you?

It is the muscles that control your jaws that are the problem. One set of muscles pulls in one direction to open your mouth and another set of muscle pull in another way to close your mouth. If your muscles are stressed in certain ways, tired or overworked, they won’t open or close your jaw properly.

So what to do about it? You could see someone such as a dentist or a physical therapist and they can assist you. Or read on and I will give you another suggestion.

Some things that may be suggested:

A dentist may tell you that you need a mouthguard to realign your jaw. You can try one of those, but the problem I see with it, is when you stop, your jaw will sometimes pull back to where it was, because the most common cause of the problem is muscle pull. That is not taken care of with a mouthguard

You may be told to consciously relax your shoulders, face and jaw muscles to ease TMJ symptoms.
Sleep on your back or side, as sleeping face down pushes your face to the side, causing pressure on the jaw.
Surgery may be suggested. Be sure to try looking at other means to correct your problem first.

Some diet tips:

Eliminate Caffeine, or seriously cut back on it. Those who drink caffeine tend to clench their jaw more.
Don’t chew large pieces of hard or brittle food.

Eat plenty of vegetables, especially dark green vegetables. They contain Calcium and Magnesium, which help build healthy muscles, ligaments and tendons. Most of us don’t eat enough vegetables and get our minimum requirement of minerals in daily, so this is good advice for the whole family.

Even if you cannot chew well, you can get in your vegetables. Buy a juicer and make a glass of vegetable juice to drink each day. Apple, carrot, celery and some dark leafy green vegetables taste pretty good together.

If you are not used to real vegetable juices, it may taste “strong”. You may find that you need to dilute your vegetable juice up to half water. Left over juice can be stored in the fridge, tightly capped and drunk with in 24 hours, and will still do some good. It is however best to consume it each time fresh.

You may want to eat soft foods for a few days. If your TMJ is particularly bad, you could make vegetable soup with a variety of vegetables and a small amount of meat and get by for a few days to rest your jaw, as this will rest your jaw from vigorous chewing.

Can the situation be serious? Yes it can. The temporomandibular joint can become inflamed and swollen. If it gets bad enough it may lock your jaw open or shut. The muscles and ligaments around this joint could lose their elasticity and balance with other muscles, leading to your lower jaw pulling in, which will cause a receding jaw.

TMJ Cure: What is the Best Solution?

Having a TMJ condition is not something to laugh about. It can be both a painful experience and an inconvenient one. It is therefore of the greatest importance to zero in on the best TMJ cure.

Controversy with Cure

There has been a lot of patient frustration over TMJ cure solutions. Some patients may experience a worsening of symptoms or a simple lack of relief. There may be several reasons why a TMJ cure may not work for some individuals. It is possible that the cure is poorly or improperly applied or the wrong TMJ cure is resorted to. In some cases, a TMJ condition may be misdiagnosed. In such a situation, wrong medication and treatment may even result in complications.

Ask Experts

Sometimes a TMJ condition may be misdiagnosed because the doctor you consulted is not an expert in TMJ. There are also some experts in TMJ conditions that only provide cures that are limited to their specific area of expertise. This may not work for some people if the particular cause of the TMJ condition does not fit the TMJ cure.

One way to ensure that you are getting the right TMJ cure is to get a good doctor. It would probably be to your benefit if you got a highly recommended doctor with a good track record. It would also help if you got second and third medical opinions before deciding to stick with just one particular TMJ cure.

Non-Invasive Solutions First

Your personal rule of thumb in your search for a TMJ cure is to go for non-invasive procedures first. It is quite possible that your condition may require extreme medical solutions like surgery and heavy medication. You should however make sure that your condition is really so severe that no other solution but an invasive one will work. One way of determining the severity of your condition is to simply try non-invasive solutions.

When no safe natural solution works, then that is the time when you should consider further medical assistance. It is important to do this because some invasive and drastic procedures may be irreversible and may cause further damage if ineffective.

Possible Non-Invasive Solutions

There are several non-invasive solutions that you could try. As mentioned though, not all of these solutions can be a TMJ cure that will work for you. They are however worth considering if you want to protect yourself from the possible effects of invasive procedures.

Exercise – Gentle massage and jaw exercises might relieve your TMJ condition. There are actually some specific exercises to follow but the basic one simply involves gently and comfortably opening and closing your mouth and moving your jaws from side to side.

Food – A soft diet or avoiding foods that are too hard may also be a TMJ cure. Avoid overusing your jaws by frequently chewing gum.

Manage Stress – It is possible that your TMJ condition may be stress induced. If this is the case, you can try stress reduction classes or simply teach yourself to relax during stressful situations.

5 Ways To Stop Grinding Tooth, & Eliminate TMJ And Tooth Grinding Effectively

Do you suffer from tooth grinding. Have you been unsuccessful to stop grinding tooth symptoms, that cause you despair?

Have you been told that you grind your teeth while sleeping? You may not know it but your sleeping partner does.

Bruxism is the dental term for tooth grinding. A lot of people grind, clench or tap their teeth together especially while asleep.

Facial and jaw soreness, headache, pain, fractured teeth and abrasion can result from this bad habit.
What causes tooth grinding?

According to dental experts, bruxism is an unconscious way of relieving stress. Studies show that ninety-eight percent of adults clench their teeth together as a reaction to their emotional distress. It has also been found that for some unexplained reasons women are four times more prone to exhibit symptoms of bruxism than men.

Bruxism does not occur entirely as a result of some emotional disturbance, occasionally it may be caused by dental malocclusion.

Malocclusion is a dental term that refers to teeth that do not fit together or are improperly positioned.
In response to this abnormality, the body tries to grind the teeth into proper occlusion.

However, tooth grinding can also cause malocclusion. It is said that we exert 25 to 50 pounds of force when we bite or chew our food.

While grinding or clenching one’s teeth, a person can exert as much as 500 pounds of force.
This is the reason why tooth grinding can cause so much harm to our oral health.

Here are some helpful questions to check, to stop grinding tooth.
If you answer yes to most of these questions then there is a big probability that you suffer from tooth grinding.
1. Is your jaw clenched right now? If so, try to relax it and keep your teeth slightly apart.
2. Do you wake up in the morning feeling soreness or tightness in your neck and jaw muscles?
3. Do you clench your jaw when you feel stressed?
4. Do you often find yourself massaging your face and jaw muscles because they feel tight or sore?
5. Are your teeth sensitive to both hot and cold?
6. Do you ever feel that your teeth are loose?
7. Does your jaw ever ache?

You can still help yourself minimize daytime clenching by trying these techniques:
1. Make a conscious effort to relax your face and jaw. If you suddenly feel that you are becoming tense, try to focus on loosening and stretching your facial muscles.
2. Take a walk or breathe deeply. These are some of the stress-relieving techniques that can keep you from clenching or grinding your teeth.
3. Caffeine and decongestants are stimulants that can make your muscles tense. Avoid these as much as possible.
4. Enroll yourself in a stress-reduction technique class so that you will be able to manage your stress effectively.
5. Before going to bed, try taking a hot bath or listen to soothing music so that you will be able to relax. Drinking a glass of warm milk will also be helpful.

Tooth Grinding may not be relieved through self care alone especially if you are a night-time grinder. Professional help is advised especially if your bruxism is related to anxiety, work stress or emotional upset. A dental night guard made especially for you by your dentist will be helpful in protecting the surfaces of your teeth from abrasion caused by the effects of grinding.

Sleep Bruxism Information, Symptoms and Causes

Sleep bruxism is also known as nocturnal tooth grinding. Sleep Bruxism is a sterotyped movement disorder characterized by grinding or clenching of the teeth during sleep. This will cause the damage of the teeth. For many people, bruxism is an unconscious habit. The disorder has also been identified as nocturnal bruxism, nocturnal tooth-grinding and nocturnal tooth-clenching. The 8% of adults grind their teeth at night. Grinding can be noisy enough at night to bother sleeping partners. Like clenching, grinding can lead to jaw pain and other problems.

Eventually, bruxism can destroy the surrounding bone and gum tissue. In children sleep bruxism may be related to growth and development. It is a condition that affects both kids and adults. Sleep bruxism is a problem that affects 8% to 21% one of the U.S. population. The age for children is around 5 or 6. This usually occurs in the early part of sleep time. Sleep bruxism is believed to be related to changes that occur during sleep cycles in some individuals, and this is an active area of current research. The symptoms can cause temporomandibular joint problems (TMJ). Chewing is a complex neuromuscular activity that is controlled by reflex nerve pathways, with higher control by the brain.

Causes of Sleep Bruxism The causes of sleep bruxism are physical and psychological also.

Dental problems Suppressed anger High levels of alcohol consumption Stress Masticatory muscle discomfort Complications of Huntington’s disease Symptoms of Sleep Bruxism Worn tooth enamel, exposing the inside of your tooth Earache Jaw muscle discomfort Headache Sore gums Disturbed sleep Eating disorders Chronic facial pain Increased tooth sensitivity Treatment for Sleep Bruxism Most cases of bruxism are mild and may never require treatment. Occasional bruxism may not be harmful but when it occurs regularly, it may be associated with moderate to severe dental damage, facial pain, and disturbed sleep. Unfortunately, people with sleep bruxism usually aren’t aware of the habit, so they aren’t diagnosed with the condition until complications occur.

Custom-made by your dentist to fit your teeth, the appliance slips over the upper teeth and protects them from grinding against the lower teeth. While an appliance is a good way to manage bruxism, it is not a cure. Massage the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and face. Search carefully for small, painful nodules called trigger points that can refer pain throughout the head and face. Learn physical therapy stretching exercises to help the restore a normal balance to the action of the muscles and joint on each side of the head. Behavior therapy. Once you discover that you have bruxism, you may be able to change the behavior by practicing proper mouth and jaw position. Concentrate on resting your tongue upward with your teeth apart and your lips closed. This should keep your teeth from grinding and your jaw from clenching. For severe and persistent bruxism, a dentist may prescribe an oral appliance made of soft plastic to protect the teeth.

Prevention for Sleep Bruxism Get plenty of sleep. Try to relax in the hours before bedtime to reduce stress levels. Jaw aligning exercises may be necessary for the prevention of the sleep bruxism. Dental exams are the best way to screen against sleep bruxism. Avoid eating hard foods like nuts, candies, steak. Using caffeine, tobacco, cocaine or amphetamines seems to increase the risk of bruxism. Stress reduction and anxiety management may reduce bruxism in persons prone to the condition.

-- End Your TMJ Right Now! --

Bruxism – Is it a Disease or an Uncontrolled Behavior?

Bruxism is the medical term for teeth grinding. It can be considered both as a disease and as an uncontrolled behavior. Bruxism is defined as the act of consciously or unconsciously clenching one’s teeth during the day or while sleeping.

People suffering from bruxism are rarely aware of their condition, especially if they tend to grind their teeth at night. Oftentimes, it is their roommates or their sleeping partners that are affected by their condition the most. Teeth clenching during the night may disrupt the patient’s and another person’s sleep, much to their discomfort.

With that said, bruxism is officially classified as a medical and a dental problem. Doctors believe that teeth grinding may be caused by stress suffered during the day carried out throughout the night. It may also be due to the following psychological concerns: frustration, anger, and an aggressive personality. Physically, bruxism may be caused by the abnormal alignment and development of teeth and jaws. Or it can be caused by other diseases and may show up as a side effect of certain drugs and medications.

To treat bruxism, it is important for patients consult both a doctor and a dentist. The dentist is normally the first stop. The dentist would check the extent of the patient’s teeth grinding activities and would evaluate if it were caused by the defects in the structure of the jaws and teeth. If it were, then the dentist would proceed with the proper course of treatment right then and there. Otherwise, the patient would be referred to a medical professional or a psychologist to address the problem.

The cure for bruxism caused by physical defects on the teeth and jaws is surgery. For some patients, the use of night guards is sufficient. Bruxism may give way to total denture damage if not treated right away. And that could mean thousands of dollars in reconstructive dental restoration.

Bruxism caused by stress and other psychological problems are best addressed with behavior correction therapies. Here, the patient is subjected to a series of counseling in order to condition their minds away from the roots of the problem.

If bruxism is caused by medical concerns like an underlying disease, or if it developed as a side effect, a medical practitioner will be tasked to find the cure. A different set of medications with minimal or no side effects may be given to the patient, if it were diagnosed that the bruxism is the side effect of certain drugs. Oral medications that relax the jaws and facial muscles may be prescribed as well.

More than anything else, bruxism is a health concern. It is not advisable for patients to simply ignore it or live with it. Bruxism has to be addressed right on its onset. This is to make sure that complications like severe head pains are prevented.

-- Cure Bruxism and Live Free Again! --