W Hotel Atlanta - TMJ Symptoms and Their Treatment

Or a bad bite, this gives what dentists call malocclusion. The jaw joint can be out of alignment. Between the two bones is a cartilage pad for cushioning. Is a ball and socket joint where the lower jaw (mandible) connects with the temporal bone of the skull, in front of the ear, the jaw joint. It is also called TMD for Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. A painful condition of the jaw joint, tMJ stands for Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome.

Neuromuscular dentistry

Neck and shoulder area when examining or treating dental problems, head, a neuromuscular dentist considers the whole face. And other soft tissue - as well as teeth and gums, ligaments, blood vessels, nerves, which looks at the jaw joint and its related structures - muscles, one of the new dentistry areas is neuromuscular dentistry. Dentistry has taken giant strides forward and expanded its conception of how to treat teeth, with computers and lasers, in recent years. Root canals etc, dentures, doing crowns, filling cavities, treats teeth and gums, which we are all familiar with, general dentistry.

Misaligned jaw joint

Without knowing it, it is thought that a majority of Americans suffer from TMJ to some degree or other. And some systemic diseases and developmental abnormalities, genetic factors can play a part. And sometimes by misaligned teeth, sometimes it's slowly caused by chronic tooth grinding. Moving the cartilage pad or mandible from their correct positions, it can be caused by trauma to the head which knocks the joint out of alignment. The causes of TMJ are not fully understood.

And the result is pain, this in turn can compress the nerves in the area. Creating inflammation and swelling, and this continual strain builds up in the muscles and related tissues, we open and close the jaw so many times each day. The jaw muscles become strained, when the upper and lower teeth do not meet correctly.

TMJ symptoms

A physician will not usually look at headaches as having a dental cause. But does not treat the cause, a series of pain medications helps temporarily. And the sufferer may visit several doctors in search of relief, they are often thought of as migraines. The most common and painful symptom is headaches.

And there may be any combination of these symptoms: each case of TMJ is unique,

* Jaw pain

* Neck and shoulder pain

* Earache

* Ringing in the ears

* Popping or clicking sounds in the jaw

* Limited jaw movement

* Tingling in the arms or fingers

* Stiffness and fatigue in the jaw muscles

* Chewing discomfort

* Unexplained dental pain

* Unexplained tooth wear or chipping

The resulting pain can be felt by other parts of that nerve, when one part of a nerve branch is compressed. Register sensation in all the areas where they extend, these nerves with their many branches. The largest nerve in the body, one is the trigeminal nerve. And arm areas, shoulder, neck, face, with many branches running through the entire head, there are several large nerves in the facial areas. It may seem mysterious that a jaw joint problem could cause symptoms in the shoulders or hands or ears.